UK election debate: Common ground that UK austerity is over – Rabobank

The Rabobank research team is out with its take on the UK PM Johnson and Labour Party leader Corbyn debate that ended on a sour note.

Key Quotes:

“Finally, the first televised UK election head-to-head debate between BoJo and Corbyn produced an outcome that saw one viewer respond sadly, “I wouldn’t buy a used car from either of them”.  Indeed, the extremely rowdy TV audience, by UK standards, left the distinct impression the public see  both  men as being rear parts of a horse’s anatomy.

The two disagreed on almost everything, including how to pronounce Epstein–Corbyn managing to sound either very ‘rootsy’, or uncomfortably anti-Semitic, given his unorthodox “EpSHtein” over the more usual confusion on whether it is “Epsteen”; even the royal family were in the firing line. However,  there was common ground that UK austerity is over.

In terms of changing voters’ minds, Corbyn had an exceptionally easy ride considering how radical some of Labour’s manifesto policies are, being free to focus on BoJo’s untrustworthiness and the NHS.

Corbyn’s only major weakness, besides being accused of anti-Semitism, was Brexit, where there was still no commitment as to which way he would campaign in his proposed second referendum: BoJo pointed out the EU would hardly agree to a new deal with Labour if they don’t know if the government would back it in a subsequent plebiscite.

However, BoJo himself came across like Hugh Grant on a particularly stuttery day (for example, just after he arrested back in 1995).”