General Election- Live Debate round 1
On the day that started with my seeing Alistair Campbell, at Leeds Railway station, about to board the train I got off,the first historic live debate took place. Stage managed and controlled as it was, it did show the strengths and weaknesses of the three participants. If Nick Clegg was a Tory, the result of the election would not be in doubt. He was convincing as a person, but the Liberal Manifesto is flawed. David Cameron was not as good as everyone expected , but I think he will come back, more strongly next time. I thought he managed to avoid taking the debate down to the level Gordon Brown did at times,by not rising to the bait that Gordon offered. Gordon Brown trotted out the same old claptrap as he has over the past two years, ignoring questions about the reason why all of a sudden Labour are talking about tackling manifesto promises from 1997. He chose instead to debase the discussion by intriducing snide comments about Lord Ashcroft and clear misrepresentations od current Tory thinking, and by being obsequious towards Nick Clegg and the liberals.
I really think that Gordon is so convinced he will lose the overall majority that he WANTS people to vote liberal.
If this was a boxing match then round 1 was shaded on points by the liberals, with the Tories 2nd and Gordon trailing miserably behind.
