In a sign this will be at least as acrimonious as any previous election, Keir Starmer's rejection of Rishi Sunak's challenge of six television debates has been described by Tory chair Richard Holden as "chickening out" (even though the Labour leader has offered two, one each on the BBC and ITV).
Labour says it "won't be tearing up the format established in previous elections just to suit this week's whims of the Tory party". However, that's a little disingenuous because there never has been an established format (quite the opposite, and Sky News has usually had a share of the action). The Euros football tournament will also consume a significant amount of broadcasting time. For all concerned, television debates can be a mixed blessing...
Will we have TV debates?
Probably. For its first few hundred years, British democracy managed without such quasi-presidential debates, and they've only become a habit since 2010. There seems to be something in them for both major parties; smaller parties are yet to fight for a place in the limelight, which can complicate arrangements.
What will they be like?
Their weekly clashes at Prime Minister's Questions suggest a Sunak-Starmer debate might be predictable and, frankly, a bit dull. Both could emerge as equally underwhelming losers, as happened in the two 2019 debates between Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson, at which the only real excitement was when Corbyn revealed a "secret dossier" suggesting the Tories wanted to sell the NHS to American interests.
When are prime ministerial debates not prime ministerial debates?
Denne historien er fra May 25, 2024-utgaven av The Independent.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra May 25, 2024-utgaven av The Independent.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Ambitious Everton look for upgrade on the Dyche grind
Sean Dyche was never the manager Everton really wanted.
Everton ease to FA Cup win as team reboot starts
They are not used to cheering the men in the technical area.
THE ART OF NOISE
Alt-popper Ethel Cain lashes listeners with sound on her experimental second LP, 'Perverts'. Helen Brown submits
Kidman is utterly fearless in unabashedly sexy 'Babygirl'
Dutch writer-director Halina Reijn has made a BDSM film rife with fumbling uncertainty, and comedy-drama 'A Real Pain' manages to stay honest,
The secret shame that saw Callas retreat into obscurity
She was the opera diva with a tumultuous and tragic private life but something else would derail her career as one of the greatest singers of all time, as Meghan Lloyd Davies explains
At home with Gen Zzzzz
Being boring has never been more in - but Kate Rossiensky wonders if the humblebore lifestyle is a deflection technique
PLAYING DUMB
As the thoroughly decent (and rather smart) Kasim is ejected from 'The Traitors', Helen Coffey asks whether intelligence has become a hindrance that should be concealed at all costs
The woman who cried wolf and fuelled a local race war
When Ellie Williams told of her experience at the hands of a grooming gang, it seemed clear what was right vs wrong. But the truth, writes Zoë Beaty, was much more complicated...
Biden hails 'strength of character' in Carter tribute
Every living American president filed into pews at the Washington National Cathedral yesterday to honour one of their own at the funeral for Jimmy Carter, who died late last month at 100 years old.
Wake up and smell the fires
We live in a 'magic bubble' of denial but the LA infernos and Covid before it demonstrate why we must be better prepared
