Fall Out: A Year of Political Mayhem

by Tim Shipman

By the end of the campaign, Corbyn’s 120,000 Instagram followers approached ten times May’s reach. Conservative campaigners looked with envy at Corbyn, eight years May’s senior but light years ahead of her as a social media campaigner. ‘They’re good at it, he likes it,’ a Tory official said. ‘They’re not afraid to take a few risks. They did a few good stunts.’ Corbyn’s best coup came on 15 May, when he ambushed a ‘Facebook live’ interview with May conducted by ITV’s political editor, Robert Peston. The Labour leader posted a question as ‘Jeremy Corbyn of Islington’, asking May, ‘Do you not think the British people deserve to see us debate, live and on TV?’ May’s face darkened with the combination of irritation and terror with which the public were to become familiar as the campaign went on, and claimed that people would rather the leaders ‘take questions directly from the voters’. A story about the PM doing her first ever Facebook interview became instead a headline about Corbyn’s audacity and May dodging televised debates.