'The whole thing was dismal': readers on the Tory TV debate

‘None of these candidates come close to having any attributes required to lead’

Most of us will have worked with or for a leader who has had the ability to inspire, to motivate, to explain, to prioritise, to delegate, to coach, to be authentic, to involve, to be intellectually agile, to set out a compelling vision and to make following her/him an honour. None of these candidates come close to having any of these attributes and it makes me despair for our country Zeitgit

‘The whole thing was dismal’

The whole thing was dismal. What seems striking is that anyone should continue to bother to ask these people exactly how they’ll get Brexit done, when it’s painfully obvious that their plans range from non-existent to laughable fantasy to just-about-possible-if-a-miracle happens.

The merits of leaving or remaining in the EU are now beside the point. Brexit has become a vacuous non policy, which depends for its continued existence on not being specified to any credible level of detail. Once you start to pin down exactly how it would be done, support evaporates from one side or the other.

Herein lies its real purpose: to create an endless and insoluble riddle, causing sufficient ongoing distraction and chaos to enable the disaster capitalists to ply their trade. There is no actual Brexit that true Brexiteers would support, because then it would become a boring and difficult reality; the fantasy is so much more appealing and useful to them. This is why Farage’s party had no manifesto. Michael Gallagher

‘The only solace I can take from all of this is that we will be facing a general election very, very soon.’

Every single one of them ignored the repeated question regarding the correlation between poverty and their ideological cuts. Johnson well and truly in script mode, maybe his handlers should have instructed basic listening and response skills. Stewart was squeezed out time and time again by Emily and the other candidates. The only solace I can take from all of this, given the majority view of PM candidates on Brexit, is that we will be facing a general election very, very soon. Jazzfunk23

‘I hope the privileged few who get to choose our leader think about who has a track record of achieving things’

My concern is that Johnson is not running for PM, but for ‘having been PM’ and the lucrative reward that this will afford him for the rest of his life. At least Stewart looks like he means it and that he wants to affect change of some sort. Gove, too, is committed I think and has a track record of actually achieving things... disastrous in education, but actually quite good in environment. I only hope the privileged few who get to choose our leader think about this, though I doubt many will be reading here! Exeprattler

‘No matter how much we mock Boris Johnson the UK is on a collision course with an economic crisis’

It’s satisfying and fun to rip in to this collection of deluded misfits. None of them deserves the top job, and most sensible people can see how flawed and uninspiring they are. But, the fact is that no matter how much we mock Boris Johnson’s mannerisms, or his hair, or his fecklessness, the UK is on a collision course with an economic crisis. Isn’t it about time we put aside the sniping partisan politics of our echo chambers and worked towards a solution? The first part of any way out of this mess must be the rejection of no deal as an option. The next stage would be a public consultation on what out negotiated leave options are and how they stack up against not leaving at all. It’ll never happen of course, but my point is that until the current tension is diffused nothing objective can be achieved. FreeThinker73

‘Gove is the most serious, the most informed and the most likely to be able to elicit some movement from the EU’

Out of this bunch Gove is by far the best candidate. That’s not to say that I like him, or his politics but considering this is a Tory leadership contest and I’ve voted Labour in every election of the last 30 years, I’m not going to like any of them. Gove is the most serious, the most informed and the most likely to be able to elicit some movement from the EU. The fact that he comes across as that annoying little pip from school doesn’t change that. Nor does what happened within education whilst he was there; the policies may have been poor but ultimately he delivered them, which was his job. I can’t stress enough that I don’t even want a Tory government, let alone one with any of these people running it. If we have to have one though and if it has to be run by one of these, it’s Gove. AndyOldham

‘Whoever takes leadership has a year, maybe two before they befall the same pitfalls as their predecessors’

On the plus side, the Tory party will almost certainly be crucified on the Brexit cross. Whoever takes leadership has a year, maybe two before they befall the same pitfalls as their predecessors. Reality is simply something none of them are able to face (bar Stewart). There is no logic, or ration, or reason, to what they are doing. Still they believe they can abolish legal issues with force of will. Frankly both main parties may well be sacrificed in the altar: If the Tories fail to deliver Brexit, they are doomed. When they deliver it, they have nothing left to offer other than tax cuts. AJVC1991

‘The woman who has fostered over 100 children impressed me the most’

Well, who impressed me the most, and who do I think has and is likely to make the biggest difference by their actions? I thought it was the woman who has fostered over 100 children, and asked the question about funding for children’s services – which none of them bothered to answer. Mizenhead1