Now Cameron is too committed to a TV debate to back-out, Brown should say yes to this potentially game-changing moment

Craig Strachan

I recall that in the 1987 election Mrs Thatcher didn't campaign for the first week or so of the campaign as she was "too busy running the country" or some such lofty nonsense.

Brown should take a similar tack at the next election, but for more than a week. About a month would be optimum.

The fact is Brown will be a disaster on the campaign trail, he would be awful in a TV debate with Cameron, and he would be crazy to agree to it.

Ben Elford

The phrasal verb 'back out' isn't hyphenated.

On past form, Brown will cravenly resist calls for a debate; then find he is relentlessly backed into it; then claim that it was his idea all along, and that Cameron is the one who is the coward.

Robert Eve

Brown has nothing more to lose.

bill

Your comment: "the expectations for Brown are so low that if he gets through it without losing his temper or saying something like zero-percent increase then he’ll have got over the bar" made me laugh out loud. You have redeemed yourself from your calamatous 'the army should be bigger' article yesterday...

mitch

Brown will bottle it! after his weekly humiliation at PMQs would you?

Jeremy

"The Tories are pushing the TV debate line. They’ve just press-released a letter from David Cameron to Gordon Brown asking for a clarification on Labour’s position on the issue."

I think that's actually quite shrewd tennis-politics (to coin a term?), because if Brown now does agree to the TV debate it will look as though he has both changed his mind on it and done so under Tory pressure. Advantage Cameron. I do admire Dave's pluck. He doesn't give up or give in, does he?

I would agree with the general consensus that in a TV debate Dave would have the natural advantage of his excellent communication skills on his side. I think he's also got the right sort of looks for the box. However, it is always possible - in a live debate - for the unexpected to happen on the night. Has Cameron got enough steadiness of nerve and mind...and enough verbal reach to force Brown into making an embarrassing error without, in the process, either slipping up or losing his temper himself? Who will stumble over their words first? And what, in the process of doing so, will they say, or let slip?

Also, I suppose one has to take into account the style of the debate. A TV debate in a studio is not the same things as a debate across the floor of the House of Commons. By which I mean that Cameron's punchy and energetic style - which works so well in the House - might not translate into the TV studio. I don't know. Tory media tarts will have to give some thought to this...

I mean, what manner should Dave adopt? What - or which - tone of voice should he use? And what approach should he take?

If it was me, and I was Dave, I really would be inclined to just not worry about it, be natural and then go for the jugular at the first opportunity. But then pull back the moment before it began to look like bullying. I suppose one has to be careful about these things - especially in public and in front of an audience...

But then...they're both already used to debating in public and in front of an audience, aren't they? And we are used to them...

Just go for it, and let the pieces fall where they may.

Grumpy Old Man

He's too frit. No way will Brown take on Cameron without the Beeb giving him a big say in the conduct of the "debate".

Oscar

Brown's a goner James and the idea such a debate would be a 'game changer' is fanciful. I predict Brown will be ousted after the Conference and will never fight an election. If the guy was capable of changing the game through such a debate, he wouldn't be the useless tw*t he has proved himself to be. A debate isn't like the spin Olympics that was the G20 - the media can't fix it for him. Or is this some kind of double-bluff to lure him into a Conservative laid trap?

Tiberius

Brown's just afraid Cameron will call him a tw@t.

Parlow

I can't see Brown agreeing to a debate. As far as I know he's never agreed to a really hard interview. The man is a coward.

Victor Southern

James, he did not earn the nickname "Bottler" for nothing.

He will decline and say that what the people want is for him to get on with the job and not waste time debating with the Conservatives since they have no policies.

HedgePig

The Tories are absoluting shafting NuLibor (sic) with this one... by making this a story in the public eye if Brown agrees he's seen to having been forced by the Tories, of course if he passes...lol Heads they win, tails you lose. Outspun Mandy if you ask me...:-)

Percy Filf

James, you're getting dragged into it. This has nothing to do with politics. Stop adding your weight to this banal procedure.

john

This post is almost identical to that of Alex Massie.
Did you have lunch today?

PauL

OMGosh - if Brown gets through a debate without loosing his temper then he'll have got over the bar? This is patented WESTMINSTER-BUBBLE-VISION (WBV).

Has he not got anything to say about why we should vote for him (at last) as PM? If he gets through a TV debate without outrageous untrue lies about Tory policy, and without tractor stats then he might live up to the expectations of the normal people. And even then, they still won't vote Labour anymore.

Jon

A debate with Brown is futile anyway, since he will be asked questions.

When Brown is asked a question, he never answers.

ChrisD

"Also, the expectations for Brown are so low that if he gets through it without losing his temper or saying something like zero-percent increase then he’ll have got over the bar."

But that is the problem, just getting him over the bar might give him a boost with the PLP or the political lobby, but it ain't going to make him shine with the electorate.

They like a Susan Boyle moment where someone like Brown soars over it into orbit. Otherwise forget it and show as it as a clip from the wannabes who didn't make the cut.

ksjhj

Great heads think alike
http://www.ksjhjd.com

Stewart

Stop saying things like "If Brown is to win the next election" my continued good humour is maintained by the certain belief that he will be humiliated next year at the GE and that we can at least undo some of the damage that Labour has done to our economy, foreign policy, defence capabilities, national pride, national security, etc...

Wight Tory

I'd love to see this done using the timing rules as used in chess. If not, Brown do what he's been trying to do, under Bercow that he got away with Martin, namely protract the (faux) answer with a acceptence speach of epic proportions...

Moraymint

It's hard to imagine Brown emerging from his bunker much between now and the General Election.

If he couldn't be arsed to get up to Norwich for the by-election, why would he go on TV parade with Cameron?

Perhaps it's worth contrasting reports of Brown's initial reaction to this nerve-wracking suggestion with the reaction of our troops preparing to go on foot patrol in Helmand.

One senses a contrast between cowardice and courage here.

Why did Brown "write" a book about courage exactly?

Roger

He will first need to remove the broad yellow streak running down his spine. Unless he does this he will fall apart under close scrutiny.

Dave Merlin

Cameron could always have a debate with Nick Clegg, there by suggesting that Labour may end up in third place after the next GE

Any Colour but Brown

Brown will accept the invitation, but fall sick 24 hours before the debate and "have to" send a substitute, probably Manglebum.

There's no way that he will allow anyone to ask unscripted questions to which he is expected to give an answer.

Vulture

The fact is that whenever Bruin appears in public, let alone on TV, he just looks....well, I was goping to write 'weird', but let's be kind and call it 'uncomfortable'. Even in the staged shot of him 'on holiday' with the poor wife this week he looked as if he was abt to be led to the firing squad. On TV he simply looks like the alien from Planet Zarg. Therefore: no debate.

Stepney

Brown doesn't do elections and he doesn't do debate.

He has only ever had to fight one election battle - that of his own seat.

There's no way he's going to step up the plate now.

Coriolanus

New Labour won the last couple of elections by keeping Prescott out of the way. Perhaps they can win the next one by making Brown stay indoors until it's all over.

Ricky

Brown (Mandelson) will only agree to debate Cameron on TV, if the adjudicator is "Baroness" Fiona Phillips, a GMTV entertainment presenter, Lord Sugar Lump or one of the many Labour luvvies at the BBC.

john

tiberius, if Cameron did use a swear word to call Brown, tehn it would show Cameron for what he is, Also Didn't Major back out of a debate with Kinnock, its a bit rich for the tories to criticise labour

Chuck Unsworth

Brown's complete lack of televisual charisma will be immediately apparent. Let's not forget how Nixon appeared in his televised debates - and how Reagan simply walked it.

This is a game for actors with real charm. Has Brown got it? Well, every time he appears on my screen I shudder and mentally switch off - being revolted by Brown's evident insincerity and ridiculous gurning.

By contrast I tend to listen to what Cameron has to say - although I may not agree with everything he says.

A televised debate will only reinforce those impressions. After all, television rarely has anything of real depth. It's visual bubble-gum. Pap for the masses, who probably have already made their minds up.

TrevorsDen

All TV debates are usually inconclusive. The big question everyone is missing is will Brown agree to be interviewed by Paxman for the very first time?

The BIG problem for Brown in any TV debate (and any interview by Paxman) is that he has been a useless chancellor and a useless PM for the past 12 years and that fact might just sneak out.

Pete-s

Perhaps Labour will allow the REAL PM, Mandy, to take his rightful place in the debate.

drakes drum

Mandleson against Cameron will prove to be big box office.

Mandleson will lead the Labour Party into the next election and he will expose Cameron to the people as a complete and utter fraud.

This has been a brilliant trap set by Mandleson. He has now got Cameron trapped!

Wait till he turns the headlights on in a debate!

Simon Denis

Mandelson is nothing but a condescending fraud. He might think language games awfully clever during a Newsnight interview, but they would elicit nothing but howls of derision from the public. How he squirmed around the issue of "cuts"! If the left are pinning their hopes on such a slimy, self-satisfied, back room operator, then they've lost all hope.

JONNY

'Mandleson will lead the Labour Party into the next election and he will expose Cameron to the people as a complete and utter fraud.'

Is this entry meant to be drake's drum's contribution to Comic Relief Day?
In which case has he got the date right?
And where's his red nose?

G Butler.

A TV debate is not risk free for Labour, despite the desperate position they are in.

Labour has an in-built bias in the electoral system, and is therefore likely to retain a decent number of MP's at the next election - despite a fall in their share of the vote. It is also likely that their share of the vote will not fall below the low thirties. Hence Labour is unlikely to suffer a 1997 style defeat.

However if Brown does badly in the TV debate, then he has the potential to put off wavering Labour voters from going to the polls. This could turn a certain Labour defeat into a catastrophe.
[We can but hope]

David Parker

If the debate were to be televised by the BBC there would be no chance of an unbiased presenter.

Andy Carpark

Dave will make an a*se of himself in a TV debate by wittering on about the proceeds of growth.

If I met Dave in a TV debate, I would use the tried and tested technique that I use against antagonists down the pub, ie poke him in the pauch and taunt him with cries of, "When's it due? When's it due?"

Drakes Drum

Johnny, got my red nose on. It is rather permanent due to my love of the fruit of the vine.

Place your money on Mandleson leading Labour to victory!

Verity

What difference would it make. Neither of them would level with the electorate. Cameron's as wriggly and sneaky as Brown.

NorthernJohn

I'm a big Cameron fan, but his moronic swearing on the radio yesterday was dreadful.

It's not because he used a couple of naughty words, but because he used them on a 'youth' radio station.

Cameron is too assured an operator to have made even one 'mistake' during a live interview. The fact he made two suggests he'd gone on there to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

Cringeworthy.

TGF UKIP

There's a great deal of difference between the principal of a debate and an agreed format of debate.

Would be classic Gordon to lay down conditions which, to Joe Public might be plausible, but to which the Tories cannot possibly agree and then claim victory and the high ground for himself.

As usual there's a sight too much chicken counting and premature gloating over Dave's GE prospects. Still, in chill reality, no better than even money for any sort of majority.

And while on the subject of Dave's image, there's a very interesting post by Guido, with a health warning, on Dave, the company he keeps and what might be going on behind closed doors.

The fanzine hacks won't be linking, of course, but Guido's at order-order.com

Emily Bobster

Re: David Parker's comment

The BBC would definitely broadcast a debate, even if it wasn't hosted by a BBC presenter. David Frost for example. But I think Nick Clegg would have to be in it.

Sean O'Hare

I suspect that this is a Mandeltrap. Not sure what he's up to yet but I suspect it ain't heathly for either Gordo or Dave.

Paul L

The Nixon/Kennedy TV debate took place half a century ago.

All it takes is a little courage Mr Brown.

David

It would be toe curling stuff to watch Brown gurn and fake smile his wooden way through a TV debate with Cameron. Bring it on!