Scroll in four minutes to miss the adverts…

This is what a proper debate looks like. Even the Daily Mirror agrees. They’ve just published an article headlined: “7 things we learnt from the LBC Radio all-women General Election debate”. Here are their conclusions…

LBC Radio hosted a debate between four of the most prominent women politicians. Around the table were Tory Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, Labour’s Harriet Harman, Lib Dem Lynn Featherstone and Ukip’s Diane James – and it was, at times, a pretty fiery debate.

It had an interesting format, a good level of debate, and a selection of voices you don’t often hear up against each other.

Here’s the 7 most interesting things we learned.

The “Ask Me Anything” sections were a brilliant idea

The internet is often accused of dumbing down political debate but the inclusion of an AMA – Ask Me Anything – section in the radio debate was a great innovation from LBC, possibly taking a cue from the Reddit threads where anybody gets to ask somebody anything. During the course of the 90 minute show, they had four sections where each of the candidates were asked one question from the other three women in the debate. It made for compelling listening, as everybody got the chance to try and focus on what they think is the weakness of their opponent’s campaigns. It was genuinely interesting to listen both to the way the politicians answered, but also to think about the choice of question by their rivals.

Nicky Morgan thinks Ed Miliband “stabbed his brother in the back”

As we understand it, Ed Miliband openly stood for election against his elder brother, and leadership of the Labour Party isn’t a hereditary title. But Nicky Morgan tonight repeated Michael Fallon’s smear that Ed stabbed his brother in the back. Earlier today Ed Miliband said that Fallon had “demeaned himself” with the personal attack.

Suzanne Evans could be Ukip’s first woman leader

Well, that’s what Diane James said anyway. Which was pretty kind of her given that she was only on the show because Suzanne had lost her voice and couldn’t do it.

Nobody mentioned tampons

No, seriously. Tampons are a political issue. Specifically the fact that VAT is levied on them. We’ve calculated that women spend around £114 on tampons each year, and there would be a big saving if they weren’t taxed.

Iain Dale is good at this
He’d probably admit himself that he has a face for radio, but Iain Dale made a good case that next time round they should let him run one of the TV debates.

Diane James admires Vladimir Putin

The Ukip foreign affairs spokesperson said she admired the Russian leader for “standing up for his country” and being “very nationalistic.” Harriet Harman chimed in, noting “You could say that about Idi Amin.” But Diane went on to point out that Putin’s “issues” in Ukraine were all the fault of the EU – which gives him and Ukip some common ground.

Lynn Featherstone favours all-women shortlists

…but her party don’t. She said she thought Labour did “a great thing” bringing in all women shortlists. She added, somewhat disappointedly: “I’ve always been wildly off message in my party, because I thought they made a huge leap forward…I’ve been trying to persuade my party to do that.”