Tories claim a narrow win in first Sunak-Starmer debate

It was tetchy at points. And, in the words of one Tory candidate watching from afar, “not very edifying”. But Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer’s first TV debate in the UK’s election campaign was always going to see the two men fight dirty. Both went hard with prepared attack lines covering not just their policies but their lives before politics. Before becoming an MP Sunak was “making money betting against the country,” Starmer claimed, referring to the prime minister’s past life at a hedge fund. “I’d rather have my job than work for Abu Qatada,” Sunak retorted, highlighting the more controversial clients the former defence lawyer represented. The debate sprawled across the country’s chewier challenges – from the cost of living crisis and the NHS to taxes and climate change – without illuminating much about either candidate’s solutions for any of them. Neither claimed an outright victory. One Labour candidate said Starmer “held back slightly and didn’t fight hard enough”. A Tory advisor claimed Sunak “won on points; no knockout blow though, so Labour will take it.”