The star of the final Tory leadership interviews? Joe Lycett

When politics descends into farce, challenging it with humour is not only appropriate, but necessary, writes Harriet Williamson

I really hope Lycett becomes a fixture on politics panels for the foreseeable future (BBC)

The highlight of Sunday’s Tory leadership candidate interviews with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC One was, without a shadow of a doubt, the comedian Joe Lycett.

A slow and robotic performance from Liz Truss, from which the takeaways are that she will announce a plan to tackle the energy price crisis within a week of entering No 10, and that she believes her proposed tax cuts, which would hand nearly £2,000 to the highest earners, are “fair”, was rebutted best by Lycett, pretending to be “extremely right-wing”.

Humour can cut through the obfuscation and wishy-washy answers that are often what we’ve come to expect from politicians – and Lycett capitalised on this, responding to Truss’s refusal to spell out measures to help with energy bills by remarking: “Yeah, she was very clear what she said. I think you know exactly what’s going to happen. I’m reassured, you’re reassured.”

Shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry was barely stifling her laughter, just as I was from my living room sofa. It felt refreshing to see someone from outside Westminster weighing in and outlining the concerns of many people up and down the country.

Humour is also one of the best tools in the writer’s arsenal for highlighting serious issues in politics. It can lay bare the injustice, hypocrisy, incompetence and plain silliness that plagues Westminster culture. Our political sketch writer, Tom Peck, has done just this throughout the Tory leadership race, and he rounded off his coverage yesterday with a longer read that sums up the “self-indulgence” of such a contest at a time of national crisis with his trademark wit.

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On Voices, we also ran Ryan Coogan’s satirical take on the prime ministerial hopefuls – or, in his words, “the people who have appointed themselves your social betters”. When politics descends into farce, challenging it with humour is not only appropriate, but necessary.

I really hope Lycett becomes a fixture on politics panels for the foreseeable future. In the midst of so much economic fear and misery, sometimes we all need a laugh.

Yours,

Harriet Williamson

Voices commissioning editor