Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg to appear in live TV debates

[hamba]

Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg to appear in live TV debates

Three party leaders set for election debates on BBC, ITV and Sky News, each between 85 and 90 minutes long

Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg will go head to head in a series of live TV debates during next year's general election campaign, broadcasters confirmed today.

It will be the first time that the leaders of Britain's main political parties have locked horns in front of a television audience in the run-up to an election.

ITV, Sky and the BBC will each host a debate, in that order.

The hosts will be the ITV newsreader Alastair Stewart, the Sky News political editor Adam Boulton and the Question Time host David Dimbleby.

The debates, which will take place in front of a selected audience, will be between 85 and 90 minutes long and be broadcast in peak time.

The format of the debate will remain the same, with around half of each debate covering a specific theme.

Detailed arrangements for the debates will be finalised in the new year ahead of a general election expected to take place in May.

BBC and Sky are to make their programmes available to other broadcasters simultaneously, while ITV is to do so immediately after transmission.

TV debates have long been a staple of presidential election campaigns in the US, and their potential significance was recognised from the inaugural occasion in 1960, when John F Kennedy was deemed to have greater appeal than Richard Nixon thanks to the latter's sweaty upper lip.

Although British politicians regularly clash publicly in the House of Commons chamber, they have been reluctant to be drawn into a gladiatorial contest in the glare of the TV cameras given the risk of committing a campaign-defining error.

But after strenuous lobbying by the broadcasters, Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have finally agreed to take part.

The BBC will host separate debates in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland among all the main parties, to be broadcast on the BBC's services in those nations, and across the UK on the BBC news channel.

The BBC said all political parties with "significant levels of support at a national level" would be given the chance to respond to the issues raised in the prime ministerial debate.

ITV said it would "observe its obligations of due impartiality in its electoral coverage and give airtime in other programming to the views of other parties as appropriate".

Sky News is planning to broadcast separate debates in Scotland and Wales among the main parties there.

After its prime ministerial debate, it will also offer political parties that have significant levels of support at a national level the chance to respond.

"For the first time in British history, viewers will be able to watch the politicians who aspire to lead the country debate face to face as the electorate decides who should form the next government," said Michael Jermey, ITV director of news, current affairs and sport.

"It's not an exaggeration to say that the first debate will be an historic moment in both television and electoral history."



Chris Tryhorn
Monday 21 December 2009 18.04 GMT
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009

 

[Munkey]

David Cameron is foolish to take part in an open debate, he has a huge poll lead which can only worsen if he puts in a poor showing. I wish he'd not chosen this route, he's hardly the best debater in the world and he has quite a temper.

It's good for the British public though, they'll be able to see how little there is between all three political parties. I look forward to it.

 

[Baaheeduk]

Thanks for the heads up! I'll be sure to miss it

Bunch of fcukin' muppets!

 

[Jenno]

yeah its hard to work out which one will end up looking the most stupid )

 

[señor ding dong]

It seems long overdue, but then, it's not like we can't see these clowns go head-to-head on PMQs on a weekly basis anyway, so I'm not sure this amounts to much more than a general case of America-envy, since this is where the inspiration for this seems to come from.

As for who this might benefit the most, Cameron seems the most relaxed and personable of the three in a forum like that, and let's be honest, Clegg is just there to make up the numbers, so it's really just a Brown - Cameron affair, and I'm just not sure how much Brown's involuntary jaw-drop will detract from what he has to say about policy. There are already signs that the Tories are planning to take another page from the big book of American politics, by pandering to perceived common sense ideas and values, and that sort of stuff plays much better on TV than the issues and policies Brown will be forced to spend a lot of time defending.

 

[v14]

Wee Alex Salmond is going to go to court unless he gets to play too.

 

[witchy]

Wee Alex Salmond is going to go to court unless he gets to play too.

lol, aye I just saw that on Sky News, lol

He's not happy coz he's not invited

 

[Rs2k_Rider]

I think any party that has seats and power in areas should be included.... ok there are some nuts parties that do not have seats etc...

Why the three biggest parties, they are all the same under the false front.

 

[hoppy]

I agree with Munkey about Cameron doing this.
Brown and public enemy no1 Mandy have done a great job at ruining the country and letting the banks do whatever they want but it won't be any better under the Tories.

Cameron will be forced on a live debate to finally tell us about his policies that he never seems to reveal and if Brown pulls his finger out he might slam a missile right into the heart of the Torries.

You might be able to see this on the BBC Parliament every week but when its on prime time its more intense and more pressure on everyone.

I couldn't give a toss tbh as i am pissed off with the lot of them and imo they are all equally useless.
I would exterminate all mps and bankers, wipe out all traces of the old corrupt system and start again with more transparency and accountable politics.
If you get caught with your cock in the dog you are banned from politics for life and "never" allowed to be involved again so Mandy would be f***** for starters.
Bankers however would be enforced with stricter rules and if they fooked up again they would be packing bags at Asda for minimum wage for the rest of their vile lives aswell as having a huge pineapple inserted into their arse once a week....:Cheers:

 

[smirnoff_rules]

l wonder wot they will have to say about europe having the coldest winter in 50 years //

bet they wont and if anyone in the audience does they will be shot down for being mad ..

there all the same , ripping us off with scare tactics ..

bird flu / salmonella / global icing then warming / shortage of oil / 4x4 cars / and even aids .


every one of the above was another tax , wonder wot they will think of next ..


edited lol

 

[wonko]

@hoppy
can you afford to have a pineaplpe inserted on minimium wage these days - surely not on a weekly basis?

cameron may not have any policies but neither does brown - at least not public ones - stating the same lies over and over again doesnt make a policy (or make it true) - he seems to think it does

the whole system is corrupt - so corrupt that simply removing all the mp's, bankers and anyone else who's unpopular this week isnt going to fix it - the oft's decision today shoudl prove that without a shadow of a doubt - so it doesnt matter who you vote for - your gonna get more fo the same regardless - the only reason they've agreed to the debates (IMO) is because of this - they dont care who wins as unlike the real ones the gravy train will keep on rolling

@smirnoff
your not allowed to call them aides these days m8 - they are called interns lol

 

[snapman]

They have just proven over the last few months that quite a few high profile polititions (and a few of the lesser ones) had no qualms about taking the most from the public purse (and stealing), from the people they represent, and then ask us to trust them.

So now they have the opportunity to say, "Look, we're whiter than white now. More than the other candidates." When the truth is, they're just as bad as each other.

If it becomes a true debate, it might work. But to me, this could just be another opportunity for the major parties just to try and bring each other down with the sh1t "Your party's more rubbish than mine". "No your party's way much more rubbish than mine."

School children in the playground stuff.

In my opinion, they're all as bad as each other at the moment. If there's voter apathy in the up-coming election, they can't blame voters, especially if they're willing to sell what they're "about" on a live telly debate. They are totally to blame.

And by the way, I sincerely hope I'm proved wrong, and it's purely constructive and brings confidence back to British politics. By God we need it!

 

[Jenno]

l wonder wot they will have to say about europe having the coldest winter in 50 years //

bet they wont and if anyone in the audience does they will be shot down for being mad ..

yep lol. good point mate

:Cheers:

 

[señor ding dong]

l wonder wot they will have to say about europe having the coldest winter in 50 years

Hopefully something that might educate the masses about the misconceptions regarding this "global warming". Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't mean a universal temperature change across the globe across all seasons. What it means is increasingly extreme weather conditions. Due to the complexities of weather patterns, a temperature increase in a certain area might set in motion a series of climate events that can have the opposite effect somewhere else. It's actually one of the few things the movie The Day After Tomorrow got right, albeit in a very exaggerated sense, when most of North America was hit by a new ice age. Apart from colder weather, it could result in flooding, tornadoes and other kinds of extreme weather.

There's no question that climate change is happening, the only question is whether or not it's man-made, but unfortunately, some people who don't fully understand the subject have taken this as evidence that climate change or "global warming" isn't happening at all. I don't expect any of the 3 parties to address this in much detail, but it might be helpful if someone did.