November 02, 2009 at 07:04 PM
But was he the best candidate on the day?
He spoke first and dealt with the challenge of a malfunctioning microphone with good humour. He was clear on living locally, on the ways he would fix the banking sector (no mention of the other fators n the credit crunch creation) and he came across as earnest, enthusiastic, independent-minded and organised.
But was he the best candidate? All except Fiona Kemp were very strong; I think Fiona had an off day, opening her speech with a lame, made up story about one of her patients, Elsa. It wasn't believable and in spite of her saying she did not want to talk about health all the time, that is exaxctly what happened in the end.
I voted for Katy Lindsay until she got knocked out in the second round and then for Margaret Doyle, who was then immediately excluded. So the first three exit-ees were women.
I switched my allegiance to Kwasi Kwarteng, easily the candidate with the most charisma. Perhaps his answers lacked focus and sharpness, but he was entertaining, charming and had more presence than the other five put together. To hear Jeremy Quin leave fourth was a suprise; he hd been the most polished speech, not a single word out of place and utterly competent, as you would expect from a successful investment banker. I could imagine him helping keep the Treasury on the right track, but perhaps just not different enough to have stood out in enough people's minds.
And so we got to the final two; how I was wishing to watch the big Ghanaian walk through the doors... but no. Steven's website is worth a visit; there he is sky-diving and extreme catamaranning. Great stuff, great work on the Cobden Club but, but.... could Wycombe not have dared to be different and selected the most likeable and rounded candidate, Katy Lindsay? Or the Irish journalist, so assured in her delivery? Ah well, Devizes managed it. Perhaps next time we will too.
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