Amber Rudd endures fire from all sides as Theresa May sits out TV debate The next time Theresa May bumps into Amber Rudd, she should buy her a large drink and promise her a […]

The next time Theresa May bumps into Amber Rudd, she should buy her a large drink and promise her a promotion if the Conservatives win next week’s general election.

The Home Secretary took one for the Tory team, becoming a human punch-bag as her opponents rained blows on her government’s record, cheered on by an apparent majority of the audience in the usually sedate surroundings of Cambridge’s Senate House.

Her lowest point came as she drew instant laughter with an appeal to voters to “judge us on our record”.

“Theresa May is not here but I hope to make a good fist of setting out Conservative Party policy.” The i politics newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription. Amber Rudd

If that wasn’t enough, Ms Rudd endured repeated scorn for the failure of her boss to turn up for the seven-way debate.

In a candid admission of her predicament, she said: “Theresa May is not here but I hope to make a good fist of setting out Conservative Party policy.”

‘Magic money tree’ attack

Her main line of defence was to accuse the other parties of wanting to shake a “magic money tree” to pay for “shiny election promises”.

The Tory Party would not, she vowed, “duck the hard challenges”, which led to ridicule for a succession of recent U-turns by Mrs May.

Despite fresh accusations from Ms Rudd over his record on terrorism, Jeremy Corbyn won’t have regretted his last-minute decision to appear for Labour in Cambridge.

He surprisingly did not mention Mrs May’s absence, but scored an effective point as he asked Ms Rudd whether she had visited a foodbank or seen people sleeping rough.

But his voice was inevitably diluted in the barrage of criticism directed in the Home Secretary’s direction, with Caroline Lucas performing particularly strongly.

In one effective barb, the Greens’ co-leader denounced the government’s record of selling deadly weapons to the Saudi regime.

Farron does personal

The Lib Dems’ Tim Farron struck a folksy note, drawing on personal anecdotes in reply to questions on health service funding and last week’s terrorist attack in Manchester.

He also told the best, and very British joke, as he advised viewers to switch over to Bake Off and “have a brew” rather than listen to Ms Rudd’s final statement.

For those who did not change channels, the Home Secretary drew on her experience of the previous 90 minutes to claim it had been evidence of the “coalition of chaos in action” and to argue: “A vote for anyone other than Jeremy Corbyn is a vote for that coalition.”

More: Read how the leaders’ debate unfolded with over on our live blog