Inside the spin room: Behind the scenes of the first debate between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer
Just moments after the debate had ended, a flood of Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer’s most loyal lieutenants came flooding into the media’s so-called spin room.
A herd of Westminster journalists had migrated from London to Salford’s Media City for the contest and were braced for bold claims from both sides about how their guy had won.
The post-debate rush by Labour and the Conservatives to get their message across was the highlight of the night for hacks who had waited hours in a seminar-style room above the set of Coronation Street.
The debate itself, not so much.
There were some laughs as Sir Keir and Mr Sunak traded blows over tax, immigration and the state of the NHS. There were sighs as the Labour leader took a gimmicky question about football a little too seriously.
But the room was largely muted throughout the contest as hacks furiously tried to process the sums being tossed back and forth between the men vying to become prime minister.
The biggest laughs of the night were certainly for Sir Keir. Political journalists have heard endlessly from the Labour leader about his father’s career as a toolmaker, his past life as the director of public prosecutions and how the NHS is part of his DNA.
But, as pollsters pointed out before the debate, the public have not. Just a tenth of voters know what Sir Keir’s father did for a living, and he was clearly keen to get those numbers up.
Lobby hacks chuckled away as he repeated the mantra “my dad is a toolmaker” to tout his working-class credentials.
But the spin room also erupted into laughter at a rare successful Sir Keir gag, when he mocked the maths behind Mr Sunak’s claim that NHS waiting lists are coming down.
He lost the room with his response to a question from England manager Gareth Southgate, with present journalists sighing and beginning to wish the debate had ended sooner.
And then the spin room kicked into action. A jubilant Jonathan Ashworth and a more serious-looking Pat McFadden inserted themselves into a huddle of journalists armed with questions about whether Sir Keir’s performance was up to scratch.
Of course, attack dog Mr Ashworth argued, while Labour’s national campaign coordinator Mr McFadden took a more reasoned stance. “The choice after the debate is the same as before,” he told journalists, clearly keen for a return to the monotony of the debate.
Mr Ashworth also unleashed an attack on Mr Sunak’s temper, saying: “Did you see how much he was interrupting? No wonder they call him tetchy Sunak.”
Also present was Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, who focused his attention on the airwaves, taking on a flurry of broadcast interviews to hammer the Tories.
On Mr Sunak’s team, ministers Claire Coutinho, Victoria Atkins, Michael Gove and Johnny Mercer also opted for air war, dodging huddles of print journalists in favour of a spot in front of the camera.
But backed into a corner, retiring Mr Gove claimed that the debate was a six-nil win for the prime minister. He clearly had not seen a YouGov poll showing the public thought differently, it was 51-49 in favour of the PM.
A draw for Mr Sunak, however, equals a win for the Labour Party as it sits more than 20 points clear of the Conservatives in the opinion polls.
Mr Gove wanted to stick the boot in further, claiming that even failed former Labour leader Ed Miliband would have done better than Sir Keir.
He said Sir Keir’s performance has left the Labour Party “in confusion, disarray and despondency”. “They wanted to walk this general election, but Keir Starmer has fallen flat on his face,” Mr Gove added.
Before Mr Gove was allowed to scuttle off, however, a dogged hack fired one more question at the senior MP.
In a sign perhaps of how exciting the debate truly was, attention was turned back to the insurgent campaign of ex-UKIP boss Nigel Farage.
“Aren’t the Tories in disarray because of Nigel Farage,” a journalist asked.
Mr Gove said: “Reform are just a branch of the Labour Party.”
