Seriously, I’m not joking.
See for yourself.
A snapshot of the audience reaction to Willie Rennie #leadersdebate https://t.co/3HZRKyV7kU pic.twitter.com/WSHc1G2uyt
— The Daily Record (@Daily_Record) May 1, 2016
I thought he would do well, but I wasn’t quite expecting cheering, and rapturous applause for him.
On this occasion, it was his answer to a question on a second independence referendum which got the audience on his side. He said that the Parliament and Government needed to concentrate on the neglected issues like health and education, to concentrate on making Scotland the best country in the world again. You can’t do that, he said, while having a groundhog debate about independence. He told Nicola that she was the one being anti-democratic by refusing to accept the result of the poll just 20 months ago.
“When you don’t get the result you want, you just want to do it all again.” he shouted in an exasperated tone that had the audience with him.
I somehow managed to pass the BBC’s rigorous selection test, which consisted not just of an online questionnaire but also a phone interview. Here I am, on the right, in the blue dress, behind moderator Sarah Smith as she introduces the debate, captured on my friend Jade’s tv.
The debate was, rather bizarrely, held in the opulent surroundings of Hopetoun House in South Queensferry. From there, you can just about see where Willie Rennie rocked the political establishment by winning the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election in 2006. I arrived to discover that there was no internet signal. Being offline for four whole hours during waking hours is almost unheard of for me, but I somehow managed.
Unfortunately there wasn’t enough signal to tweet that for some reason the BBC didn’t trust us to walk a few feet from the place where we registered to the ballroom where the debate was being held. They hired a bus to take us over. I kid you not. You could walk it in less than a minute. The ballroom is more used to hosting weddings than political theatre. There was certainly plenty of drama.
Tory leader Ruth Davidson has been making a big push to replace Labour’s Kezia Dugdale as Leader of the Opposition. Handily, the BBC put her right next to Nicola Sturgeon so they could spend the hour picking fights with each other, panto style. The thought of that happening every Thursday at noon at First Minister’s Questions is not appealing. It was all a bit unedifying. Ruth really struggled, though, on the issue of the delays to the building of Royal Navy frigates at the Govan shipyards. She tried to make out she had a direct line to the Defence Secretary and that it was all going to be fine, but nobody believed her.
Willie’s answer to a question about the long-term future of the yards was the most forward-looking and thoughtful. He alone talked about the need for diversification into things like renewables, before giving Ruth yet more pain by reminding the audience how the Tories had cut the support for the renewables sector.
He managed to get all the key points about his positive vision for Scotland – investment in education, improvements in mental health care, protecting civil liberties and the environment. He showed himself to be sincere, knowledgable, reasonable and passionate about making Scotland the best. He did a very good job of reinforcing the points he’d been making through the campaign. And he certainly nailed the Tory lie that we had dropped our opposition to independence. Nobody could be in any doubt of that.
People were coming up to him afterwards and telling him they were going to vote Liberal Democrat for the first time. This has been happening all over Scotland, even in places where you would traditionally find only one Lib Dem in the county, let alone the village.
I’d say Kezia Dugdale, the most talented Labour leader in a long time, came second. She doesn’t get into the scraps, but she’s sincere, authentic and reasonable. Her contributions were thoughtful and practical. You can always tell when someone does well, because the cybernats get a bit overheated.
The Greens co-convener, Patrick Harvie was, as ever, high on rhetoric but low on practical detail.
Here are Willie’s best bits:
And you can watch the debate in full here.
Here are a few snippets of what people were saying on Twitter about Willie’s performance:
Looks like Willie Rennie won #Scotsleadersdebate tonight if takes momentum into Thursday Lib Dems might win a few seats 🙂
— Josh Halliday (@JoshHalliday94) May 1, 2016
Great job from @willie_rennie tonight, reasoned and focused on policies not the silly shouting down of opponents #leadersdebate
— Dreams by day (@matt_s_andrews) May 1, 2016
Willie Rennie just told us his "face went red" when he got that wild applause. He's not used to it, he says.
— Jamie Ross (@JamieRoss7) May 1, 2016
But you can’t please everybody…
@thommo_g Well… when Willie Rennie gets rousing applause, you KNOW the audience is umballanced
— Moreida Lord (@Leadinglady0609) May 1, 2016
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
13 Comments
Good stuff, thanks Caron. Down here the Scottish coverage has been overshadowed by Labour self-destructing, again. I’m actually not complaining, lol.
Very positive this , deserves to translate in votes at the ballot box ! Willie and the Labour and Conservative Leaders are all correct on the referendum , it is forty plus years since one on Europe , they are not meant to come like buses , in twos and threes at the same time when you do not want them ! Absolutely wrong of the SNP!
‘They hired a bus to take us over.’
Reminds me of what used to be routine at Heathrow going from a plane to the terminal. In 1996, long before I became involved in politics, I sat opposite Jo Grimond in bus at Heathrow while the terminal entrance was at most 150 yards away. He queried this with the bus crew. I had a strong impression that he wasn’t going to let it lie there.
Jo Grimond was a fine LIberal leader but he died in 1993
“umballanced” – is that an example of SNP Newspeak?
well, we shall see soon enough how pandering to the unionists conservative cause translates into votes up there. personally, am disappointed to hear liberals continuing to parrot an illiberal stance toward a process of self determination.
i watched the debate. the cheer was really less for willie rennie and rather more for his unionist sentiments. hey ho!
…really!
Do you really believe that audience represented a cross section of Scottish voters?
The returns I’ve seen indicate Tavish is toast and Liam is holding on by his finger tips. That is in your strongest Liberal fortress.
Only a few days to go for the reality to unfold.
http://wingsoverscotland.com/fully-represented/comment-page-1/#comment-2139868
The cartoon sums it up.
Wings is not the most credible source of information. Or anything, to be honest.
Caron at last we find something we agree about.
Is the composition of the studio audience divided equally between the parties or is it based upon polling to be more representative?
Interesting. I only saw the debate on Sunday night, and Mr Rennie wasn’t really that great, especially on the schools PFI item. Patrick Harvie was the only one in my mind that matched Nicola and they both tore Ruth and Kezia to pieces. As for stuff about another referendum, we all know it’s a Brexit ploy, and the subject is rarely raised by the SNP, but mostly by their opponents. Better for all to let it drop because we’ don’t know what support one way or another is going to be like in a few years time.
Clootie, your thoughts now? The North Isles result was not too shabby for the Libs. You might want to have a heart to heart with whoever did the returns.