Parliamentary elections: Debates over – now the ballot box sprint begins

Of the two, Mr Sunak is more comfortable in this format, taking on the role of the underdog with little to lose and keeping a confident and persistent eye on his opponent.

Sir Keir – who had everything to lose – often delivered his own rehearsed rebuffs and sceptical remarks; a marked difference from her ITV appearance three weeks ago.

Here is a little insight into the overlap between my work as a television and radio reporter and that in political leadership.

Half the battle in a live setting is coming up with a few memorable phrases that can be used in specific situations.

Not everyone is invited on an outing. Sometimes no one is invited. But when the moment comes, the outing is mastered with flying colors.

And if you as a political leader have even the slightest chance, you make these promises over and over again.

They are not written down. They are memorized and practiced. They are an improvised script, a contradiction in terms, literally, but an important tool in this format.

There was a lot of that in this debate.

Mr Sunak repeatedly used the word “surrender” – the idea that the country is giving up and opting for a Labour government, as he sees it.

Sir Keir immediately dismissed Sunak’s claim that he had suffered an additional £2,000 tax burden under the Labour Party as a “lie”.

He also took a swipe at Mr Sunak, claiming he had lost touch with reality.

It felt like a far more exciting election campaign than the opinion polls constantly suggest.

The More in Common poll suggested that Sir Keir performed better, but also that Mr Sunak was rated more highly by a larger proportion of the public than Sir Keir.

After five weeks of campaigning, Labour’s enormous lead over the Conservatives in the polls has not disappeared.

The precedent from that period – which lasted just over a month – suggests that a televised debate of just over an hour is unlikely to make much difference.

But all politicians are aware that, although the election campaign represents only a tiny window of time in the five-year election campaign, it is their area of ​​attention in which they must convince the people who will decide their future.

And the question of how people might vote will quickly go from a hypothetical exercise to a reality for politicians as early as next week.

The need to woo, reassure, persuade and even convince is greater than ever in politics today.

And with this final standard event now over, the final stretch of this competition has begun.