What happened the last time Gove played Cameron's opponent in debate prep

Rhoda Klapp

For goodness' sake, how much of this airheaded rubbish do you expect me to read?

cityboozer

What use is Gove going to be in preparation for Brown? The former is a man actually capable of listening to and engaging with an argument and finding and exploiting any holes in it. The latter is so convinced of his own rectitude that he can't even hear the opposition. (Can you imagine Brown having to pretend to be a Tory? He just would not be able to do it.)

What he can get away with at PMQs should get him taken to pieces by a well-briefed opponent with the right of reply. The only difficult bit is that Brown has a Rain Man-like ability to pull misleading stats out of thin air. No opponent can be well enough briefed to have a reply to all of them so it is necessary to build a good handful of specific numbers for the likely ones but more importantly to catalogue the general points made and have a pocketful of matching replies.

In2minds

Stuff the 'real' debate between Brown, Cameron and Clegg can't we just have Cameron versus Gove?

JR

Rhoda - quite a lot more. There is much stronger evidence to support a link in the USA between performance in televised debates and electoral success than there is in the UK to suggest the Sun's support in 92 and 97 influenced the result.

Therefore however much you may dislike it this 'story' may influence the result of the election.

charles hercock

As long as Dave is honest he has nothing to fear.The devious GB will be advised by Balls and the Prince of darkness and will be seen to obfuscate.We won't get it wrong this time

Amadeus Plonquer

Surely the only character who could ever possibly play Gordon Brown would be Fred Flintstone.....

Watt Tyler

"David Davis bested David Cameron in the TV debate"

And the Tory membership still voted for Cast Iron. Now Cast Iron sells out on the EU. But still the Tory faithfull blindly follow him, to misplace their faith in him. And continue to turn their noses up at UKIP - the only real conservative party in the UK.

Blofeld's Cat

The fact that David Cameron won the leadership election over David Davis, despite Gove's help for DD, would suggest that TV debates are hardly the game-changers that you suggest.

DC simply has to respond in simple, jargon-free language to all the questions, rise above the Labour hate taunts and be prepared to say "I don't know - I haven't been in government" when confronted with questions about the policies of the last 12 years.

Rhoda Klapp

JR, what I mean is the meta-discussion. The debates themsleves may or may be interesting. I rather think the latter, I think all sides will be motivated by fear of saying anything that could upset or offend. But faux stories about thing which may happen and how they will turn out are nothing but fluff. We need more than westminster gossip. Are no real things happening?

Dennis Churchill

Let’s hope they remember the Oxford Union is not the audience they are playing to.

Ed P

Gove is not the man to improve DC's ability to expose GB's lies. "How do you know when GB is lying? He opens his mouth." They will need to practise providing instantaneous rebuttals - not easy as the devious swine is actually quite good at telling fibs. (Well, he has to be good at something.)

A Griffin

Am I the only person that feels that this leaders debate will not happen.I find that the mountain of comment on this subject has, for me, an air of un-reality, as if we were discussing the exact nature of aliens or Moon-cheese in an earnest manner. Am I the only one who thinks that Gordon Brown will be unable to face it when the time comes. Watch out for the get-out clauses and excuses as we get nearer.I'm sure something will come up.You are all wasting your time talking about it.

TrevorsDen

Who is playing Clegg in these trials - if indeed there are any as you imply. They are 3 - cornered debates not like in the USA, or elsewhere.

How will Clegg himself go - will he butter up brown and gang up on the Tories? Just how will that play with the right of what professes to be a coherent party with an identity of its own.
I say this because the libdems are basically lefties but try to be the opposite just anyone that other people dislike.

I grow tired of the odious Mr Tylers constant haranguing for UKIP. He should be grateful that there are enough tories which will save him from the consequences of his fatuous pronouncements.
The plain fact is Cameron kept his promise it was Clegg and Brown who broke theirs - the terminally brain dead like Tyler cannot get it into their skulls that the Lisbon treaty has been passed and NOTHING the conservatives can do or say now or later - certainly not a wasted referendum - can change that.

But I suppose clinging to dribbling fantasies is the only way Tyler et al can justify their preposterous notions.

Fergus Pickering

But the people are not listening to a debate. I am told Al Gore beat George Bush in the debate, but people watching said, 'What a superior shithouse. George is my kind of man.' I'm sure I would have said the same. Regan didn't demolish Carter by debating with him.'There you go again!' was his clincher. People don't like clever-clever. That's why the in many ways excellent Robin Cook could never have been Prime Minister. What people like is nice and straightforward, and if you can fake that (and Tony Blair could fake it) then you've got it made. Brown comes over as a dictatorial arsehole - because he IS a dictatorial arsehole. And Brown won't listen to any advice. Dave just has to prod him a bit. I think you lot haven't got the comon touch at all. It's probably the superior education you all had. Public school and Oxford, wasn't it?

Dennis Churchill

TrevorsDen
I think you need to understand that outside the political class the idea there is a “ratchet”, whether this is European Union integration or some other current politically correct dogma, is simply not accepted.
Therefore a large section of the electorate did not (and does not) accept that: “...conservatives can do or say now or later - certainly not a wasted referendum - can change that.”

Neil McEvoy

Rhoda said:

"The only difficult bit is that Brown has a Rain Man-like ability to pull misleading stats out of thin air. No opponent can be well enough briefed to have a reply to all of them so it is necessary to build a good handful of specific numbers for the likely ones "

All Cameron needs to do is look to the sky when the numbers are reeled off and say that nobody believes the tractor statistics any more.

Neil McEvoy

Sorry, it was Boozer, not Rhoda.

Paul R

Why do we need three pre-election debates?

Surely we will get the chance to “vote one off” at the end on the first and the second debate.

Job done. So why waste money on a third debate? And then more money on an election.

Just a thought.

echo34

rhoda,

please bear with James on the blog, after all they have to write about something in order to appear up to the minute and ahead of the game, can somebody email me when they stop surmising and have something real to say to their paying public?

Hysteria

Rhoda et al - I know the navel gazing may be a tad frustrating - but I think it worth remembering that the actual debate is not (the whole) point - indeed as pointed out by others here it may not be a clincher in many minds.

But there is a wider point here - the "X-Factor approach" will raise the general level of public awareness and engagement in the political process and this has to be a good thing. As I posted at the time of the US elections (I curRently live in Houston) the overall level of awareness, debate and interest is way ahead of ours and anything we can do to make our public more politically aware is to be welcomed. Yes I know this reduces some aspects of politics to a "beauty contest - but needs must and all that!

Hugh Jass

"Let’s hope they remember the Oxford Union is not the audience they are playing to." - err... maybe that is their target audience.....