James Forsyth James Forsyth

Why both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn think they’ll benefit from this TV head to head

Normally wrangles about TV debates go on for weeks before one is agreed. Yet, before the election campaign has even formally started, ITV have announced a TV debate between Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson on November 19th. This’ll be the first election head to heard this country has had.

Agreement on this debate has been reached so fast, as I say in The Sun this morning, because  both Labour and the Tories think they benefit from this one on one format. On the Labour side, they hope that it helps them unite the anti-Tory vote behind Corbyn. While the Tories want a one on one debate because they think the question of who do you want to be Prime Minister—Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn—favours them.

During the 2017 campaign, Theresa May lost her lead on this question. But right now, Boris Johnson has a 23 point advantage over Corbyn.

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