Abigail has an army of followers.
Given that Theresa May hasn’t given a whole lot of public speeches or engaged in many debates during the general election campaign, Friday night’s Question Time: Leaders Special was the perfect opportunity for members of the public to express their concerns and questions to the Prime Minister.
Granted, every politician will renege on promises and statements during their career, but it’s very rare to see a member of the public actually call out someone that’s in such a high position of political power.
Truth be told, these debates are highly unlikely to swing the vote of anyone that’s a hardcore Tory, Labour Lib Den, Green, UKIP etc supporter, but they might influence anyone that’s still undecided.
What debate does allow is an opportunity for the public to demand answers from their electorate, and in the case of Abigail, she was incredibly skeptical of Theresa May’s character in lieu of the various promises that the Conservative leader hasn’t fulfilled.
Take a look as Abigail accuses May of ‘back tracking’ over her views on Remain/Leave, the Prime Minister’s decision to call a general election, and finally, May’s reluctance to speak publicly or engage in a one-on-one discussion with Jeremy Corbyn.
An audience member accuses @Theresa_May of 'back-tracking' as PM on many fronts, including calling a snap election #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/aETHnCCHWK
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) June 2, 2017
Abigail’s speech won plenty of admirers, but she wasn’t the only person in the audience that people respected.
Abigail 🔥🔥🔥👌 #bbcqt
— Hannah Jane Parkinson (@ladyhaja) June 2, 2017
Abigail just owned the Prime Minister. Good work, Abigail. #bbcqt
— Angry Scotland (@AngryScotland) June 2, 2017
https://twitter.com/chris_coltrane/status/870725020896645120
In terms of the Labour election campaign, it’s very likely that very few other gaffes have been as public as as Diane Abbott’s miscalculations.
In recent weeks, the shadow home secretary was left attempting to cover her tracks after she wrongly guessed the number of seats the party has lost in the elections. This paled in comparison though to her attempts to articulate the cost of Labour’s plan to put 10,000 extra police officers on the street.
Abbott initially said the scheme would cost £300,000 – meaning officers would earn just £30 a year – before quickly landing on a figure of £80million. Even if £80m was correct, that would still only leave officers with £8,000 a year.
Well, this point was reiterated by Theresa May during Friday’s Leaders Debate, but one audience member was quick to remind the Prime Minister of a recent financial miscalculation that was also made by Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who also got his figures wrong to the amount of £20 billion.
Take a look.
Philip Hammond got his figures wrong by £20 BILLION last week on the radio – at least one audience member remembers… #BBCQT pic.twitter.com/2zmQhIdHMJ
— EL4C (@EL4JC) June 2, 2017
https://twitter.com/Apete4010/status/870728935482511363
May criticised Abbott for getting her numbers wrong – audience member rightly points out Hammond didn't know how much HS2 cost #BBCQT
— Maya Goodfellow (@MayaGoodfellow) June 2, 2017
