Sometimes in TV debates there are clear winners. It often happens in the first debate of a series, when viewers do not know what to expect, and it happened last week, when Rishi Sunak and Tom Tugendhat clearly made a better impression than the others. That was the consensus commentariat view, but also the finding of a snap poll too.
But mostly debates just confirm impressions that are already fairly well lodged in the minds of people who already have a view on the candidates.
