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Hilary Benn discusses the leadership debate

cleggbrowncam
Friday, 23rd April 2010
Jason Rose caught up with Hilary Benn, Labour Cabinet Minister, in his home constituency to discuss the impact of the leadership debates and how Labour have fared.
  • What did you think of the debate?

Hilary: I thought the three leaders got stuck into the issues. I thought Gordon Brown was terrific because all of his qualities which he brings to the job of Prime Minister were there for people to see tonight. He's serious; he talks about the substance; he's been doing things, grappling with the most difficult economic recession for 60 years; he's strong on security - why we're in Afghanistan and why we need to protect ourselves - and I think it was livelier than last week and it's just *really* refreshing to hear three politicians giving their case without being interrupted all the time by interviewers and commentators. I think that's why these debates are terrific, they're good for democracy and they're going to be part of General Elections in years to come.

  • And it has been good to see them agreeing for once, as well!

Hilary: Sure; if you agree with someone, you don't have to have a fight about it. But there were also some fundamental disagreements. I think on Europe, the fact that David Cameron has marginalised the Tories by leaving the grouping in the right-of-centre grouping that he was part of and wandered off with this strange coalition. In Europe, you know I represent Britain on the Council of Ministers and the Department of Environment and Agriculture: it's all about arguing your case, winning friends, building alliances and influencing what's going on in Europe and you can't do that from the sidelines. Gordon, I thought, made that point very very forcefully indeed. And I have no idea what the Lib Dems think on the nuclear deterrant because Nick Clegg seemed really unable to deal with that at all. I think that Gordon was really terrific tonight. He said right at the beginning, "if this is a competition just about style, count me out" and that is authentic Gordon because that is not what he is about. He's a serious politician for serious types and the right person to lead this country in the future and I think a lot of people will see that.

  • Obviously you were impressed by Brown. Who do you think impressed the public? Do you think they agree or did the other two fare well?

Hilary: Well you see the polls that came up after the programme and they were much much closer this time. Last week's debate, on style and presentation, Nick Clegg won. But that's not what the election is about. In the end, politics is about making decisions. It's about doing the right thing, especially in tough circumstances. And that requires character and it requires judgement and determination and grit and astonishing resiliance. And you think all of what Gordon Brown has had thrown at him and it's that exact resilience and intelligence and understanding of what needs to be done and I think the public will have seen that.

  • One final question. This is the first time we have had leadership debates on TV. How do you think this has influenced the election, do you think this has influenced the result and what do you see parliament looking like in a week's time?

Hilary: Well, we'll only know the answer to that, and we all want to know it, when the votes are counted in the early hours of the 7th May. But I think that it's given a lot of people the chance to hear the arguments being put. And seeing that there is a real choice and it's not true that all the parties are the sameand it doesn't make any difference. It's just nonsense. You only have to look at what Labour have done in the last 13 years: whether it's the minimum wage, the human rights act, whether it's an increased aid budget, the child trust fund, the tax credit, trade union recognition or civil partnerships; the fact is that these things didn't happen by accident but happened because of our politics. And what influences people is the values that you've got and I'm really proud of Labour values and we've seen those expressed by the government over the last 13 years. When times are tough, what you really want to look at is who's values you most entrust and who you really think will make the right decision. You may not always agree with everything they've done but for me it's Labour values which won the debate tonight in the form of the answers that Gordon gave.

Hilary Benn is the MP for Leeds Central and was analysing the debate with Eddie Izzard in a private club on the Leeds waterfront.

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#1 Anonymous
Fri, 23rd Apr 2010 5:31pm

I prefer the Josh Chambers interview to this.

#2 Jason Rose
Sat, 24th Apr 2010 8:45am

I got a quote about that, too, but it's not suitable for repeating. Also, his interview was pretty poor considering it won SRA - his Rory Shanks one was better. His Hilary Benn was unsuitable for the setting - it was a press conference before a speech about environmental issues

#3 Anonymous
Sat, 24th Apr 2010 1:34pm
  • Sat, 24th Apr 2010 1:34pm - Edited by the author

I loved the Rory Shanks interview

#4 Anonymous
Sun, 25th Apr 2010 1:54am

Josh Chambers' interview with Rory Shanks was the very definition of unprofessional journalism- he let his personal feelings towards him massively bias the questions that he asked.

And that's not to mention his pretentious, 'holier than thou' approach.

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