The election debate

On Thursday Britain saw a historic political moment, with the first ever televised debate between the leaders of the main political parties*.

I don’t own a TV, so was unable to actually watch the event live. I did, however, manage to download it from the BBC iPlayer (despite it being originally broadcast on ITV and I watched it on Friday night.

So, how did they do?

Gordon Brown: Brown had a slight disadvantage. He’s never really seemed comfortable on front of the camera when being interviewed. With that in mind, though, he didn’t do too badly but it was still a performance of which he cannot be proud. He seemed to be stiffer than usual, though he did relax a bit (a very small bit) towards the end of the event. I think he ran out of ways to say the words ‘I agree with Nick’ and this is something which must be causing the party some problems as it simply served to make him look like a follower rather than the leader of the country.

David Cameron: who the hell was that and what did he do with Cameron? He’s normally good when it comes to this sort of thing but on Thursday he came across as robotic. Rather than address the points put to him, he searched (sometimes very desperately) to find a way to get to his next policy, soundbite, attack or anecdote. I had heard on Friday about the black man** one and didn’t quite believe that he actually said that. Then I watched it. Wow.

Nick Clegg: admittedly he had the lowest expectations going into the debate. This is due, in part, to the press trying to convince people that Britain has a two party political system***. Which means that the debate was supposed to be him proving he actually exists. What he did do was go far beyond that, not only introducing himself to the country but showing that he does indeed offer an alternative to the same old, same old. He was the most relaxed, actually answering the points that had been raised, when he was allowed to (more on this later) and actually engaging with the audience, looking directly at them when answering their questions (which Cameron later copied).

As for the way the debate was run, it was a mixed bag. I actually liked the lack of audience participation as this differentiated the debate from an average episode of Question Time. The format, of question followed by genuine debate worked.

The moderation, however, was rubbish. Everyone I’ve spoken to who watched the debate agreed with that. Alastair Stewart seemed to be happy to keep it between Brown and Cameron going to Clegg either when someone addressed Clegg or when it appeared that someone was screaming into his ear ‘This is supposed to be a three person debate!’ He also stopped Clegg speaking far more than the other two. I’ve no idea what Adam Boulton will be like on Thursday but he simply cannot be any worse. David Dimbleby is in charge of the last one so at least that will be a massive improvement.

As for the next debates? Again, I’ll be watching them later (not just cos of the no TV thing though. This Thursday I’m going to [finally] see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and the following week is local hustings) but I see it like this: there will be more pressure on Clegg in the second debate. But the person who really needs the win is Cameron. The last debate is on the economy. Brown obviously has the advantage here and can only get an as expected. Clegg will be getting help from Vince Cable, one of the very few MP’s people actually trust with economic matters at the moment, in his prep for that one. If Cameron doesn’t have a strong showing on Thursday then it could be that all the debates will be called disasters for the Tories.

As for me? I think that the debates will swing some voters but maybe not the numbers expected. I was planning to vote Lib Dem before the debate and I didn’t see anything in the debate to convince me to change my mind.

Don’t forget that the next debate is on Thursday on Sky One. If you don’t have Sky, you can also see it on the BBC news channel at the same time. It’s also going to be on BBC2 after Newsnight.

And if you missed the debate, here it is in 15 seconds (hat tip to Steven the Rill:

Will

* Yes, I know that the SNP and Plaid Cymru weren’t involved. But I think that’s actually fair enough. They can’t actually form the Government as they don’t have candidates in enough seats. There is going to be a Scottish and Welsh leaders debate.

** Cameron claimed to have spoken to a black man, 40 years old, who has served in the Navy for 30 years. It’s not yet been announced if he started as a mascot.

*** Britain does not have, nor has it had for years, a two party political system. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Nor does your vote automatically belong to any one political party (despite what the Tories may have you believe) nor is a vote for any party not Labour or Tory actually a vote for either party. Anyone saying otherwise is trying to scare you into voting how they want you to and is deserving of nothing more than contempt and scorn. Your vote is just that: yours. Use it how you see fit.