Watching the tv debate, we can see why boris says he was relieved when sunak resigned

Tim Stanley 25 July 2022 10:03pm BST We open on what looks like two cardboard cut-outs of deranged serial killers: Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. Grinning at the camera; eyes-wide; deathly

still. Then Rishi twitched. "My God, they’re real!" The BBC debate had begun, and I’d just spilled hot chocolate down my jim-jams. In short: good argument, terrible format. The BBC

had spent the day talking up the debate, like that irritating kid at school who tries to start fights all the time - “Rishi says you want to raise interest rates”, “Liz says you’ve got

plums in yer mouth” - and had designed an epilepsy-inducing set that I’m surprised didn’t include a guest appearance by the kitchen sink.  Did we need an audience? Or Chris Mason and Faisal

Islam sitting in a commentators’ box like a cricket match? That said, the first thirty minutes were excellent. Tax. We’ll never forgive the Tories for raising tax (in a happier age, the

military would’ve staged a coup) - but Sunak did his best to defend it, calling tax cuts “unconservative” and inflationary.  Liz, meanwhile, was in her element: she made a darn good case for

why Britain needs tax relief. She was more physically relaxed than usual, though she was still holding an invisible tea tray - yet was reduced to saying “Excuse me! Excuse me!” every time

Sunak interrupted, which was _all_ the time. Now we can see why Boris says he was relieved when Rishi resigned. This culminated in a row over what made the 1980s worse: growing up in a

pharmacy in Southampton (Rishi repeats this story like he literally was raised on the shop floor, among the paracetamol and Trebor mints) or attending a comprehensive in Leeds, which Truss

implies was one step up from being raised by wolves.  One senses that among Conservatives, the ideal candidate would be an immigrant with no formal education, who served in the military, is

worth eight billion pounds but sleeps in a tent. Truss noted that Rishi attended Winchester - “A very good school” - which, of course, is a subtle bid for the crucial Etonian vote. And the

BBC loved all this nonsense, teasing out a pointless conversation about whether or not Boris will come back (he won’t), what clothes each one wears, and are they out of touch with the

famously humble people who populate the Conservative party.  “I want you to address one another,” said the host, as if in marriage counselling - and, in essence, tell us what you dislike

most about your opponent. Sunak probably won the debate at this point by refusing to participate in it, insisting that they would reunite once it was over - the kind of spontaneity that can

turn elections. I bet he practised it for hours in his limo.