From the blog: Energy and climate change secretary Amber Rudd’s attack on Boris Johnson during the ITV referendum debate earlier this month included a jibe that the former London mayor, while the life and soul of the party, could not be trusted to drive you home afterwards.
I interpreted this roughly as: charisma and pragmatism are two very different qualities, and Boris has a greater track record of the former. Not an outrageous statement in a political debate, though quite entertaining, I thought.
I interpreted this roughly as: charisma and pragmatism are two very different qualities, and that Boris has a greater track record of the former. Not an outrageous statement in a political debate, though quite an entertaining analogy, I thought.
Rudd has been criticised for this attack; the media termed it ‘nasty’ and said she was ‘twisting the knife’. Many also expressed their disdain at the BBC debate on Tuesday night. But isn’t this what politics is about – heated debates, sometimes involving clashing egos or even fellow party members being attacked in public?
I was thrilled by both debates, not just because they were about our future, and certainly not because I thought the politicians were particularly convincing in terms of arguments.
But for the first time I saw these politicians as, seemingly, genuinely passionate – and though much was still well scripted, it was somehow more authentic than usual.
Some might say the TV debates were lowbrow, and they probably were. But there was also clearly something new. It seemed that the politicians took the subject – and therefore voters – seriously this time.
They had just remembered that people can vote whichever way they want, and no party whip can tell them not to. Perhaps we should thank Ros Altmann for her recent "voting Brexit overrules your own MPs" tweet (not surprisingly, it has since been removed from her Twitter page), which prompted some people to point out that MPs serve the people, not vice versa.
Politicians and voters are not completely unlike trustees and members. It would be interesting to see trustee meetings televised like those debates, employers on one side, trustees on the other. In the PPF or out? Agree to the recovery plan or not? It would boost engagement no end.
June 24
Even though it was tight, many probably expected a narrow Remain win as the polls had predicted, but then, how accurate were they last time? The last-ditch – desperate? – attempt by Remain to sway people with passionate TV performances did not cut it for voters.
The Financial Times is talking about "market shockwaves" and asks what Mark Carney might come up with faced with this new reality. The German minister of foreign affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier called the Leave result "sobering" according to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, while French newspaper Le Monde said the vote laid bare how deeply divided the UK is.
Markets have, you'll have seen it, reacted very strongly: the pound has dropped and a general flight to safety is underway. Is this the start of the much-feared recession following a Leave vote? Or will the change create opportunities?
