12 scathing reactions to the news of the BBC’s Tory leadership debates

As James Cleverly announced his intention to stand for the leadership of the Conservative Party, bringing the number of prospective PMs to eleven, the BBC announced its own intention to hold debates between whichever hopefuls are still in the running by mid-June.

https://twitter.com/BBCNewsPR/status/1133399028849364992

The news went down as well as you’d expect, with these reactions echoing the general attitude.

1.

do Takeshi's Castle next https://t.co/vOgbaJ0xvJ

— Marie Le Conte (@youngvulgarian) May 28, 2019

2.

Good that the public can take a look at them before we vote to decide who'll be PM. Oh, hang on…. https://t.co/VfrQy0TV6s

— robmanuel (@robmanuel) May 28, 2019

3.

https://twitter.com/janinegibson/status/1133401433964011526

4.

https://twitter.com/mutablejoe/status/1133413203931795456

5.

I honestly think we would learn more if we put them in an escape room and filmed it https://t.co/iC0AvhTatX

— Liam Kirkaldy (@LiamKirkaldy_) May 28, 2019

6.

There are as many voting members of Bowls England as there are in the Conservative Party: will the BBC be covering the annual elections for its governing Council with such generous lashings of programming? Asking for 66 million people. https://t.co/ZcaLAidMcE

— Howard Goodall (@Howard_Goodall) May 28, 2019

7.

I will vote for whoever gets furthest round the Ninja Warrior course https://t.co/uHfHcCmAhd

— Paul Masterton (@pmasterton1985) May 28, 2019

8.

This is basically a twitter poll for 130,000 Tories. https://t.co/UdKEfqTUvr

— Dr Adam Rutherford (@AdamRutherford) May 28, 2019

9.

https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson_MP/status/1133464929422467074

10.

The BBC should put Juncker in the front-row for the Tory leadership debates, with a set of cue cards – "We wouldn't agree to that", "No more negotiations", "No free-trade without sorting the Irish border", "I also like unicorns" – and just pan to him after every statement.

— Andrew R (@ExcelPope) May 28, 2019

11.

Tory leadership candidates just arriving for the TV debate group photo. pic.twitter.com/ZPoDATe5gC

— Mick (@nalaknip) May 28, 2019

12.

mate, there's a leadership debate going on RIGHT NOW at Lewisham Market, it's not Rory Stewart's fault if the other dozen fuckers haven't shown up https://t.co/z8sBCdxriv

— Ben (@cinemashoebox) May 28, 2019

Journalist Chris Cook suspected he could see a likely outcome.

https://twitter.com/xtophercook/status/1133411565254918145

And the very funny Happy Toast had a reason for thinking it was a good idea.

Unexpected take – this isn't a bad idea, it will force the UK's next leader to learn to deal with pressure and scrutiny, while educating the public on what duplicitous shits they all are. https://t.co/samQz6HJr2

— HappyToast★ (@IamHappyToast) May 28, 2019