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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Marina Hyde

It was Badenoch v Jenrick on GB News. And if that all sounds bad, watching it was worse

GB News political editor Christopher Hope (centre), with Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch at the   leadership debate on 17 October 2024.
GB News political editor Christopher Hope (centre), with Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch at the leadership debate on 17 October 2024. Photograph: GB News/PA

Distressingly, the GB News stream I watched the Conservative leadership hustings on kept glitching out, meaning every time I went back in I had to watch the exact same ads for a blood pressure monitor and some body horror thing about draining ankle fluid. You hear a lot about “no-go zones” on GB News – on this evidence the channel is a no-go zone for advertisers seeking to reach the coveted 18-34 demographic. But look, let’s open the door to our walk-in bath and let the waters of the contest rise around us.

And you have to say that this week the race to be the person regicided by the Tory party in two years’ time has certainly warmed up. It is now almost tepid. The choice is between Kemi “I’m an engineer” Badenoch and Ozempic survivor Robert Jenrick, a would-be populist who on Wednesday had to be told live on air – the day after it happened – who the new England football manager was. Sort your life out, Jenrick.

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