Update: David Cameron has accused the BBC of behaving “badly and stupidly” by empty-chairing Hutchings, reports the Telegraph’s Michael Deacon. A Beeb staffer replied that Hutchings could have done the debate and still had time to join Cameron on his visit to a local warehouse.
As someone who first came to public attention berating Tony Blair live on national TV, one might assume that Maria Hutchings would never run shy of publicity. But when Radio 5 Live held its Eastleigh by-election debate this morning the Conservative candidate was a notable absence.
The official explanation is that the hustings clashed with David Cameron’s second visit to the constituency, but it’s likely that the Tories simply didn’t want Hutchings anywhere near a microphone (Eastleigh Lib Dems have responded with the “missing” poster below).
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Having provoked a long-running row with her suggestion that it would be “impossible” for her son to become a surgeon if he went to a state school, the candidate has become a liability. To some of us, this comes as no surprise. The day after Hutchings was selected, I wrote that she was “exactly the kind of political novice that the party should avoid”. But the narrow window in which to select a candidate meant that she was adopted by default.
With the betting markets all pointing to a Lib Dem hold (the latest odds give them a 79.37 per cent chance of victory), the Tories appear increasingly resigned to losing the seat. When they do, it will suit them to pin much of the blame on Hutchings. But the truth is that Eastleigh, where the Lib Dems are formidably strong (they hold all 36 council seats in the constituency), was always going to be a struggle for them to win.
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