I have been waiting for this the May/Corbyn event but unlike many, mostly TV and print media I prefer this format of debating than the head-to-head confrontation. Without the hostility of a face-to-face set-up, we are listening to the only two people who could win the election.
I am a Labour supporter, which I have mentioned on more than enough occasions on my blog but I am no fan of Corbyn, again I have put out there my vote was shaky. I have already voted via postal vote and who got my vote you will have to wait for Election Day.
Jeremy Paxman was in the chair to interview both separately with Corbyn facing Faisal Islam moderating members of the audience questions first. I was expecting him to walk out to the Steptoe and Son theme tune with the dress sense of Albert Steptoe but he smartened himself up for this programme. All the questions asked were as expected with no real surprises and answered them like a politician.
A small business owner in the audience attacked Mr Corbyn's "ruthless short-sighted policies" such as increasing corporation tax and putting VAT on private school fees.
"This country is badly divided between the richest and the poorest," the Labour leader replied, asking the man whether he was "happy" that children were going to school hungry and being taught in "supersized" classes.
Jeremy Corbyn moved on to Paxman who when straight for the jugular waving around the manifesto asking were his core beliefs on Trident that he has campaigned for years to get rid of but in the manifesto the Labour will replace it with a new system and submarines. He said something like, “The party in conference voted to renew Trident and he would like to open discussions on ridding the world of the nuclear threat”
He was also pressed on his support for the IRA, an Irish paramilitary group at the time of the ‘Troubles in Northern Ireland’ which was also brought up during the audience section with an audience member accusing him of attending a commemoration for members of the IRA.
He was asked if he was told his authorisation for a drone strike was needed within 20 minutes to attack terrorist plotting overseas to attack the UK would he give permission.
"I would want know the circumstances," Corbyn said. "You can't answer a hypothetical question without the evidence. It is a completely hypothetical question."
He was also asked back-to-back questions on Brexit - one from a Leave voter calling for immigration controls and another from an unhappy Remain supporter.
Answering the first, he refused to set a target for migration numbers, saying Labour would act to prevent the undercutting of wages.
He then told the Remain supporter Labour had to "accept the reality of the referendum".
Prime Minister Theresa May entered stage left and I was disappointed in her choice of shoes I was hoping for some full on stripper heels, oh well.
May often found herself on the defensive as the audience members grilled her on cuts to the police, National Health Service and education, and a so-called "dementia tax" that might make it harder for elderly Britons to pass on their property to their heirs.
At one point a heckler yelled, "You've clearly failed. “
Before she could warm her seat Paxman was at her like the Beaufort Hunt chasing a fox, sorry a scent line, foxhunting is banned for now.
The Prime Minister seemed to have sorted out her 'line' on the dementia tax after the U-turn explaining the need to put more money into the social care system and protect the assets of those entering residential care and didn't get bogged down in claiming "nothing has changed". As a policy it still has huge flaws, and there's no word on where a cap on costs might be set, but there's no longer the sensation of pulling a brick from wall whenever someone asks about it.
Brexit was always going to feature in any chat with the Prime Minister giving her a chance to remind the watching viewing of her ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ mantra. That’s the phrase that got Theresa May her only applause line in during her tricky appearance in front of Jeremy Paxman last night, and the theme that the Conservatives hope will allow them to recover from their difficult fortnight and get them back on track in the election campaign.
One point to make Corbyn won if you wanted to judge on audience on clapping and the Prime Minister was heckled. But pundits on the whole are calling the event a draw with neither receiving a killer blow.
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