Few fireworks – but solid performances from Cable and Osborne

charles hercock

Dull as ditchwater,paetisan crowd who will hasten Georges demise.Bring on Ken

TrevorsDen

May I re[peat - from the clip I saw Cable was being blatantly crude and partisan and just inventing tory policy so he could knock it down. Little more than smears which a typical lefty Ch 4 audience would like. Cable is just a cheap politician after all.

The fact that the Ch4 audience was typically sandal wearing lefty would not help Darling either.

toco

So good to see that Darling defers to George Osborne.I can imagine a few nokias flying around No. 10 this evening but hopefully the secretaries will have departed for the evening.Cable was irrelevent but good to bring on the oranges at half-time.

Nash

Vince is an amazing socialist - I had not realised that the Liberals were to the left of Labour. maybe the Green party and the Liberals should merge since they seem to be the only socialists left.

Stevie

A bit dull but George came out very well, easily the best on show for substance while Vince played the fool and Darling the idiot.

John David Barnett

I'm glad Osborne won.

Snowman

You may kick me for it, but the one subject I can claim to have some knowledge of i.e. banking, Darling was the one who got it, probably because he has much better understanding than the other two of how the sector ticks, having had to deal with it in detail in the meltdown.

The split of banking into a high street pure vanilla operation and investment banking is akin to bringing back horse driven carts into out roads.

Also, does anyone really think that the banks will truly allow their bottoms lines to get hit if the new tax is brought in? Of course not. The tax will be passed on to us. It will be the great suffering unwashed who will get screwed up, once again. The simple fact that Obama and the EU back it should be the clue. It’s an expensive smokescreen, and we’ll pay for it.

Dan

Osborne did OK, which will do fine.

JohnPage

Boring programme. Started with soundbites, which may have driven many away. Cable came over best, because he was prepared to give people answers they didn't necessarily want to hear. Darling praised the government's judgement and no one laughed. Osborne survived against Darling (big deal) but needs to make more of the government's failures before the banking crisis. Don't just talk numbers, give specific examples of government waste - one a day from now till the election really shouldn't be hard. If in doubt ask Edward Leigh. Announce it as a feature of the campaign and list them daily briefly on a website.

The government has a terrible economic record but they didn't get nailed. Another open goal missed. It would have been so different with Ken!

PayDirt

In the discussion on the Conservatives just announced reduction in NI, Darling criticised this as an increase in Spending (or perhaps I misheard him). I don't think Darling really understands that NI & tax is taking money off people, he sees it in terms of his Spending programme. I have read much abuse about Osborne lately, however on seeing him perform tonight I thought he was rather good and made his points well. Cable looked old and rather past it. Darling kept pecking away at any old rubbish on the floor trying to find something tasty, he didn't find it though.

Percy

Watching the 10 o'clock news and listening to Stalinie Flanders you'd have thought Osbourne has completely screwed up.

2trueblue

Just heard the BBc grasp of the matter, anti Tory, Robinson and now Flanders, attack the Tories. Absolutely nothing about Liebore or Lib Dems cracks which our money is leaking through, the 13yrs of waste, mismanagement, and spin. Just mentioned that maybe Liebore might not enforce the ;Death Tax'.

I think I must have watched a different program. I thought that Osbourne did well and Cable is spinning the line that he saw it coming. Since his interview with Andrew Neil he has moderated his claims, but still speaks for himself. A big ego is not such a great thing, in the end it will get him. Darling wasted his opportunity last week so he is an irrelevance, no matter what Brown says. Would you trust Gordon?

Chuck Unsworth

Rightly or wrongly I felt that the audience was partisan - as was Guru-Murthy in his handling of the 'debate', although not quite a nakedly biased as on some other occasions. Cable was predictable, Darling immensely dull and floundering, and Osborne unexciting but making some decent points. I do hope we'll see a little more fire in the following debates.

denverthen

George did well and (gently) demolished Darling.

Cable got just what a political whore deserves: the clap.

andrew

Desperate Housewives on sky plus. My other half won the arguement 32 minutes in. yawn...

Aaron

As someone in their 20s who's voted all three parties, I'd consider myself fairly floating. On tonight's performance, Cable would be best Chancellor. I can only understand Cameron's sticking with Osbourne in the same way that Blair stuck with Prezza.

Gawain

Soap opera politics. Yaaawwwn !! University Challenge was much more exciting.

Richard

George didn't do well enough to get over the problems evident tonight. He will come under pressure tomorrow from Tories in the press for sure.

judging by the lack of interest on here so far speaks volumes.

Willie de Peepul

St. Vince of Cable demeaned himself with that performance, not that that bothers me.

David Ossitt

Percy

“Stalinie Flanders”

Love it.

denverthen

“Cable got just what a political whore deserves: the clap.”

Superb.

jennywren

George did not drop the ball as many had feared and did himself a lot of good this evening. Vince Cable was cheap and Darling defensive. A definite win for GO, but watching the BBC news afterwards you would never have thought so.
It really is time to do someting about the BEEB.

Richard

It seems the press all put Osborne last in the race. The Times has Darling a points winner then Cable then Osborne,
Guadian has Cable, Darling then Osbourne.
Telegraph has Darling Cable then Osborne.
Sorry chaps but what do you expect when you make knee jerk policy on the hoof.

Tiberius

I think Cable used tonight to advertise himself as David Dimbleby's replacement as Chairman of QT.

The C4 moderator was useless. He should have reigned Cable in.

toco

Chaps and Chapesses-Flanders is merely a BBC/Harriet Harman political correctness pawn.Given a change of government she will probably end up as Unite's economic guru where she should find a comfortable and rewarding landing.

TGF UKIP

Just a minute, is something being overlooked by the Boy George fan club. An hour passed with much talk of borrowings and deficits but very little of debt and absolutely no mention of the figure that would really matter - £1.4 trillion equating to £56,000 per household, or more than quadrupling UK debt since 1997, even after "halving the deficit."

Robert Williams

Is the mis-spelling of Osborne by so many people a deliberate act? If so, what does it signify?

TrevorsDen

Dear TGF - Osborne mentioned that in his Party Political Broadcast after the budget.

JONNY

Maybe because he's trying to win an Election TGF UKIP. Voters don't seem to want to vote for DEBT.
Your man Farage must be trying to do the same. But so far not making a huge impression.

perdix

Isn't Flanders the single mum who took umbrage at the Tories' stance on marriage - and goes out of her way to diss them?

Snowman

Could anyone repeat what any of the three said? Nope. Could anyone point out any materially significant difference between the two who are likely to sit in No 11? Nope. Could anyone truly say that any of the three knows what he’s talking about? Nope. What we’ve got served was three skilful word smiths, people who can argue whatever proposition they choose, and argue it convincingly.

We’ve borrowed £167bn on top of the aggregate tax revenue and the talk in specifics was mostly about a pocket money amount - £6bn, and how to start cutting the ‘structural’ deficit in a lukewarm economic recovery - either by continuing to spend the money we are borrowing until the economy kicks in for real, even though some of it goes on projects already identified as wasteful (Labour), or by lowering abit the tax burden on individuals and employers by reducing NI contributions (the Tories). A couple of discernable but miniscule nodules in what was supposed to be an economic vision for Britain for the next five years. No surprise we’re in a shite we’re in.

The great unwashed perception that there ain’t any tangible difference between the two major parties is spot on. That more than the deficit is what’s so tragic about current British politics.

Major Plonquer

I agree with Richard. Policians make complete idiots of themselves when they make policy 'on the hoof'.

Even worse though is when they make policy live on TV as Darling did when he dramatically changed Labour's position on the Death Tax in the middle of a TV debate.

Are we to have a Labour Death Tax or not?

Major Plonquer

Its most telling of our society that we now elect politicians based on who can lie with the straightest face.

Mike Towl

What gentlemen, how civilised and how welcome. Three politicians having a debate without tantrums or toys flying out of their prams. And a handshake at the end to boot. But dear old Vince, the only one in my eyes to screw up. We know he'll never be chancellor so I reckon he being a bit 'Bird & Fortune' was okay. But as the economy will be the focus of the election, he was just too glib.

paolo notelli

To be honest i thought osborne actually did not come off looking very well at all and at times seemed quite naive.Whilst i am not a fan of darling and his miserable personality at times ,i have to say he came across as having a better grip of the reality of the economy that osborne.

I thought vince cable was actually quite effective but as he knows he will not be in power he has much more freedom to say what he really thinks than either Darling or Osborne.