The Empty Chair

I do not like presidential style debates. This is because I do not like presidents. In particular, I do not like presidential politics, descending, as it invariably does into a personality contest, focusing on who is the 'strongest leader' and who performs best in front of the cameras. This type of politics, which was drip fed to Britain during the Blair years, takes politics further away from the grassroots and encourages aesthetics at the expense of policy.

I can't bring myself to condemn Theresa May for failing to take part in a leaders' debate, then. But, more importantly, I think that we on the other side ought to think very carefully before making her absence a theme of our campaigning. We should ask ourselves: why is she doing this?

It is not, alas, because she is frightened of Jeremy Corbyn. She no doubt genuinely believes that his policies are barmy and that she would wipe the floor with him. Such is ideology. No, the reason Theresa May won't participate in the debate is that she wants to appear like the natural prime minister, the default option, the incumbent who is not on the same level as the other candidates. This is the resurfacing of the Tories as the natural party of government. Drawing attention to the phenomenon strikes me as not very helpful to Labour.

Much more generally, this election cannot go well for Labour on the basis of the usual channels - televisual challenges and well-handled debates. We can only win on the ground, at community at workplace level, through the engagement of activists. And we can only win by concentrating on politics not personalities.