Earlier this week on Tuesday there was another noteworthy moment in the Brexit saga. There was a debate on British television between Corbyn and Johnson, the two biggest contenders in the upcoming general election in the UK.
The newspapers agree on one thing: it was not a game-changing debate. Below are some of the highlights as reported by various Brittish news outlets.
Game on!
According to the Guardian there is no clear winner of the debate. Corbyn performed solidly with no big slip-ups, but also no breakthrough moment. Johnson didn’t impress either. He did repeatedly press home is position on Brexit.
The Labour leader was repeatedly unable to answer which way he would vote in a second EU referendum. He was asked several times and repeated the party’s position that Labour would negotiate a new deal and then put that to the people.
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The prime minister had Corbyn most on the ropes when pressing him about his position on Brexit. “He will not set out his plan, and will not be clear whether he’s for leave or remain. He is refusing to rule out campaigning against his own deal,” he said.
Read the full article here.
The Independent adds:
Neither will have persuaded anyone who thinks the worst of them. Nor did they get much by way of positive messages across. Johnson showed such message discipline in returning to “Get Brexit done” that he almost made a joke of it, and the audience groaned when he returned to it in his closing statement.
Corbyn’s positive message was more diffuse and possibly more effective. He tried to come across as a different kind of leader for different times. “My style of leadership is to listen to people,” he said.
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Nothing happened tonight that was big enough to shift the opinion polls, which suggest Johnson is heading for a majority in parliament. Corbyn might have just about won this debate but he is still losing the election.
Read the full article here.
If It’s Not on Social Media, It Didn’t Happen…
Those interested in social media might enjoy the roundup of what happened there that was written by the BBC. Please find that here.
A YouGov poll quoted in that article gave the win to Boris Johnson.
