BREAKING NEWS: SARAH OLNEY CAN WALK AND TALK AT THE SAME TIME. PASSES "BAPTISM OF FIRE".
The problem with by-elections is usually the candidate. When they become the focus of the media scrummage, their deficiencies are quickly exposed. Can they walk and talk at the same time? Do they keep on message? Have they a bare minimum of charm?
Today, in Richmond, the Lib Dem's Sarah Olney was put to the test. She was interviewed on the street by journalists as buses rumbled by. She spoke to passers-by persuasively. She smiled and nodded at the right points. She remembered what to say, displayed fluency and coherence and didn't lose her nerve once.
All of which must have come as a great relief to her Lib Dem minders and her fellow campaigner, Nick Clegg.
For Zac Goldsmith, it was evidence that she offers a serious challenge for the Richmond Park seat.
This is one of her first interviews.