Third and Final Leaders' Debate: Summary

There we have it - the leaders' debates are over. Successful? Definitely. Decisive? We shall see. Tonight's third and final debate was feistier than the past two, particularly on the issue of immigration (an issue which has had more prominence after bigot-gate).

The economy was Brown’s to lose, and he did not. He proved that he is the doyen on the economy after his Chancellorship. His technocracy paid off, and there was little criticism (and rightly so) for the way in which Brown has dealt with the recession.

The most heated debate came on the issue of immigration. Cameron dodged direct questions from both of the other leaders about his proposed “cap on immigration”. My thoughts: arbitrary and vacuous. Merely electioneering to show that his party want to deal with immigration, but not too sure how. The two old parties criticised the Liberal Democrats purported “amnesty” on immigrants. Clegg was hesitant, but managed to defend his party’s position. Bring them into the system and, if necessary offer citizenship, or alternatively deport. How do the other parties propose identifying those who are here illegally?

Cameron perpetuated his party’s anti-European stance, and further perpetuated his intransigence over the increase in the Inheritance Tax Threshold. The parties were virtually on other issues including the loopholes in the benefits system and housing.

Democracy has been the winner and I predict a higher turnout in next week’s election. I often thought that the debates would focus far too much on style and leave substance on the sidelines. On the contrary, policy has been forensically debated, and credit must go to all three leaders for that.

The closing submissions were all strong. However, I do fear that we may have heard Gordon Brown’s valedictory? And possibly even Cameron’s too?

Second Leaders' Debate: Summary

Tonight’s debate was meant to be focusing on international politics and foreign affairs. Despite a vigorous debate on the future of the Trident programme, the European Union and Clegg’s reminder about the illegality of the Iraq War, there was little debate on foreign policy. Where were questions about Iran? Where were questions about the Israel / Palestinian conflict? Sudan? Zimbabwe?. Instead we got a pointless question about the Pope’s visit.

Brown commenced with honesty – “If you want style and PR, count me out”. He delivered strong substance, and spoke with pride of Labour’s recent decisions on the economy. I thought he missed a crucial opportunity to embarrass Cameron about his new bedfellows in the EU, namely the homophobes and anti-Semites. Cameron improved on last week’s poor performance, but only a trifle. Cameron is still failing to sell this new “modern, compassionate Conservative party”. He was eventually embarrassed by Clegg when asked directly about his proposed cap on immigration, for which he provided no numerical answer.

Trident and immigration policy highlighted bipartisanship between the Tories and Labour against the Lib Dems. It was nice to see Clegg hold his own, and remain faithful to his ideologies.  The novelty of Clegg has definitely not worn off, and I predict a further boon for the Lib Dems in the polls.

Just a small mention of any gaffes. We are still waiting for a Ford-esque gaffe. Last week we had Cameron expressing the Chinese as a nuclear threat. This week we didn’t have a gaffe from Cameron, more an inappropriate comment about being “blown away” by the courage of the troops in Afghanistan. Reckless words ‘Dave’.

Clegg weathered a strong storm from both Cameron and Brown, and from a ferocious Fleet Street. After now 180 minutes and a long week, Clegg remains the frontrunner of the leaders. Naturally, with our FPTP system this will never equate to seats  - but he has proven that we have a three, not two, party system.