Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was declared the victor of Friday evening’s UK general election debate, having trounced his Tory rival, who even lost to “none of the above”.
Despite a large section of the BBC audience clearly being antagonistic towards the Brexit leader, demonstrated by large applause breaking out for an anti-Brexit comment and the broadcaster’s cameras often panning to a young man shaking his head in disapproval when Mr Farage spoke, the audience at home was apparently much more favourable towards his message of political revolt against the Westminster establishment.
According to a snap survey of 1,031 viewers by the More in Common polling firm, 25 per cent thought that Nigel Farage was the winner of the debate, followed by Labour Party deputy leader Angela Rayner at 19 per cent.
Embarrassingly for Conservatives, their representative, leader of the Hosue of Commons Penny Mordaunt, not only trailed behind the Green Party’s Carla Denyer, the Scottish National Party’s Stephen Flynn, but she also behind “none of the above” at 14 per cent compared to her 7 per cent.
🚨NEW @Moreincommon_ poll of debate watchers: Who won?
Farage on top, Rayner 2nd, none of the above 3rd
Farage – 25%
Rayner – 19%
None of the above – 14%
Denyer – 11%
Flynn – 10%
Mordaunt – 7%
Cooper – 5%
ap Iowerth – 2%Don’t know – 8%
N=1,031 Viewers pic.twitter.com/I9BoSDrWy6
— Luke Tryl (@LukeTryl) June 7, 2024
While others waxed poetic about the value and necessity of mass migration, Mr Farage, blaming both major parties, said: “It’s making us poorer, it’s diminishing our quality of life and it’s nothing to do with race or any of those issues. We need to get net migration down to an even figure for those next few years and maybe then we can hope to catch up with housing, with health and with our economy.”
Penny Mordaunt, admitted that immigration was too high and said that her party would finally institute an annual cap, but refused to give a even a rough estimate as to how many the Tories would continue to allow in per year. Mr Farage on the other hand was able to give the firm position of his Reform UK party; bringing migration to net-zero.
Mordaunt was also in the unenviable position of having been forced to apologise for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to leave early from the D-Day 80th anniversary ceremonies in France on Thursday to return to London for a pre-taped election interview with ITV, which drew condemnation from the entire debate panel.
Furthermore, she spent much of the evening squabbling with Angela Raynor, who did not exactly shower herself in glory either, seeming to struggle to craft arguments to fend off attacks from her left, particularly on the green agenda, NHS spending, and Brexit.
(left-right) Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, leader of Plaid Cymru Rhun ap Iorwerth, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper, Stephen Flynn of the SNP, co-leader of the Green Party Carla Denyer, deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner and Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt, take part in the BBC Election Debate hosted by BBC news presenter Mishal Husain (front), at BBC Broadcasting House in London, ahead of the General Election on July 4. Picture date: Friday June 7, 2024. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images)
However, Mordaunt’s main struggle in the debate was less a personal rhetorical failing but rather her party’s abysmal record. While trying to warn the public of the dangers of voting for Labour, such as high taxes and high immigration, her flank was exposed on the right for Mr Farage to go after the government’s failures on both fronts.
“To hear Penny Mordaunt, whose Government have put the tax burden up to the highest in this country since 1948, pretending they’re a tax-cutting party, frankly, it is dishonesty on a breathtaking scale,” Mr Farage said.
Unlike the other parties, I don’t need an autocue to tell you what I believe in. #BBCDebate pic.twitter.com/na4Eb4MBYf
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) June 7, 2024
The Reform leader said that Labour and the Tories “don’t really disagree on anything… There’s a sense we need a revolt against this system, we need an electoral system where we get some proportional representation in Britain. What we’re being offered, frankly, are two parties promising the earth and nothing much will change no matter who goes in. New politics, fresh start, we want a revolt from the British people. That’s what I’m after.”
“Our politics isn’t working, you’ve heard these pathetic arguments tonight between the two big parties, really there isn’t much difference. But electorally Labour are going to win. The debate is who forms the opposition in the next Parliament. Who fights for the rights of ordinary British people? Who fights to control our borders? Who fights for men and women running our small businesses? Reform UK is about to become a political phenomenon, a historic one. So I urge you, join the revolt.”
Death of the Tories? Farage’s Reform Party Surges to Within Two Points of Establishment ‘Conservatives’ https://t.co/rNxZDUH9Xl
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 6, 2024
Follow Kurt Zindulka on X: Follow @KurtZindulka or e-mail to: kzindulka@breitbart.com
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