History was made last night when the leaders of the three main political parties held the first of three live US-style televised debates. I posted this on my blog last year about them.
The first debate was screened on ITV, and hosted by Alistair Stewart. I must admit to not being a fan of ITV‘s programming in the past, so it was the first time in weeks that I tuned in to the channel.
I must admit I did enjoy the debate. Most pundits saw that Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, was getting the upper hand when verbally sparring against Labour’s Gordon Brown, and the Conservatives’ David Cameron. Not surprisingly, as the Prime Minister, Brown came off worse, with commentators and voters commenting on both his responses to questions as well as his mannerisms.
Predictably, the debates were criticised by the leaders of the nationalist and smaller parties, mainly for allegedly failing to talk about what they thought were the real issues, for example on immigration, the European Union and the environment, and the fact that they were excluded from appearing on the debates in the first place.
The debate had lasted slightly over the ninety minutes, with over nine million people tuning in. Okay, it wasn’t The X-Factor, but at least it wasn’t the turn-off many cynics had earlier predicted. I can only hope that the next two debates (the first on Sky next Thursday, and then on the BBC in a fortnight) will get an otherwise cynical electorate to recognize that our democracy is still worth fighting for.
More reaction on the debate from the BBC’s Nick Robinson, Harry’s Place, and Liberal Conspiracy, among others.