ITV debate reader verdict: ‘The rest are political pygmies compared to Nigel Farage’

Another seven-way debate with leading figures from the seven biggest political parties across Britain  –  including Penny Mordaunt, Angela Rayner and Nigel Farage – was hosted by ITV on Thursday night.

Following the clash, Tim Stanley claimed the winners were Nigel Farage and Stephen Flynn, “who also provided the brightest sparks”, while Sam Ashworth-Hayes thought Angela Rayner showed some awareness of the need for big ideas to fix the NHS.

Telegraph readers were also quick to weigh in with their verdict. An exclusive poll conducted by The Telegraph showed 63 per cent of 60,000 readers thought Nigel Farage came out on top, followed by Penny Mordaunt with 21 per cent of votes.

Many noticed Mr Farage had a new spring in his step following the news which broke only minutes prior that Reform UK had overtaken the Conservatives in an opinion poll for the first time.

William Tell, for example, believed Mr Farage dominated the debate. “The rest are political pygmies compared to him,” he added.

Like many readers, P. M. Bosworth thought Mr Farage was “the only one with common sense and says what we’re all thinking.”

Likewise, another anonymous reader believes, “Mr Farage is the only man who acknowledges what this country and its people want and need. Labour wants all our money and the Tories have lost their Conservative credentials.”

S.D.H labelled all leaders but Mr Farage “traitors”, pointing out that “all except Mr Farage openly admitted to wanting even more endless mass migration.”

Meanwhile, Stephen Hawkridge praised Mr Farage’s approach, saying: “Well played Mr Farage. You dealt with the ‘Brexit bad’ attack without hesitation and dismissed the puerile ‘dog whistle’ slur with the contempt it deserved.”

In contrast, readers thought Penny Mordaunt had a tough time and were generally critical of Angela Rayner’s performance.

Ryan Brighton thought Mr Farage had a “field day”, whereas he felt a “tad bad” for Ms Mordaunt. He adds: “She’s defending what she knows is indefensible. Surely it should be the Deputy PM rather than her here?”

Likewise, Ed Rust wasn’t impressed with Ms Mordaunt but acknowledged the difficulty she faced: “How do you defend the Tories with their terrible track record on everything?”

Oliver Beeching weighed in: “Even the Conservatives know it’s over now. Ms. Mordaunt is barely even being serious at this point. She’s just debunking Labour she knows everyone is laughing and she doesn’t seem to care.”

Mark Boyle came in slightly stronger: “Oh, Penny Mordaunt! If you keep your seat after this, it will be a miracle – a display of utter ineptitude that reduced Mr Farage to genuine fits of laughter at one stage.”

Although Nick Zealand felt “Penny Mordaunt was not allowed to respond to the many attacks on her party, which is a shame” and, in her defence, thought “she did quite well”.

‘Looked weak’

On Angela Rayner, Richard Weeks thought she “looked weak on her understanding of policies, constantly harping back to her time in Unison where she felt on safe ground”.

Meanwhile, David McLellan argued that she was “worryingly bad. Worrying in the sense that she is going to be the most powerful woman in the country if you believe the polls and she was incapable of making a coherent argument.”

Many were heavily critical of Ms Rayner’s points on Labour’s policy on placing VAT on private school fees. K. Dodwell, for example, voiced: “They haven’t got a clue how these schools budget and the policy is pure socialist dogma based on envy.”

However, some readers were left impressed by Labour’s deputy leader. Reader Mike Prince argued that “she was far and away the most formidable performer and she, more importantly, is the only one who truly gets what it’s like to work hard and truly rise above your surroundings to achieve something special in life”.

Similarly, Stephen Murphy deemed her the “most impressive” and “straightforward” of the candidates.

‘More applause’

On the production of the debate, some, including reader M.F., argued that the ITV debate was “much less biased than the BBC one.” They reason: “Mr Farage has managed to get more applause and even a couple of funny lines in. Just shows you how raging Left-wing the BBC now is.”

Another anonymous reader thought that “although there was a lot of anti-Brexit applause at one point, the audience did seem more balanced” and also pointed out that Mr Farage even “got a few good responses from them”.

Jay Park thought it was “well controlled”, adding: “ITV certainly showed BBC how to run a debate show (again).”

However, others criticised the format. Richard Lindsay deemed it “a mess” and “pointless”.

Whereas, Phillip Mason lamented: “How very sad that British politics today has been reduced to the level of a second-rate TV game show.”

James Connolly also didn’t think the debate format worked and took issue with the involvement of “Plaid Cymru, SNP and Greens”, questioning: “Are we really interested in their warped policies?”

Mr Connolly wasn’t alone in his views, with other readers deeming their involvement “irrelevant”. Gillian Gill asserted: “They’re not on my ballot paper.”