Question Time: Sunak, Starmer and Davey are desperate to talk about the future, but can't escape the past

John Swinney was grilled about the array of arrests of his senior Scottish National Party colleagues. While Ed Davey kept having to apologise for the Lib Dems broken promises in coalition, and his time as Post Office Minister during the Horizon scandal.

So with the audience in a savage mood, how did each leader fare?

Ed Davey

The Liberal Democrat was the first leader in front of the audience, and this was a big opportunity for him. Some polls have put his party on 60 MPs, and he’s been credited as having a good campaign, with stunts gaining attention without much scrutiny. Davey rarely gets the same primetime opportunities as Sunak and Starmer, so when he does he has to make it count.

He emerged onto the stage with an excited grin, like a Dad trudging out at his own birthday party. However that was quickly wiped when the first question asked him if his pledges would “bankrupt” Britain? He gamely explained that the Lib Dems’ manifesto was costed and said he wanted to focus on health and social care.

Next question, bang: “Your media profile has mainly consisted of horseplay on TV. Is this prime ministerial?” Davey said his stunts have had important messages, like paddleboarding in Lake Windermere to highlight the sewage crisis. He then tried to explain how using a slide showed a lack of mental health funding, which I don’t think made sense.

He then got roasted repeatedly for his role as Post Office minister from 2010 to 2012 when the Horizon IT scandal was first coming to prominence. Davey spent a lot of the Q&A complaining about his time in coalition government, which sounded pretty mealy-mouthed to me, and if he wants to regain the trust of a lot of people he’s going to have to face up to those mistakes.

Davey doesn’t have the charisma of Nick Clegg, but at a time when trust in politicians is so low his easy-going Dad on the school run schtick may prove a welcome antidote. He told the audience he met his wife at a Liberal Democrat policy group, which led to a quip of “what a night out that sounds like” from Fiona Bruce. Overall, a serviceable job from the Lib Dem leader, but without its sticky moments.

John Swinney

John Swinney, the Scottish National Party leader, skittishly entered the stage next. We got the slightly odd spectacle of a man being quizzed, who is not standing in this election and not responsible for any of the issues being debated. Swinney is an MSP and the First Minister of Scotland and as such is in charge of devolved powers, including healthcare and education, which Scottish MPs have limited say over.

The First Minister appeared nervous, answering questions as if he was an unruly house party guest who had been busted stealing the parents’ booze. The police investigation into the SNP and the party’s troubles seemed to be weighing heavily on him.

He got in a tangle when asked if the SNP would accept Scotland didn’t want to become independent, if a majority of unionist MPs were elected on 4 July. Bruce peppered him about this, and he ended up being laughed at by the audience. He later got into a row with a questioner when asked about the nationalists’ manufacturing strategy and started talking about space. Keep your feet on the ground John.

While Nicola Sturgeon was always cool and calculated in these debates and the party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn is confident and charismatic, Swinney was edgy and I think it is unlikely his performance will cut through to the wider public. 

Keir Starmer

The Labour leader strode onto the stage confidently, befitting a man 20 points ahead in the polls, and then gazed out into the studio lights like a happy man surveying the menu in a fish and chip shop. However Starmer quickly got in a pickle, when Bruce asked him about comments he made comparing the Tories’ manifesto to the one he supported with Jeremy Corbyn in 2019.

Starmer loves to talk about football, but this attempted attack on Rishi Sunak was one of the most obvious political own goals I’ve ever seen. Since then, every broadcaster has relentlessly quizzed him about his old boss including Bruce last night, asking why he once said Corbyn would make a “great Prime Minister”. 

The Labour leader could not answer this, mumbling away about how he didn’t think Labour would win in 2019. Reminder, Keir Starmer was a Shadow Cabinet minister for almost Corbyn’s entire time as Labour leader.

He then began walking towards the audience as they asked their questions, a bit like a tiger prowling its enclosure in a zoo. Bruce twice had to ask him to remain in the centre of the stage, as Starmer was wandering off screen for viewers at home. 

These kind of TV set pieces are not Starmer’s natural habitat, and he gave off the impression of someone who was desperately trying to connect with the audience, albeit in a slightly stilted manner. At the end of the 30 minutes, he mumbled an endearing thank you and trooped off back to his dug out.

Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak looked slightly more confident than Keir Starmer in the opening TV debate, but as he ascended the stage the bright lights picked out a slightly bloodshot look to his eyes - like a student who had stayed up all night revising while nothing went in. The Prime Minister has the look of a man who wants this campaign to end now, as disaster seems to follow disaster.

And the Question Time audience showed no sign of letting up. He was first asked about the gambling scandal: “Aren’t these emerging scandals about betting on the election date the absolute epitome of the lack of ethics that we have had to tolerate from the Conservative Party for years and years.”

Sunak said he was “incredibly angry” and channelling Starmer’s football obsession said he would “boot out” any people who were found to have broken the rules. I thought the PM actually handled the tricky opening salvo quite well, but as with a lot of this campaign the smorgasbord of policies Sunak has spattered all over the wall came back to haunt him.

He was asked how he would enforce his national service policy and said sanctions could include limiting driving licences and “access to finance”. The audience guffawed as Fiona Bruce asked if this meant confiscating people’s bank cards.

In a particularly awkward moment, Sunak was berated with multiple shouts of “shame” as he insisted he would leave the European Convention on Human Rights if it blocked the Rwanda plan. The last audience interaction summed up the second half of Sunak’s showing. A 19-year-old asked him, other than national service which he was too old for, what was the Prime Minister’s offer to students. All Sunak could say, like a malfunctioning AI chatbot, was that “I’m going to cut your taxes”. 

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 morning.