Chuka Umunna is about to be on Question Time.

I should be going to bed, but I can’t resist staying up and watching.

Who’s with me?Chuka’s first intervention came to the first question, about the Labour manifesto. He talked about how Brexit would make it impossible for Labour to implement what it promised – especially as it would be tougher for people to come here to build the houses it said it wants.

“You cannot ignore the elephant in the room which is Brexit”@ChukaUmunna says ending free movement will make it ‘incredibly difficult’ for political parties to carry out their manifesto promises. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/QyLdKdpZsV

— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) November 21, 2019

A woman in the audience tried to make out it would be fine – but surely people in EU countries will head for other EU countries and ignore us – especially if we are going to extend the hostile environment to them.

Well this is getting a bit animated.

The second question was about the dreadful incident during the leaders’ debate when Conservative head office press account Twitter pretended to be a fact checking organisation.

This led to a brilliant intervention by a woman wearing a niqab. She talked about how she had a degree in English and was a teacher and how horrendous it was to have the Prime Minister talk about women like her in horrendously racist terms.

“How can I put my faith in a leader when that same leader likens me to a letterbox?”

This audience member, who is an English teacher, criticises Boris Johnson for previous comments he made about Muslim women in burkas. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/yzswGBIl7J

— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) November 21, 2019

Tory minister Robert Jenrick tried to dismiss this and Chuka just went for him – “you can’t seriously be defending this.” he said.

“All of those bar charts that the Lib Dems are putting on their leaflets, they’re perfectly reasonable are they?”

“I don’t lie to the Queen, like your prime minister”@ChukaUmunna and @RobertJenrick clash on the issue of public trust in politicians. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/bYIvWf2pZA

— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) November 21, 2019

The most amusing thing was Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon showcase his talent for digging while in a hole. He was the one who famously talked about how the polls showed Labour losing in 2017 – for Kay Burley to point out that Labour did in fact lose. The example he gave tonight about politicians misleading politicians was about the dodgy dossier.

The third question was about whether the Royal Family needed to be re-evaluated in the light of the scandal engulfing Prince Andrew. Chuka said that we don’t need to change the institution but talked about Prince Andrew’s behaviour as being disgraceful and how unfathomable it was for him to have gone and stayed with Epstein after his conviction.

The Lib Dems' @ChukaUmunna criticises Prince Andrew following his interview about Jeffrey Epstein. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/K9rHlNbMSP

— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) November 21, 2019

The last question was about fire safety in the wake of Grenfell and the fire in Bolton at the weekend. Chuka slammed the lack of action by the government, citing a Conservative housing minister who refused to order the cladding in the Bolton fire to be removed.

For once Question Time was actually watchable. Chuka seems very much at home as a Liberal Democrat.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social