Question Time tonight discussion thread and reactions to Robert Kenyon

[Brainstorm23]

Starting a thread to discuss Question Time tonight. I've seen some clips already and Robert Kenyon comes across as well as you'd expect.

That's great. She looked very pleased with herself after her contribution and rightly so!

Lowe also criticised Farage over a misleading attack ad Reform put out against Badenoch. I don’t believe he particularly cares about defending her or about misleading political ads in general, but he’s definitely trying to catch any voters put off by Farage and Reform.

(The ad showed Badenoch and speech marks saying “I don’t want to hear about white lives matter”. Which she did say, but the full quote was “I don’t want to hear about black lives matter. I don’t want to hear about white lives matter. Everyone matters. Henry Nowak matters”. Lowe tweeted very critically of this ad, said it was misguided, ugly and offensive)

Thank you for providing the quote of what she actually said in full. She sounds increasingly sensible to me and I'm a floating voter.

Re Kenyon, I didn't see QT. But I saw him being interviewed on a different programme recently and he didn't come across as very intelligent or up to the job.

I actually thought Burnham came across really well. I like his collaborative politics. We need more not less of that.

Agree, he also showed his total ignorance re immigration policy when someone asked him how he would “stop the boats”. He said words to the effect of “That's not up to me that would be someone else’s job”. Absolutely pathetic.

Restore are on 9% at the moment, the chances of them winning are minuscule.

Robert Kenyon exposed himself as a thick, inadequate arsehole - but the huge round of applause from the audience when the Green candidate painted herself into a corner re immigration / housing tells me that despite RK ineptitude people will vote Reform.

Really? Why wouldn’t people return to more mainstream parties if those on the more extreme end of Left or Right are proving not to have all the answers either?

I dont understand how any women would even contemplate voting for Reform. They hate women. His comments on social media show that. His views on abortion and women are abhorrent and this is reflected throughout the party - but the more experienced ones know what not to say out loud.

Kenyon is an idiot. Hopefully, the more exposure he gets, the more people will see this.

Restore are vile but useful idiots who will hopefully split the far right vote.

I like Burnham but I remain unconvinced that he is the solution to all of Labour's problems. I guess time will tell.

Thanks for this I had seen his criticism but not the miss quoting by reform. I think Farage wants to be PM. I think he’s one of the greatest barriers to Refom doing well in a general election If it’s truly about the cause (which I doubt) he needs to step down . Lowe on the other hand appears to be very well liked in his constituency but it harder right than Farage and certainly won’t be for everyone either.

Odds have lengthened for restore overnight which goes against my original thinking . I have not heard their candidate talk yet and I am up here. Seen nothing on local news. She is also local apparently. If she is hopefully more articulate than Mr Kenyon then who knows.

      Labour): <strong>2/5</strong>

• Reform UK: 11/4
• Restore Britain: 9/1
• Green: 500/1
• Others: 1000/1+

That’s an odd conclusion to reach. Anyone intending to vote Green and put off by her is more likely to vote Labour than Reform.

I agree but I genuinely think that Burnham and some of the mud around him particularly local mud. Reform and last night’s performances has not done them any favours

The other three parties are so far away. If Restores candidate is half decent and she has a shot depending on turnout. Think 65% voted leave they are obviously sick of what is on offer.

100% agree about Kenton and reform being a problem. People are voting for them.

But I also think people will applause on that point and not vote for reform. Because it’s basic math. You do not have to be a genius to work out a million extra people means a hell of a lot more houses. He didn’t get an applaud for initially saying that I don’t think. The applause only came when she had the gall to try to make out like he was a racist for saying that and he had to reiterate the point.

It's a lot more than 3 of the others that were on there, why did the BBC not invite Restore candidate when they were third in the polling.

I’m shocked so many people would vote for either Restore or Reform, both parties which are clearly misogynistic, anti-worker and who would destroy what little is left of our social fabric and cohesion. Parties of grievance who jump on any bandwagon going, pivoting from boats to disabled to working from home to women’s rights to SEND, and who are responsible for the state of the country given their support of economy destroying Brexit. They cater to the lowest common denominator of uneducated knee jerk racists and grifters. £5 million quid bribe anyone? Wife beater as an MP? Russian spy? Enabler of a tax dodging multi-millionaire to dodge £42 million in local taxes? Dubai living MP, not even living full time in the UK? If you think these people are on your side and want to make your life better as opposed to enriching themselves and their coke-addled buddies you really need to do some proper reading and thinking.

Maybe Restore were invited or the invites are based on current main parties in Government

Rupert Lowe was posting on X his complaint to the BBC for them not having their candidate on the programme. He's not my usual nightcap I hasten to add .... I also wanted to see his criticism of the Reform misquote of Badenoch. Elon Musk was there joining in with Lowe on some posts ... I do not go on X either!

I've just watched it and felt it was more like the Andy B show. I don't like Andy as a mayor, some of the things that have been brought in in my GM town due to GM funding are wasteful and lacking common sense.

I think the Tory candidate came across better than the others. I didn't like the Green candidate pushing women's rights.

I’ve just watched it too. I’ve never seen such collective revulsion as the women in the audience showed when Kenyon was attempting to defend his misogyny. I found it very cheering, he’s lost the female vote if that was anything to go by.

I agree that the best answer on the Henry Nowak question was from the Tory.

In fairness I was disappointed not to see Rebecca Shepherd on there. I have high hopes for her helping Burnham out. I think its highly possible had she come on and talked about her priorities, local business and SEND provision, she'd have swayed some of the right wing women who'd never vote Labour. In fact she may have done that just by not being Kenyon.

It does look like the added vote of Reform and Restore is just below Burnham. I wonder if anyone is advising how to vote tactically - as they did in the GE.

What don't you like that GMCA have brought in out of interest? I really love the buses (been a shock going to other places and the cost), and am massively impressed by the potential of LiveWell and WorkWell. Would have like a low carbon scheme, but with different regulations and better rules for van drivers. Where I live, the pollution levels are so high. It's causing much higher asthma rates in children.
I've met Burnham a few times and he comes across as decent and giving a shit. Ive also met Farage who did not!
I'm not a huge labour fan but would be much more happy with Burnham then, any of the current leaders on offer by any party.

It was an absolute car crash for the fake plumber sniffer Bob, exactly as predicted. He was forensically annihilated by the others on the panel. The Green Party lady came across well although I wouldn’t vote for them personally.

The only tactical voting that would help here is if Greens voted Labour (I really hoped they'd listen to Caroline Lucas and step down). Anyone wanting Reform out needs to vote Burnham. Anyone not wanting him/ or wanting to damage Labour generally, should vote Reform.
Lowe is obviously so personally invested in his fight against Farage he's putting that ahead of keeping Burnham out. Because he must know he can't win.