As some people are saying, the Tory leadership campaign is now over. They seem to believe that Conservative members have decided that Liz Truss is the woman who can win them a fifth general election.
But my experience of chairing 10 of the 16 stalking events in June and July 2019 with Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt is that very few people who attended had already voted. Many Tories were waiting to be convinced. In addition to the thousands who attended the fights, thousands more watched online or on news channels, and this time those numbers will only be higher.
I found chairing the 2019 competitions a surprisingly positive experience. Members really put the two candidates through their paces and asked some very probing questions. I expect this time to be no different. I learned a lot about both candidates as well as the attendees.
The questions were varied, with surprisingly few on the usual Tory topics of Europe, immigration and tax cuts. I remember in Manchester, in front of an audience of 1,000 people, a 16-year-old got up and asked Boris Johnson the following question: “Mr Johnson, I suffer from chronic depression and other mental problems. What are you going to do for me?” Waves of applause went through the audience, I guess applauding the young man’s courage in asking his question.
This is the kind of question that can trip up a candidate. Instead of looking panicked, Boris lasered himself at him and spoke to him in such a personal way that it was as if the rest of the audience had disappeared. He was just brilliant. There was no boasting, no digression. He made the boy feel good about himself and gave a soft political answer along with some very personal stuff. I remember being very impressed and thinking “if only he could be as impressive when answering more standard questions”.
In Nottingham, another young man had a meaningful question. He was a member of the Young Conservatives. “Mr Johnson, you’re a racist aren’t you?” Boris looked at me in total panic, as if expecting me to intervene. Sorry buddy, you’re on your own, I decided. I can’t remember his answer, but I mention it as further proof that these pursuits are by no means a waste of time. The audience will ask questions that professional political interviewers like me would never think of in a Sunday month.
One thing I would advise Messrs Sunak and Truss to do is to avoid the mistakes Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt made in 2019. By the end of the series of clashes, I could recite their seven-minute opening speeches by heart. They told the same jokes over and over, not knowing that people watching online or on TV had heard it all before. Stir it up.
Don’t go on stage with any notes. If you can’t speak for seven minutes without notes, what on earth are you doing running for leader of the Conservative Party? And be yourself. Jeremy Hunt would take to the stage and wave to the crowd, which, as today’s young people would say, was “full of thrills”, except for the finals at London’s Excel Centre, which were attended by an astonishing 4,000 party members. I remember looking out into the crowd and thinking “boy, this party has changed.” Forty percent of the faces were non-white, something we now saw reflected in the lineup of the 11 original candidates.
For various reasons, I will not be presiding over any of the races this time around. I understand that there will be a different presenter for each of the dozen events. That’s a good thing. Candidates are likely to find it quite challenging. But there must be another change. Last time, each candidate took the stage separately. They didn’t argue with each other. This time there should be 20 minutes aside where the two sit in chairs and discuss the big issues one on one. At each meeting, they must discuss a different issue. It won’t happen, of course, because the party, as in 2019, will find it too risky. A shame.
Iain Dale presents LBC Radio’s Evening Show
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