The public may cry for change but they can't stomach it, so we have Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer: Jayne Dowle

Speaking at the event, held at Nottingham Trent University, Mr Blackstock took to his feet and told Sunak: “I think you did a pretty good job of being Chancellor. You’re a pretty mediocre Prime Minister.”

And to Starmer, he said: “I think that your strings are being pulled by very senior members of the Labour Party. Are you two really the best we’ve got to be the next Prime Minister of our great country?”

And with that, 73-year-old retired diesel engineer Mr Blackstock, a widower and grandfather from Arnold, Nottingham, went viral and spoke for millions.

He’s not a suave political editor, nor a partisan commentator spinning out a line. But in a joyless, lacklustre, grinding General Election campaign so far, his will be remembered as an authentic voice, 2024’s answer to ‘Brenda from Bristol’. Remember Brenda, who reacted with a despairing cry of “You’re joking. Not another one!” when informed that then-PM Theresa May was calling another election for May 2017?

And herein lies the rub. It’s easy to see why there is such frustration and ennui. Well-educated and professionally successful men they both might be, but in debate Sunak and Starmer have come across like two over-promoted middle managers arguing over whether to expand their operations to Swindon.

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Perhaps it’s kinder to say they were both considered a safe pair of hands by their respective parties. Sunak was the unlikely PM, shipped into place by a panicked Tory high command after the disaster that was Liz Truss (voted into favour by her own grass roots, remember that). Presented as pure and clean and promising transparency and integrity, it’s quickly become apparent that he’s got little else to offer.

With Starmer, harsher critics would argue that he’s only Labour Party leader because he’s not Jeremy Corbyn. On paper he should be a shoo-in with the public, but he lacks that extra 10 per cent, the charisma that Tony Blair blindsided everyone with, for instance.

Those of us with longer political memories, such as me and ‘Bob’ as Mr Blackstock is known to his friends, perhaps lament the days of political giants and towering intellects around the Cabinet table.

Whether you agreed with the likes of the late Denis Healey (Labour Chancellor from 1974 to 1979) or Michael Heseltine, Margaret Thatcher’s Defence Secretary and as Secretary of State for the Environment (twice), a Tory but a champion of Northern regeneration, you had to sit up and listen when they spoke, not turn the sound down and rely on the subtitles.

Whilst Mr Blackstock’s personal analysis was pin-sharp, the British public in general have a very odd relationship with the politicians they elect. They cry for ‘change’ but when change presents itself, in the form of deputy Labour leader, Angela Rayner, for example, who upsets people with her outspokenness, they can’t stomach it. Hence the safety default, which means stagnation. Or Nigel Farage, whose personal appeal rests very much on presenting a supremely confident alternative to the main political parties.

Perhaps it is true that the electorate gets the leaders they deserve. Otherwise, how can you explain Boris Johnson? Seriously though, too many people allow the political process to drift by in the background, year after year, decrying politics as ‘boring’, yet expecting these unfathomable ‘politicians’ to solve all their problems.

‘Bob’ is just an ordinary, respectable man, you could meet many ‘Bobs’ out shopping or walking your dog. He admitted to being nervous, writing out his question in advance: “I was addressing the two most senior politicians in the country. I was hoping I was going to get it right and not fluff my lines.”

In conversations with reporters afterwards, Mr Blackstock declared his moment of fame as “tremendous” and commented that audience members had congratulated him for being so courageous. He’s also said that despite being a lifelong Tory voter, he was still unsure of who to support at the election.

Which ever chastised leader ends up with the keys to Number 10 this week, they should remember this. ‘Bob Blackstock’ has had his 15 minutes of fame, but the next Prime Minister has five long years to prove him wrong.