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Behind in the polls, Rishi Sunak needed to come out fighting and take the gloves off in the first TV leaders’ debate.
And he did. He was aggressive, repeatedly challenging Sir Keir Starmer, particularly on tax, placing the Labour leader on the defensive.
Election latest: Voters think Rishi Sunak beat Keir Starmer in first TV debate, snap poll finds
The YouGov snap poll scored it at 51% for the prime minister and 49% for Sir Keir Starmer and that’s about right.
The prime minister probably just about shaded it. But Sir Keir needs to raise his game and match Mr Sunak’s fire with fire in the second debate later this month.
Mr Sunak stuck to a simple message on tax rises under Labour. Starmer repeatedly hammered Sunak on the Tories’ record over the past 14 years.
From the start, the prime minister went on the attack and rammed home his message accusing Labour of planning £2,000 tax rises.
He did it over and over again. Simple message: Labour will put up taxes, even for pensioners. It was crude, but effective.
The debate was almost over by the time Sir Keir finally dismissed the tax claim as “garbage” and for much of the debate the Labour leader was forced to react defensively rather than go on the attack himself.
This was raw politics. Yet vegetarian Rishi Sunak was the leader who sounded as though he’d been devouring red meat before the contest. Gorilla biscuits, even.
The Labour leader, a former director of public prosecutions (and how he reminded us of that fact repeatedly), is more used to addressing judges or juries. But not so much a TV audience.
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