UK Features

New kid on the block is 'winner' of big debate (News Feature)

By Anna Tomforde Apr 16, 2010, 14:33 GMT

A handout photograph released by Independent Television on 15 April 2010, shows British Liberal Party Leader Nick Clegg at the Debate Media Centre. EPA/KEN MCKAY /ITV COPYRIGHT

London - Nick Clegg, who until recently used to be the 'Nick ... Who?' of British politics, has 'won' the country's first- ever live TV election debate hands down, according to pundits and instant opinion polls.

The US-style contest - the first of its kind to be broadcast in Britain - turned the 43-year-old Liberal Party leader into the potential 'game changer' of Britain's forthcoming general election on May 6, his backers enthused.

His detractors maintained that Clegg, leader of the smallest of Britain's three main parties, benefited from the novelty factor, and from the fact that he was given equal air time with Prime Minister Gordon Brown (Labour) and David Cameron (Conservatives).

'He (Clegg) has the advantage of not having been stereotyped yet,' said one election analyst.

The debate, at times stiff, but of some substance and politely conducted, no doubt injected a dose of freshness and excitement into Britain's 2010 election campaign, even though its fall-out on election arithmetics remains to be seen.

More than 9 million viewers turned on their TV sets to watch the three men, all wearing smart suits and ties resembling their respective party colours (pink for Labour, pale blue for the Conservatives and yellow for the Liberals).

Brown, more relaxed than expected, won on substance but not on style, instant polls showed, Cameron came across as 'well-rehearsed' and Clegg was rated as refreshing by a majority of voters.

Apart from what he said, it was apparently Clegg's vigorous hand movements and the fact that he looked straight at the camera that worked to his advantage.

Presentation is three times more important than message when trying to get your point across,' said Professor Tim Clark, an expert in public speaking at Durham Business School.

Such detailed scrutiny of 90 minutes of political debate on issues ranging from the economy to immigration and Afghanistan would - under normal circumstances - hardly matter, experts agree.

But in 2010 Britain, there is change in the air as the Liberals appear to emerge from the shadows to play a key role as potential 'kingmakers' in a system dominated by the two big parties.

Opinion polls have consistently predicted that there could be a 'hung parliament' after May 6, a stalemate in which neither Labour nor the Conservatives gain an overall majority and would have to rely on Liberal support.

Clegg's message that his party was determined to end the traditional 'two-party stitch-up' in British politics and open the elections into a 'three-way race' appealed to more than 50 per cent of viewers, an opinion poll in the Sun newspaper said Friday.

'The world has moved on, you need to move with it,' Clegg told Brown and Cameron over their defence of keeping Britain's independent nuclear deterrent.

But if the Liberals, who are currently predicted to gain around 20 per cent of the vote under the first-past-the-post electoral system, should end up as power-brokers, they are not letting on who their favourite partner in government would be.

Like a bride playing hard to get, Clegg rejected repeated blunt overtures from Brown for a political marriage.

'There is absolutely nothing to support,' Clegg snapped at the prime minister, flatly rejecting Brown's repeated courting attempts, couched in phrases such as: 'Nick supports me,' Nick agrees with me,' 'As Nick said...'

There were no such obvious advances to the Liberals by Cameron, the Conservatives' prime ministerial contender, who was generally seen as having given a 'weak' performance in the debate.

'Everyone saw David Cameron poised in the starting blocks, but it seemed no-one saw he had tied his shoelaces together,' said Sacha Deshmukh of PR firm Mandate Communications.

The Liberals say they expect to be 'love-bombed' by the two main parties before and after the elections, but they will stay true to their principles and liaise with the party with the 'strongest mandate.'

Ideally, Brown's ruling Labour Party, which is lagging behind in the opinion polls, would like to see a small Liberal gain on May 6, which could enable Labour to enlist Liberal cooperation - rather than a formal coalition which is an alien concept in British politics.

Such a scenario, Labour believes, could keep the Conservatives out of power, even though they still have a lead over Labour in the opinion polls.

However, given the unpredictable nature of voters' intentions, election turnout and the confines of the voting system, Clegg's winning performance should not be overrated, experts warned.

'Winning a debate does not mean winning the election, let alone becoming prime minister,' said Nick Robinson, the BBC's political analyst.