General election diary: politicians are made to sweat in the BBC TV debate spin room

Nearby Sunak and Starmer were preparing for only their second face-to-face debate on the campaign. Outside pro-Palestine protesters encircled part of the university campus as police officers patrolled fenced off buildings. 

If the tension was ramping up outside, then in the spin room it was slightly flat. Compared with the first TV debate, there was much less anticipation - perhaps now the realisation that the result of the election is almost a foregone conclusion. We already know Starmer’s dad was a toolmaker and Sunak’s mum was a pharmacist. One hack asked if the BBC could put the Portugal vs Georgia Euro 2024 match on one of the tellies. 

The heat also made things a mellow affair. Bravely sporting a blazer for TV interviews, Home Secretary James Cleverly mopped his brow fiercely in between appearances. There was a hive of activity near the only plugged-in air conditioner in the room, while I pressed a cold can of Coke against my forehead to try and cool down. Daisy Cooper showed up in the spin room in a now trademark vibrant suit and trainers, even though her boss Ed Davey was not appearing tonight. Clearly the Lib Dems are confident. 

There was a ripple of discussion as the Sun broke another gamble-gate story, alleging that veteran Tory MP Philip Davies had bet against himself to lose his own seat of Shipley. Davies gave the Sun’s Harry Cole a typically argumentative response, saying it was none of his “business”. I’ve had my own run-ins with Davies, so can attest to his brusque relations with journalists.

Sure enough the debate itself started with a question on gamble-gate, the scandal that has sucked all the attention from the Tories’ campaign. It was the latest TV event which started with an apology from the government, after Penny Mordaunt duffing up Sunak over D-Day and PM’s words on Question Time about the betting saga.

The peerless BBC presenter Mishal Husain wove through a series of topics, on the NHS, immigration and Brexit, as Sunak kept bringing every question back to tax and Starmer sought to mention Liz Truss as many times as possible. A groan went out from the hacks on my table as Sunak answered a question about protecting women and girls by saying he is a dad, while Starmer just talked about some of his female colleagues.

The Prime Minister is clearly the more polished debater, and his relentless focus on tax is clearly a simple communication strategy. But it can also come across as negative and unimaginative. Starmer’s problem is the opposite, he seems incapable of giving a short, snappy answer and at one point rattled off most of his CV. I was just waiting for a mention of bronze Duke of Edinburgh at the end. If he does indeed become Prime Minister, as all polls suggest, he may have to brush up for PMQs.

After the debate wrapped up, the spin room came alive with journalists gathering around frontbenchers. It was familiar lines from both camps, Labour’s Pat McFadden told the assorted hacks that Sunak was promising “Liz Truss 2.0” while Home Secretary James Cleverly said the PM’s pitch was of economic security. 

The question I managed to get in was to ask if Labour is confident that no more of its candidates made bets on the election. This was something Starmer avoided answering when quizzed by Husain. The response was vague. I was told that senior officials had only received one report from the Gambling Commission, but they would not say when they had asked all of their candidates. Something they’ve been asking the Tories to do …

Eventually the spin was over and the tired hacks filtered out into the blissfully cool Nottingham night. Had we learned anything new about either candidate? Not really. But the pair, as well as the audience, probed each other quite effectively. Now all that is left is polling day.

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday.