‘The polls are narrowing. Now is the time for strong, stable panicking’

THERESA MAY got Amber Rudd to take her place on last night’s TV debate. Maybe she should get Ms Rudd to take her place for the rest of the campaign, too.

Sturdy and commanding – or, if you prefer, strong and stable – the Home Secretary looked like the leader we’ve been repeatedly told Mrs May is.

While the Prime Minister has seemed unconvincing in recent media appearances, Ms Rudd was brisk and assured. Scolding Jeremy Corbyn over immigration (“Will it go up, Jeremy? Will it go up?”) and the economy (“You must stop thinking there’s a magic money tree!”), this was a performance of headmistressy strictness, her voice resounding like the thwack of a cane.

The BBC’S studio audience in Cambridge scarcely gave her a moment’s applause – but I suspect that viewers at home will have been more favourable. All the other six participants – Mr Corbyn for Labour, Caroline Lucas for the Greens, Tim Farron for the Lib Dems, Paul Nuttall for Ukip, Leanne Wood for Plaid Cymru and Angus Robertson for the SNP – naturally rounded on her, in particular over Tory plans to end the “triple lock” on pensions, and the so-called “dementia tax”.

Mostly, though, they rounded on her absent boss. Mr Farron told viewers at home he didn’t know where Mrs May was tonight: “Maybe she’s outside, sizing up your house to pay for your social care.” Mr Robertson derided Mrs May for not having “the guts to turn up”. Apparently he’d forgotten that his own boss, Nicola Sturgeon, hadn’t turned up either.

One leader who had turned up, at the last minute, was Mr Corbyn. At least, we were assured he’d turned up – but at times it was easy to forget.

He so often struggled to make himself heard above the others that I almost wished the producers would give him a game show-style buzzer, so the poor man could get a word in edgeways. The dominant progressive voice was Ms Lucas, who spoke with

‘Mr Corbyn so often struggled to make himself heard that I almost wished he was given a game showstyle buzzer’

the confidence and coherence Mr Corbyn lacked.

Persistent Remainers, meanwhile, may have been more impressed by Mr Farron. Leanne Wood, meanwhile, told viewers that Plaid Cymru would have abolished zero-hour contracts in Wales – if only Labour hadn’t prevented them.

Compared with them, Mr Corbyn was often little more than a grey smudge on the edge of vision. When he did speak up, though, his supporters in the studio audience gave him noisy encouragement. As is often the way in TV debates, Labour voters tend to be louder than Tory ones. Whether they’re more numerous, however, we shall soon find out.

Ms Rudd had two sticky moments. One, when she invited the studio audience to “judge [the Government] on our record” – and several of them laughed.

The second was the final question: about political leadership. There was no satisfactory answer the Home Secretary could have given here – and she certainly didn’t think of one. It was a curious experience, watching a politician trumpeting the fearless leadership of a woman who wasn’t there.

Perhaps Mrs May is so convinced of her authoritativeness that she feels no need to prove it.

Inevitably, all the other participants denounced the Prime Minister, and were heartily applauded for it. “The first rule of leadership is to show up!” hooted Ms Lucas, to whoops and cheers. “Not so much the Iron Lady as the U-turn queen!” harrumphed Mr Robertson. “The Prime Minister isn’t here because she couldn’t be bothered,” snorted Mr Farron.

For Tories, this must have been embarrassing. Then again, David Cameron was derided in precisely the same way for not attending a TV debate during the 2015 election. To judge by what happened on election night, it didn’t do him much harm.

In her closing statement, Ms Rudd gamely attempted to salvage the situation for her boss. “Only Theresa May,” she insisted, could offer Britain the leadership it needed.

Should Mrs May fail to do so, however, some viewers may be wondering whether Ms Rudd can offer it, instead.