TV Debate - who did best?

[JustineMumsnet]

So there you have it. History in the making; the UK's first live Leaders' election debate. Who do you think did best? Has it confirmed/ clarified your choice or even changed your mind?

Let us know your thoughts in our third election poll and you could win £50 in Boden or Amazon vouchers.

Thanks,
MNHQ

[taffetacat]

NC was a bit dumbed down, but then I guess they all were. Not like HoC at all, which is the only time your really see them debate. All seemed to be treading on eggshells in comparison, which made for pretty boring viewing.

Don't really get the big deal of it, just watch HoC debates to see something more real.All the Qs are prepared anyway which makes it even more false.

I though Alistair Stewart was pretty awful.

[lucky1979]

I thought DC made a genuinely good point about making cuts. Labour are saying they won't make cuts this year, but not saying what they'll cut when it's NOT an election year. DC is saying that cuts have to be made and is not committing to ringfencing anywhere (except the NHS)

Completely agreed with cutting buerocracy and redeployment in the police as well, the 40 uniformed officer in one station working in HR was shocking - get the police out doing police jobs and get HR managers in to do HR.

NC did well, but it's easy for him to do well, especially when the other leader aren't prepared to attack him or pull him up on his attacks too strongly in case there is a hung parliment.

GB made some great promises and points, but as DC pointed out, there has been 13 years to sort immigration, schools and everything else out and it's only in an election year that they're suddenly recognising "Ooops there might be a problem". And with Lord Mandelson on your side, I don't see how you can start complaining about the House of Lords and unelected representatives, since I don't remember anyone getting to vote on him.

[Besom]

I had been thinking 'oh well, they're all the same, it doesn't matter', but the debate has put things into focus for me.

I'm very concerned about what the Tories will do to the public sector. I know they will all make cuts given the current economic climate, but I don't trust the Conservatives or Cameron at all.

[taffetacat]

Quite right, Besom. Shout it from the rooftops.

[lucky1979]

I don't trust GB or Labour any more, and they've proved me right on many occasions

[cakeywakey]

Ah ok, they were note-taking as well. I was listening on the radio so didn't know that. Now less impressed with the name remembering, but still think it is a nice touch as long as it's not overdone.

Will be interesting to see if GB does it in either of the next debates, or if the others continue it.

Obviously more interested in their (non)policies, but little touches can make a big difference as well.

[jackstarbright]

Besom - what did DC say to move you from 'they are all the same' to 'I don't trust DC or the conservatives at all'. That is a seriously big impact from one debate!

[Miggsie]

When I looked at David Cameron and the fact he was the leader of a major political party I suddenly began to comprehend how the Egyptians managed to worship an insect.

[crumpette]

I wish NC would adopt the conservative policy on the NHS and then he'd get my vote. So far though I disagree with scrapping tuition fees and disagree with any cuts at all to the NHS. I am just a little bit in love with Nick Clegg though and I thought he came across very well in the debate. DC looked completely terrified. GB did quite well, actually, but I still hate him.

[HousewifeOfOrangeCounty]

Am a lifelong Labour voter here, but have felt a little wobbly recently. I could be persuaded I guess. DC didn't come across as genuine at all - I felt that I was being spun old tory policies in a 2010 style. GB did very well especially as we all know its not his thing - I felt very reassured. NC came across well too, better than I thought.

I'd say that if the country feels that it must change the government because the existing lot have got complacent (which may be true) then NC's your man. DC scares me - if you want a nightmare for the next few years he's the one to vote for.

BTW - can someone please ask them all if they've had botox, I think they all have.

[BoggleJunior]

Well, I now feel absolutely terrified at the idea of Tories coming into power.

David Cameron was weak, nervy, insubstantial and obsessed with spending cuts. He didn't give a straight asnswer to anything and seemed like a walking, talking human form of the Daily Mail. All those anecdotes were ridiculous.

Did I hear wrong or did he even say he met a "40-year-old black man who had served in the navy for thirty years". If so, I had no idea ten-year-olds could join the navy!

[TiggyR]

Hmm. Well if it was an exercise in slick and confident presenting style and getting the audience on side then Nick Clegg had it in the bag. I do think he overdid it a tad though and came across as a bit patronising towards the end. If all we needed to worry about was who cared enough and who empathised enough then NC would be our man.

Trouble is, even if he gets LOADS more people board, which he will, he still isn't going to be PM this time. So it's easy for him to promise all the right things and say all the right things because he knows he's highly unlikely to need to deliver just yet. In another 4-8 years maybe, but hopefully someone will have got us (slightly) out of our immediate diabolical fix by then, and he'll have a better plate of ingredients to work with.

Also didn't like the way he kept mentioning 'Greedy Bankers' and 'Duck Houses.' Yes, we know all about them thanks, but they are lazy cliches that have been milked enough. We needed a slightly more intellectual approach rather than too much reliance on tabloid style soundbites, designed to remind the hard-of-thinking masses that he's an ordinary geezer who's on their side.

I also think he had a much easier ride than the others beacuse all he needed to do was criticise past performances and highlight failures of the precious Lab and Tory governments to make himself look strong. They couldn't really counter-attack as Lib Dems haven't been in office since dinosaurs roamed the earth.

[gherkinwithapurplemerkin]

I thought Clegg relished the opportunity to have a proper input rather than just speaking to an emptying House as an afterthought. He did well.
Thought Cameron looked surprisingly nervous. And policies had v little substance.
Gordon did far better than I expected - obv all those practice sessions with Alaister Campbell worked well.
Will read thread now and see what others felt.

[TiggyR]

P.S.

DEFINITELY agree about the botox.....DC looked positively waxworkian, and like he'd been St.Tropezed. Even the curmudgeonly old Scot looked like a baby's bottom.

[soph24]

GB was the best - knew his stuff and clever the way he tried to align himself with Clegg and isolate DC.

I think NC did well and liked the honesty of his policies about spending cuts.

DC lacked any substance. He tried to avoid questions and was wishy washy on policies. This idea that we can solve all the problems but just cutting some waste.

[TiggyR]

I agree DC did seem much more nervous than I thought he would, and GB came across better than I thought he would. I think DC will make huge cuts across the public sector, and overhaul the benefits system, and I am in agreement with that so long as he cuts the right things, and doesn't just transfer people from jobs to the dole queue, but I think it's quite a difficult argument to sell. WE know we need tough love, but it's like he's a dentist who's trying not to tell us that actually, yes, this will hurt, alot, but if we don't do it you'll be in worse pain in the long run!

Gordon seemed to spend the whole time telling us enthusuastically about all the plans he's got to make certain catastrophes better, without actually acknowledging that those catastrophes were caused by the Labour government in the first place.

[sfxmum]

having had time to reflect I felt DC ended very well, after all the cringe worthy and pretty creepy main performance he managed to make the best closing statement

I think NC did best because he was the great unknown but was confident and did not really stumble much apart from when discussing Trident

and GB was far better than expected so he gets point for that

I wonder if the Tories will manage to loose this election for having chosen this leader, but I guess he appeals to their core voters

[Snidge]

I'm a fed-up Labour supporter living in a Tory stronghold thinking of voting Lib Dem as a tactical vote and a protest about the Brown years of Labour government.

I was completely put off voting Lib Dem by watching Nick Clegg last night. Answers were often repetitive and empty (admittedly I didn't watch the whole debate so maybe I missed him dazzling) and I found myself thinking that I wouldn't be able to vote Lib Dem after all.

Was surprised that David Cameron didn't come across better. He looked nervous, and although his speech was the most eloquent and fluent, he didn't end up saying very much contentwise.

Gordon Brown did OK after a stumbling start when he seemed fixated on getting in an anecdote about a chef he had met (what was all that about?). Yes, the gurning smile is rather alarming, but his inability to be smooth does mean he has to come out with some content!

[Molesworth]

ROFL @ DC looking 'waxworkian' I saw him trying to frown but it wasn't really happening, was it?

Actually in the moments when DC wasn't speaking he seemed to turn into a 1950s knitting pattern model with his 'gaze into the middle distance' stance which looked like it had been rehearsed ("don't hunch over the podium, Dave, no DON'T LOOK DOWN AT ANY TIME UNLESS YOU ARE WRITING NOTES! Look up and out into the bright blue future like a ship's captain, Dave" etc etc).

Agree with the general consensus that NC 'won', GB exceeded expectations and DC underperformed.

I thought GB's strategy of repeatedly challenging DC on education and police spending was very effective in exposing DC's lack of substance. DC just looked like he didn't know the answer. He often looked confused and - as someone else said further up the thread - like he was hearing some policies for the first time.

[bourboncreme]

I found GBs constant smirking and shaking his head whilst the others were speaking extemely bad mannered and offensive and as for his comments about neither of them knowing what it was like to be PM because they hadn't done the job and he had ,ridiculous.I hadn't done my job before I took it on but I know I am good at it.Frankly he has made such a mess of it I would think he should be ashamed .Also hated the way he kept hectoring the others and banging on about the"global"recession,just to make sure we didn't blame him.

I can't stand all this rubbish about "taking money out of the economy"He is taking the money away from me becasue I am going to be paying more tax,therefore I will spend less but he will then go and waste it some more on a "contemplation room in the dept of Families"WTF.How can reducing the money in peoples pay packets be taking money aout of the econmy?What he means is taking it out of the public sector,a give away when he said that the private sector cannot get us out of recession;presumably he thinks he can spend his way out then go at the next election in 2015 with an even bigger deficit.

We can't protect police and schools etc because we are broke we can't afford it ,very sad ,very painful,very unfair ...but true.

Cameron had the most to lose and therefore was predictably the most nervous,he needs to improve for the next one or he will have blown it.Agree he needs to shut up about childen in state schools,GBs son is in a state school but he didn't bang on about it because he takes it as read that he will be .

Nick Clegg,very impressive but who would be in his cabinet,Sarah Teather ,Vince Cable and David Laws would have to split all the jobs between them.

So on balance Nick Clegg won the battle but the war is still wide open.

[taffetacat]

rofl @ miggsie insect worship

[DrNortherner]

I cringed at DC proudly proclaiming he 'was takling to a black man the other day'

I also winced at DC's end summing up speach 'If you work hard, we're behind you'

I worry what DC's definition of 'working hard' actually is, I have a funny feeling he feels those who earns ££££££££ work hard and the rest of us don't.

[seekinginspiration]

LOL at Molesworth. NC came across as wanting to work together which always will come across as 'grown up' but what would happen if the lib dems really won?

I felt sorry for both DC and GB. GB cos he's not a natural TV presenter and DC cos he has to stand by all the announced cuts they have said they will make immediately without spending anytime checking that the cuts will not ending up costing more money in the end.

Next time I hope they ask some questions that ask for practical promises to cut red tape in business and free up very small employers (less than 5 employees) from political correctness. A carpentry business should be able to advertise a job for a a physically fit person as long as they would advertise other jobs such as an office job under current equal opportunity e.g.to include people with disabilities & health problems.

[bourboncreme]

Love the idea of DC looking like a knitting pattern,you're right all he needs is one of my gandmothers arron jumpers and he'd be there

[MorocconOil]

DC came across like a celebrity courting Hello Magazine, whereas GB seemed like a real person who actually thinks and cares about the world and the people in it.