Time
20 September · 19:30 – 21:30
Location
Duke Street Church, Duke Street, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 1DH
My friend Ben Mallet worked on Zac Goldsmith’s political campaign and is a member of the Richmond Conservative Future, He invited me to a cross party Question Time debate, I am a political junkie so, of course, I went.
The MPs who took part were Zac Goldsmith MP – Chairing and Hosting, Sam Gyimah MP – Conservative Party, Nigel Farage MEP – UKIP Leader, Serge Lourie – Lib Dem, Former leader of Richmond Council for 9 years , Emily Thornberry MP – Labour Party, Brian Denny – Trade Unionists Against the EU Constitution convenor.
It was a brilliant event, put together by young people interested in politics and making a difference. I had a chat with Nigel Farage who promised Frost a interview. Farage came across as incredibly intelligent and well spoken, as did Sam Gyimah, although he got a lot of negativity for being a Tory. Quote of the night came from Emily Thornberry, who was asked about Labour’s time in power and how much debt they had racked up with the Iraq war, she stated: “We went into debt on purpose”. Which is unfortunate, as it is the rest of the country that is paying for it now.
Nigel Farage revealed he had had death threats against him when the talk turned to a homeowners right protecting their own property and Goldsmith asked him if would have a gun in his house if he lived in America, Farage said: “What makes you think I don’t have a gun in my house in this country?”. Serge Lourie defended faith schools, stating that both he and his children had went to one. All in all, a good lively debate. The main thing I took away was how angry people are about the current world situation.
I asked Goldsmith for his comments on how the evening went: “It was the first QT event in Richmond, and seems to have gone down very well. The audience was uncharacteristically lively, and having been a temporary imposter, my respect for the real David Dimbleby has doubled. We had a diverse and high profile panel, and I hope we’ll be able to replicate the success on other occasions. Huge congratulations to the CF team”.