Liberal Vision

Littlewood asks whether this will be the first and the last election to feature “the leaders debate”..

politicalbetting.com shows the following results on  tonight’s leaders debate…

ITV poll:          Clegg 43  Cameron 26  Brown 20

YouGov:          Clegg 51  Cameron 29  Brown 19

Angus Reid:  Clegg 46  Cameron 21  Brown 19

One of the founders of Liberal Vision – Mark Littlewood – (and who is canny on the betting side of all things political (and football) is questioning whether this will be the first and the last election to feature “the leaders debate”.

He may have a point.

Several months back when these things were being tentatively brokered Brown may have thought he had little to lose, with the Tories having carved out a huge lead….. Cameron may have thought he had all to gain (his lead seemingly unassailable) … how wrong they both were. Some might argue that Nick got lucky. To some extent this is true. It certainly was not Lib Dem pressure that squeezed Nick into the debate – that “credit” goes to the broadcaster’s psephologists – who all unequivocally agreed that the Lib Dem leader should be involved. That surely tells us something- (they are no mugs) and perhaps should have told Messrs Brown and Cameron something too.

It’s hard to see any Tory or Labour leader letting this happen again. Talk about giving the Lib Dems a free pass…. Then again….how silly they will look when they refuse…oh ..I am already looking forward to the next election before this one has even got going.

Tags: Leaders Debate, Mark Littlewood

Brown bamboozled and Cameron got Nicked!!!

One clear winner on the first leaders debate tonight…Nick Clegg.

The talk will now be of David Cameron being “Clegg-lite” rather than the other way round.

Nick was an easy winner. The ITV news poll of 4000 people put Nick not just ahead – but a country mile ahead (and am told that You Gov poll for Sun also gives it unreservedly to Nick).

Nick had some wonderful touches – simply excellent eye contact with the viewer – talking into the camera time and again – oooh that was good, relaxed attitude (so relaxed he was positively laid back – and er hmmm had his hands in his pockets most of the evening), a grasp of the facts and figures, constantly distancing himself from the other two parties … oh and lets not forget the name-checking those that asked the questions at the end (buy the person that thought of that one a bottle of something bubbly)… A very polished performance.

Brown was, well Brown – fish out of water- this is not his natural environment (still not quite sure why he agreed to do this). Perhaps it is a result of his physical disability but if you cant look people in the eye they will be disinclined to believe you – and Brown never once looked down the barrel of the gun – into the camera – to talk directly to the viewers. His disability should not prevent that, that’s surely the disfunctionality of the personality. It was also funny that Gordon insisted on calling Nick into his defence on several occasions ….”I know Nick agrees with me”…. (Nick largely looking bemused!!)

Cameron will be bitterly disappointed- the programme exposed yet again his lack of detail – but perhaps more importantly – he is supposed to be the man of style over substance – well tonight there was no style or substance….. He looked first uncomfortable – then increasingly deflated and defeated. His insistence on name-checking a place or person he had visited in recent weeks on every question started out sound phony and ended up just down right ridiculous…methinks he protested too much about being in touch with the ordinary bloke. Give it a rest Dave..

The big question we have to ask ourselves of course is ..can tonight’s performance be converted to a 2-3% boost in the polls? If it can…its game on.

Tags: Add new tag, ITV, Leaders Debate, Nick Clegg

A Party Leaders debate on Sky – you are kidding right?

So I understand from a joint press release on Friday that BBC, ITV and SKY have jointly agreed to offer the leaders of the three main parties in England (Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Nick Clegg) the prospect of a three way TV debate – one each hosted by ITV, Sky and BBC.

 I have two questions….

1. HOW THE HELL DID SKY GET A SEAT AT THE TABLE ?

Am I the only one to question why SKY gets a seat at the table when its owner has already declared for one of the party’s involved? Rupert Murdoch’s SKY operation cannot be considered impartial – and I for one would support any of the parties that declined to take part in a debate on that network.

2. WHY JUST A LEADERS DEBATE ? – lets see the lot of them…

I understand that the media are gagging for a “presidential” debate between the leaders . And we might wish that the leaders were “presidents ” standing on their own tickets – but they are not. David Cameron cannot control the ultra “get out of Europe” brigade, so sits on the fence on the issue, Nick Clegg cannot move without the “Federal Policy Committee” approval and Gordon Brown is ….well… fighting everyone in his party…. and teetering on the brink of a coup ….

These are not “presidents”. These are leaders of complex , fractious groups, who without exception, are facing bigger internal battles than they are external ones. I knew that politicians had lost touch with the real world – but when did the broadcasters lose the plot?

SO WHAT DO I WANT TO SEE?

(Nothing on Sky thanks a lot – your boss has made his views clear already).
Four debates on ITV , BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4  (these all have independent news programmes that are unbiased).

Each debate covering one of the 4 great offices of state . This would involve the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary and their counterparts from the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties. At least that way we would get to sample a range of talents from across the parties not just the figureheads. Strikes me as fairer all round (and much more entertaining I’m sure)….

 

Tags: BBC, ITV, Leaders Debate, SKY