The first leaders’ debate

I was in China when the British General Election was called and missed the first week of campaigning, but it seems that the first week was quite low-key and there was no real movement in the polls.  Tonight the election began in earnest with the first of the three leaders’ debates on ITV from 8.30-10 pm and I watched the programme live.

In the United States, every presidential election since 1976 – that’s 10 of them – has had debates on television between the major candidates, but it’s taken until this evening for Britain to follow suit. So this was an historic first and I’m sure that every British General Election now have such debates.

It was serious stuff and all the three candidates did well. Nobody made a major mistake and nobody delivered a killer blow or a memorable quote.

David Cameron was fluent but lightweight as he insisted that major savings could be made in public expenditure now through elimination of waste. Gordon Brown was authoritative as he constantly insisted that major cuts now would imperil economy recovery and risk the recession being a double-dip one.

However, it was Nick Clegg’s night. He was always going to benefit from the exposure that this unparalleled equal billing was presenting to him. But he was assured and persuasive and the other leaders wanted to be seen to be agreeing with him in case they need his support in the event of a hung parliament.


 




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