So we have had the first televised election debate. What did you think? I don’t think it matters on one’s politics to know that Nick Clegg was the definite winner.
I’m going to start putting a few thoughts up on here again over the next few weeks as we get closer to the election.
My first thought was that they all looked a tad nervous. I would have expected this of Brown, but was a tad surprised by Dave not being as unruffled as one might expect. Cleggy was certainly the first into his stride, and I must confess that the first thing I did this morning was check LibDem seats on IG Index – they have only moved up 3 ticks so the bookmakers appear somewhat less impressed than the press today.
Listening to Radio 5 Live this morning it was more than a little disappointing to discover that when their reporter knocked on 30 doors last night during the debate not a single person was watching it! A sad inditement on the state of UK politics at present imho.
I think the audience being told not to clap or even sneeeze was a bit ridiculous – is that because we can’t screen out audience reactions before making our own mind up? Not sure the electorate is really that dumb and I hope it changes in the next one …
What I also hope changes is that these guys start having a proper debate rather than essentially trotting out exactly what we expect. We need to see them prove they can think on their feet. Surely Dave should have mentioned the fact Brown is slicing higher education spending right now when asked whether he will cut spending on education?
Clegg did well because he actually stated a few figures – how right they are I don’t know but they sounded plausible … don’t think it will take too much digging to make them implausible though eg cancelling Eurofighter sounds good to save money but if the penalty clauses are more than the balance owed it hardly strikes me as a sensible thing to do!
I think they could all benefit from ignoring their media coaches a tad and being themselves more – I thought Gordon’s jokes were just that – a joke – completely scripted and his delivery would have made him look bad even on X Factor! At least he tried though. Dave was all too serious and needs to be more approachable – I don’t give two hoots where he went to school but he did come across as a bit of a public school chap last night I thought.
What I also thought was that if Blair had been there he would have wiped the floor with all of them in his heyday – and those who know me know that I am hardly his biggest fan!!
I look forward to the next one and just hope they get into each other a bit more. Any comments?
Tags: David Cameron, Election 2010, Election Debate, Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg
