Last night's Conservative Party leadership debate organized by the Independent Press Gallery was a complete success.

After a pair of last minute cancellations saw two of the four candidates vying for leadership drop out, the debate went ahead with a new format: a fireside chat hosted by True North's Andrew Lawton.

Leslyn Lewis dropped out due to an ongoing and reportedly serious ear infection, and Peter MacKay stood in solidarity with Lewis' medical troubles, though Lewis' camp told our Drea Humphrey they didn't ask, nor did they want MacKay to drop out.

All of our Rebel journalists were allowed in without a costly last minute legal battle. That was new for us. No one had to hide behind a potted plant in the lobby or wait by the bathroom door to pose a question this time! 

We were able to ask some tough questions we know our viewers wanted answers to.

But we didn't get all of our questions in.

We asked the majority of the questions, for sure, but other independent journalists had their chance to press the candidates on their issues too. Time was tight and the Independent Press Gallery was fair to everyone. 

In honour of Lawton's fireside chat format, we Rebels held our own little sit-down talk with each other after the debate to unpack what we heard from the candidates and talk about the things we would have asked if we had just a little more time.

And we invited Andrew Lawton to join us.