What is the format of the debate?

Head to head between Johnson and Corbyn – after the failure

of a last-minute legal challenge by the Lib Dems and the SNP
as they sought to force their way into the mix. The programme
starts at 8pm on ITV1.
Who is the host?
Julie Etchingham, who has become ITV’s go-to host for high-
profile political debates, hosting the equivalent events in the
2015 and 2017 general election. She won praise for her deft
handling of this summer’s Conservative party leadership
head-to-head between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt,
successfully managing to make the future prime minister stop
talking by glaring silently at him.
The hour-long debate will be conducted in front of a live
studio audience of about 200 people. The two leaders will
stand behind podiums, Corbyn on the left side of the screen
and Johnson on the right. They will each have one minute
each for their opening statements and 45 seconds for their
closing statements, with Corbyn speaking first in both cases
after lots were drawn. In the interim between those
statements they will be asked questions posed by ITV viewers
from various political backgrounds and across society,
submitted after the broadcaster appealed for people to get in
touch.
What will the key subjects be?
Brexit: The inescapable political subject of the moment.
Expect sound and fury, but pretty much no new information,
with Johnson again pledging to pass his deal before Christmas
and Corbyn in response explaining Labour’s somewhat more
complex renegotiate-and-put-to-the-people solution.
The economy: A perennial subject for election clashes, but
this time with a difference. While recent elections have
centred on austerity, and rolling back the state, both Corbyn
and Johnson have significant investment promises to tout.
Yes, the scale of the pledges are very different, and both will
stress this, but they are competing on the same economic
playing field.
The NHS: With a winter hospital crisis looming, it will be on
voters’ minds. Expect Johnson to claim he has provided
funding for 40 new hospitals and Corbyn to respond –
accurately – that the confirmed cash is for just six so far. This
was traditionally a Labour strong point, but Johnson will hope
his pledges of new spending will resonate with voters.
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Character: This is a function of both the increasingly

presidential style of UK politics – exemplified by the debates
– and the fact that both leaders are not hugely popular with
the public, in their own, differing ways.