Boris Johnson didn’t implode in the BBC debate. So for him, it’s a win

I’m not sure we learned terribly much this from the rather noisy BBC debate this evening. Each Tory candidate had rehearsed the answers so well that they sounded like pull-string dolls at times.  If you watched Ch4’s debate on Sunday – conducted along the lines of its old Fifteen-to-One gameshow – you’ll have heard many of these lines before. Michael Gove strong on his own reforming record and Corbyn-baiting, not so strong on the economy. Sajid Javid a bit more willing to use his biography as strategy, at one point having his rival candidates agree to an inquiry into Islamophobia in the Tory party (although I’m not sure how far this will endear him to the Tories whose votes he is seeking). Jeremy Hunt coming up with a more interesting version of his life story, cramming in yet-more references to his status as an entrepreneur and, this time, to his mixed-race children.