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TONIGHT, BRITISH PRIME Minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will go head-to-head in their final live television debate before next week’s UK general election.
Chaired by Nick Robinson, Johnson and Corbyn will face each other in Maidstone in the BBC’s prime ministerial debate at 8.30pm.
A BBC spokesperson has said supporters of the Conservatives and Labour will be roughly equal in the audience, followed by a smaller number roughly for the SNP and the Liberal Democrats, and a handful for the smaller parties.
She said questions will come from members of the audience recruited by market research consultancy Savanta ComRes, and from members of the public who have submitted questions via the BBC website.
The spokesperson said questions will be chosen by the editorial team producing the programme, with the aim of reflecting the issues which matter to the public and which feature prominently during the election campaign.
Johnson and Corbyn went head-to-head in their first debate for the election on 19 November, after the Lib Dems and SNP lost a legal challenge to take part.
According to a YouGov poll that asked responders “Leaving aside your own party preference, who do you think performed best overall in [the] debate”, 51% answered Boris Johnson, and 49% answered Jeremy Corbyn.
Since then, a Channel 4 debate on 29 November led to a row between the Conservative Party and the television station, as the Tories accused the broadcaster of “conspiring” with Jeremy Corbyn to block them from a TV leaders’ debate.
The party made a formal complaint to Ofcom’s election committee as an ice sculpture was used in Boris Johnson’s place in the Channel 4 News debate on climate change.
Johnson had been accused of “running scared” when he did not join the other party leaders, with Michael Gove instead turning up and asking if he could stand in for him, before being turned away because he is not a party leader.
This fiasco came as Tory sources were reported as saying that if the party wins the coming election on 12 December, it will reassess Channel 4′s public service broadcasting licence.
Meanwhile, Johnson has repeatedly refused to commit to an interview with the BBC’s veteran journalist Andrew Neil, despite the fact that other party leaders have done so.
Last week, the BBC had reportedly told Johnson that he would not be allowed to go on the Andrew Marr show unless he faced Neil too.
Johnson offered to appear on Marr’s programme, but the broadcaster turned him down because he would not submit himself to examination by Neil, The Daily Telegraph reported.
However, in the wake of the London Bridge attack last Friday, the BBC on Saturday confirmed that Johnson would, in fact, be interviewed on Marr’s show. He appeared on the show on Sunday.
Following tonight’s debate, the BBC will air a 90-minute Question Time for younger audiences featuring leading figures from each of the main parties on 9 December.
Includes reporting by Press Association
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On a recent trip there I couldn’t get over the amount of people practically standing on the edge taking selfies. The palms of my hands get sweaty just thinking about it. RIP to the poor lad.
@Nigel Ganley: i saw something similar in Dun Aonghasa some years back. People running to the edge to throw stones out over the cliff face into the sea. All you need to do is trip and it’s game over!
@Sean: There is the old saying, “you can’t put an old head on young shoulders” . And you never will, regardless of human progress, there will always be that reset factor each generation.
@Sean: That’s insane, it was a fort for a reason.
@Nigel Ganley: what’s the problem with me commenting, am I banned for some reason?
RIP
The poor guy, that’s just awful.
RIP.
@Dave Moran: gg
Happens too much, cost of a barrier has to be justified by now. One loss is too many. RIP
@Pip: yes ruining the landscape cause people can’t follow signs is the key
What’s to stop people climbing over a barrier to get their precious selfie.
@Pip: there is a barrier there. Selfie takers often hop over barriers to take their photos. I can’t say that is what happened in this case.
@O Swetenham: gravity
@Pip: yes there is a barrier already there, but people don’t heed the barriers and were walking and taking pics near to the edge.
@Anne: the barriers don’t run all the way. Plenty of spots where you can walk to the edge
@John Doe: Aye, the edge. A cliff edge. Perhaps we should employ advisers, advising in various languages, in high-vis jackets that the consequences of falling over the edge of the cliff are not usually healthy.
@John Doe: so putting a barrier around the entire coastline is the only answer
@Pip: don’t press the red button
@Pip: build a wall sure
@Fergus Sheahan: no I think putting something nice and soft to land on would be better ?
@Fergus Sheahan:
A barrier for prevention of accidental death or future copy for glib, smart-ass comments….?
@Fergus Sheahan: While I totally agree with what you said, I’m curious if there’s any chance of the cliffs collapsing with people walking on the edge.
@John Doe: cape St.Vincent in Portugal ,in Roman times it was the edge of the world then, has no barriers, and people don’t fall off in droves, people climb over barriers anyway it would be a waste of money. Standing close to sea cliffs is dangerous and people know that
@StevieB: your a dumb ass
With respect to the deceased I’m surprised this made the news because it happens a lot at the Cliffs of Moher that we don’t hear about.
66 deaths listed in this report for instance:
@bopter: Jesus….that’s a death every 4.5 months.
@Michael Carolan: unfortunately that article appears to conclude that many of them were intentional as opposed to accidental, although the percentages in the abstract don’t appear to makes sense, unfortunately the suicides don’t appear to be reported in the media
@Vocal Outrage: unfortunate? Do you wish to promote ways of suicide to vulnerable people? Best to speak about these issues but no need for specific detail in the media.
@dstaffx: cop on, of course I’m not trying to promote suicide you tool. My issue is that we don’t speak about suicide at all, hence we don’t even have a solid grasp on the extent of the problem as many suicides are not reported nor recorded as such
@Vocal Outrage: you tool? How mature.
@dstaffx: neither is it mature to accuse someone of promoting suicide
@dstaffx: you are a tool.
@bopter: Because he was a guest in our country?
Practically gale force winds there on Monday and saw people sitting right on the ledge with their legs dangling, others standing right at the edge. All for social media.
Selfies and gravity, bad combo
Visited there a few years ago on a fairly wet and windy day – good crowd despite the weather and I enjoyed the cliff top walk behind the wall but was horrified to see several people hop out onto the slippy cliff top grass to look over the edge and take photos.
Done the centre exhibition and got a bun and coffee – sat down at a table with a view out but had to move because I could see more folk right along the south stretch doing the same and didn’t want the sight of somebody tumbling over to be my enduring memory of the day.
RIP to the poor lad and sympathy for his friends and family – thoughts with anyone who seen his fall as well.
very sad to hear R.I.P
What’s the point in a fence or a barrier ? If the sight of the ocean hundreds of feet below you when standing a safe distance from the edge doesn’t convince you it’s a bad idea to go any closer nothing will.
What is it with these young people and their stupid selfies seriously can’t understand it at all. RIP
So sad for such a beautiful place R.I.P
*tragedy
@thomas patrick: an awful lot of d1ckheads making jokes on this story. Thankfully some removed already. Unfortunately some disrespectful ones remain!
Terrible tradegy ..
Tragic. I can understand the appeal, I think most of us have looked over that cliff without fear.
The poor lad. Having come all this way. My heart goes out to his family.
Rip young man. Too many tourists taking risks for a good photo.
Terribly sad . The lengths people will go for a selfie or photo.
Was there this summer. The barrier doesn’t extend far enough along the cliffs to offer protection to the large number of people visiting. Nor is there security personnel to warn or restrain people. Visiting Giant’s Causeway during the same holiday there are staff to stop people from getting too close to the sea where there’s a danger of being washed out to sea in rough weather. At the cliffs I saw lots of people from outside Ireland who, with the draw of crowds, were underestimating the danger of standing too close to the edge of the un-protected cliff edge.
Terrible tragedy RIP
I’m surprised there aren’t more tragedies like this. I’ve visited the Cliffs numerous times and have witnessed people climbing over barriers and walls every time I’ve visited. A woman in her 40′s once asked me if I’d take her photo and after she handed me the camera she proceeded to climb down from the trail and onto a very narrow ledge which had barely enough room for her to stand upon and had nothing but the rocks and sea beneath it. I quickly took the shot and after she’d climbed back safety I asked her if she realized how unstable and fragile the cliffs are and that I hoped she’d not take any more chances like that. Once I saw two girls trying to do handstands for photo purposes with only a couple of feet between them and the cliff edge. I posted something to a tourism fb page few years ago following a visit to the Cliffs and after witnessing so many tourists putting themselves in harm’s way. Some people actually replied and said that ‘at least these people were having fun and doing exciting things and if they died, they’d die doing something they loved instead of sitting home in an armchair. Pardon me, but one can have fun and excitement without intentionally risking your life by ignoring signage and barriers for a photograph or selfie.
Build a wall to make it safer like trump said :)
Selfiecidal
@StevieB: as good as.ylur comment any day. A new word for a now common way to die
Seen an idiot of a father sitting on the edge, shouting at his son to come out, son crawled out on his stomach petrified. Some idiots out there.
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