To say questions have been raised about Sky’s debate audience last night would be an understatement. Despite two polls this week giving Liz a 32-34 point lead over rival Rishi, the audience was incredibly hostile towards her, with Rishi coming out on top. Sky News has said the audience was made up of undecided members. Guido’s not sure they did their homework properly…
One very critical anti-Liz audience member has already been identified as Jill Andrew, a former CCHQ lawyer and party candidate who stood against Boris for his Henley seat in 2001. Hardly a typical member…
The jewel in Sky’s audience crowd, however, was undoubtedly Tom Harding, who went to town on Liz over her regional pay boards u-turn before almost starting a fight with a fellow audience member standing up for her. Harding, it transpires, is none other than Anna Soubry’s former chief of staff…
Among Tom’s work for Soubry included defending her defection from the party in 2019 and supporting her 2016 campaign for Remain. Tom also appeared on Question Time in June this year – he gets around – to announce that “The only reason I’m a member of the party now is to get rid of Boris Johnson”.
“The only reason I’m a member of the party now is to get rid of Boris Johnson”
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) June 16, 2022
This #bbcqt audience member believes the Rwanda flights plan shows “incompetence” within government. pic.twitter.com/zh5suCDBDz
After a brief stint as a Tom Tugendhat fan, Soubry’s former chief bag carrier has swung in behind Rishi Sunak, a declaration he made publicly on July 20th, despite Sky claiming the audience was undecided.
Completely!!! If the party votes Truss then we deserve opposition. I’ll be using my vote for Rishi.
— Tom Harding (@TGHarding) July 20, 2022
This basic research isn’t difficult…
