General election leaders' debate: Johnson and Corbyn were uncomfortable to watch
Both men were laughed at by the audience in the first TV debate of the election campaign, writes Sky's Sam Coates.
Wednesday 20 November 2019 10:19, UK
Jeremy Corbyn was laughed at for not answering about which side of the Brexit debate he would be on.
Boris Johnson was laughed at for claiming that he believes truth matters.
No wonder the most powerful question of the evening was about the personal integrity and strength of character of the two men.
It is not clear that the awkward handshake at the instigation of the ITV host will change much.
It was painful watching Mr Corbyn sidestep three big questions on the future of the UK.
He did not have a clean answer to whether or not the union was more important than Brexit, nor on whether he would campaign for or against EU membership in the second referendum he wants, nor whether he would have a second referendum on Scottish independence.
His answers did not carry clear meaning, as the prime minister pointed out delightedly. The contrast with his clean answers on the monarchy - that it "needs a bit of improvement" - was stark.
Mr Johnson's answers were clearer - but were they right?
He again insisted that he would get a trade deal by the end of next year - which many experts doubt - and that no part of the health service would play any part in a trade deal, which official documents have questioned.
He also said that the UK "comes out entire and perfect" under his Brexit deal despite many, including his brexit secretary, saying there will need to be exit checks for goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.
During the debate, Conservative headquarters changed their Twitter handle to "FactcheckUK", masquerading as an independent fact checker of with a similar name and using it to score political points about Mr Corbyn - the kind of grubby move that should undermine trust in the operation.
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Mr Johnson's persistence in hogging the microphone beyond his allotted time was at times uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as Mr Corbyn's strong lens in his left eye catching the studio light, with an apparently red eye behind it.
This shouldn't matter but viewers will be wondering what happened, while political spin doctors might question why more wasn't done to prepare the public and media for the seemingly unusual look.
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