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Theresa May mocked for claiming election lacked 'debates' after refusing to take part in any

Prime Minister also says it is important to meet members of the public, despite having been criticised for behind-closed-doors events

Benjamin Kentish

Friday 29 September 2017 21:45 BST

Theresa May claimed the Conservatives were unprepared for the snap election, which she called (Getty)

Theresa May has claimed the 2017 general election campaign lacked “debate” – despite having repeatedly refused to take part in TV debates with other party leaders.

The Prime Minister did not turn up for a televised leaders’ debate in Cambridge, instead sending Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, to represent the Government. The leader of every other major UK political party attended the event.

Ms May also refused to go head-to-head with Jeremy Corbyn on other occasions, saying she thought it was “more important” to meet voters.

At the time, she said: “I think the debates where the politicians are squabbling amongst themselves don’t do anything for the process of electioneering.”

She also suggested she would not be able to take part in televised debates because she was too busy preparing for Brexit negotiations.

But in an interview with The House magazine to mark the start of the Conservatives’ party conference in Manchester, Ms May reminisced about past years “when there was much more of an emphasis on people coming together for debates during election campaigns”.

She added: “Now it’s much more disparate, campaigning and messaging, precisely because there are so many more people on social media talking to each other about the campaign and political parties interacting with that as well.”

Her comments were picked up by Jeremy Corbyn, who tweeted:

In the interview, with former Tory leader Lord Howard, Ms May also highlighted her belief in the importance of traditional door-knocking and meeting voters. The Conservatives’ general election campaign was criticised at the time after the Prime Minister held a series of behind-closed-doors events away from members of the public.

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

Show all 6

1/6The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

Brexit

The big one. Theresa May has spoken publicly three times since declaring her intent to stand in the Tory Leadership race, and each time she has said, ‘Brexit means Brexit.’ It sounds resolute, but it is helpful to her that Brexit is a made up word with no real meaning. She has said there will be ‘no second referendum’ and no re-entry in to the EU via the back door. But she, like the Leave campaign of which she was not a member, has pointedly not said with any precision what she thinks Brexit means

Reuters

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

General election

This is very much one to keep off the to do list. She said last week there would be ‘no general election’ at this time of great instability. But there have already been calls for one from opposition parties. The Fixed Term Parliaments Act of 2010 makes it far more difficult to call a snap general election, a difficulty she will be in no rush to overcome. In the event of a victory for Leadsom, who was not popular with her own parliamentary colleagues, an election might have been required, but May has the overwhelming backing of the parliamentary party

Getty

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

HS2

Macbeth has been quoted far too much in recent weeks, but it will be up to May to decide whether, with regard to the new high speed train link between London, Birmingham, the East Midlands and the north, ‘returning were as tedious as go o’er.’ Billions have already been spent. But the £55bn it will cost, at a bare minimum, must now be considered against the grim reality of significantly diminished public finances in the short to medium term at least. It is not scheduled to be completed until 2033, by which point it is not completely unreasonable to imagine a massive, driverless car-led transport revolution having rendered it redundant

EPA

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

Heathrow expansion

Or indeed Gatwick expansion. Or Boris Island, though that option is seems as finished as the man himself. The decision on where to expand aviation capacity in the south east has been delayed to the point of becoming a national embarrassment. A final decision was due in autumn. Whatever is decided, there will be vast opprobrium

PA

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

Trident renewal

David Cameron indicated two days ago that there will be a Commons vote on renewing Britain’s nuclear deterrent on July 18th, by which point we now know, Ms May will be Prime Minister. The Labour Party is, to put it mildly, divided on the issue. This will be an early opportunity to maximise their embarrassment, and return to Tory business as usual

EPA

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

Scottish Independence

Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP are in no doubt that the Brexit vote provides the opportunity for a second independence referendum, in which they can emerge victorious. The Scottish Parliament at Holyrood has the authority to call a second referendum, but Ms May and the British Parliament are by no means automatically compelled to accept the result. She could argue it was settled in 2014

AFP/Getty

However, she told The House: “Campaigning is changing. My own view is that you should never move away from the more traditional forms of campaigning. I still think knocking on doors and talking to people is an important part of campaigning,”

Ms May left herself open to further ridicule after telling Lord Howard the Conservatives were unprepared for the snap general election, which she called.

Asked if the snap election was a significant factor behind the result, which saw the Conservatives lose their parliamentary majority, she replied: “I think it was, because by definition in a snap election you’ve not been able to prepare people for it. So out there people have to work quite quickly to put their local campaigns together, and you do get slightly more of a central approach.”

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