Last Night's Live Debate: My Thoughts

A quick blog with my thoughts on last night’s Leaders Debate. Determined to get in there before our Head of B2B does – though I suspect his musings will be better informed than mine!

Clegg: Last week, he went from underdog to top dog. Today, he went from “Churchill to Nazi”. It’s been some seven days for Clegg – current talk of Twitter (#cleggsfault). At the last debate, he bowled us all over on style so today, I focused on substance – and I suspect I wasn’t alone. And darn it, he was good. So good, that he broke the rules, talked over the others and still I was hooked. He remembers letters he received months ago from cold, old people godammit. I forget my own Granny’s birthday. Loved the way he reached out to non voters, “we can make change, not just complain”. Easier to get votes from the “disenfranchised” than from the other parties. Eloquent, thoughtful, stylish, witty, intelligent - Clegg was also brave with his pro-Europe/anti American stance. Could be his undoing, but I suspect not. Only time (and a general election) will tell.

Brown: Slightly disappointed that we never got the Brown car crash we were promised, to be honest. Brown clearly set out to position himself as wiser and more experienced than the other two, “really David...”. And, all was all rather going well until the boys at bathtime gag when he undid a lot of, admittedly, rather good work. I don’t especially like the man but his solid performance and “judge me on my record” stance has convinced me he means well, at the very least – and that isn’t to be sniffed at.

Cameron: Poor night last week; slightly better night this week. Low light coming when he told an 84 year old what he would be doing in 2016. However, he did pick up towards the end and there were some sparky moments that we have come to associate with Cameron. Why, though, didn’t he pick Brown off this week and Clegg the next? That’s the strategy I’d have recommended. Instead, he focused too much (in my view) on why a hung parliament would be a bad thing “look at the bickering already”. I agree but there must be a better reason to vote Tory than the fact it is the lesser of two evils? Anyway, tonight I had expected a Cameron triumph but got a Cameron improvement. He did go running I recall – with a soldier from Afghanistan who was quicker than him. At this rate, not hard. Yes Cameron, the race is on - but you’ve got to be quicker than this if you’re going to win it.