Nick Clegg triumphs – and Cameron gains – in the first TV debate

Anan

Why don't you "update" this with the result of the SkyNews poll which says Cameron won with 41%. Stop bumping a clegg - he is a clown, fit for Michael Crick, Adam Boulton, Paxman and the other media clowns who have got fat off our tax money.

GDT

Cameron did ok - held his own. As for Clegg - beware a snake oil salesman.
Personally, I thought Brown came across agressive and bullying.

Paul Hunter

I suspect that the constant Clegg attack on the other parties was popular because it was novel (apart from it being the same as Cable in the Chancellors debate). By the time of the third debate it will seem very repetitive and tired. What else will he have to say?

Robert Eve

The complete moron that is Gordon Brown.

Richard of York

Cameron 31 Brown 32 Clegg 37

I agree also Populus down to 3 point lead

Cameron is slipping and to be fair he was very lightweight tonight.
Brown cornered him on spending cuts and Clegg drove home the nails.
I said before Liberals will be the biggest danger to Cameron not Brown

Tom Smith

Many had predicted that the centre podium would give Cameron the advantage that it gave Cable in the Chancellor's debate. But the podiums were much closer together this time. Whilst Cable looked like a mediator, Cameron just looked hemmed in. Inches count.

canonalberic

And everybody loved Kennedy and Thorpe both of whom were more talented than Clegg - and I seem to remember both of them being mooted as Home Secretary (although one suspects security clearance might have been an issue for the only one who nearly made it).

Osred

A couple of small points. Cameron & Clegg made th effort to note the questioners' names which looked good while Broon always referred clunkily to 'the questioner' which gave the effect of distancing himself from the audience.

Also, his minders really need to get him to cut out that rictus grin, especially as it was deployed too often and at the most inappropriate times - it just looked freaky and manic.

Anan

Why don't you "update" this with the result of the SkyNews poll which says Cameron won with 41%. Stop bumping up clegg - he is a clown, fit for Michael Crick, Adam Boulton, Paxman and the other media clowns who have got fat off our tax money.

chris

'Brown down and out' springs to mind.Even the awfuls cannotspin him out of thisone.

Brown is a prat as he demonstrated this evening.

Anan

Why don't you "update" this with the result of the SkyNews poll which says Cameron won with 41%. Stop bumping up clegg - he is a clown, fit for Michael Crick, Adam Boulton, Paxman and the other media clowns who have got fat off our tax money.

Richard of York

Sky News: Cameron did so bad he went straight down to the pub....hope someone buys him a large brandy.

Last place in the poll is not good value for all that Ashcroft money.
Sky news doing its best to spin it around but the other media are being more reflective.

Osred

Richard (De Porc)

Are you on medication?

toco

The erratic and delusional Brown lost it and so he should.Trust and dodgy things in Glasgow where he is implicated should be brought to the fore.

upshitcreek101

Brown was only looking to score the same hits off Cameron on every question and reel off detail. Cameron didn't seem as relaxed as normal and could have done a lot more with Labour's record in office, but avoiding attacks on the others seemed to be a predetermined strategy. But as this was something of a beauty contest, the ugly sister was the one on the right of your screen.

Holly ......

Sun/YouGov...
Brown 19
Cameron 29
Clegg 51....Brown won it for Labour eh dick?
Bozo never misses a trick, with lipstick to match his ears...good move.
good co-ordination.
Third eh?...it's the taking part that counts.

annassasin

Oh dear. Clegg kills cameron. At least a flesh wound. Clegg had a bounce from his manifesto and took away from the Tories in the polls. Gordon was already dead. The floating voter, will decide this election and the exit poles are clear. David tried to look too much like Brown. The question is whether he can pull it back.

Geoff Pyne

Clegg: Honest, pleasant but lightweight. Policies were clearly outlined, but I did not agree that they would be good for UK.
Cameron: Plastic. Mr Soundbite. Anecdotal, lacking substance. And me a supposedly traditional Tory voter.
Brown: Dour, worthy. Perhaps more of a technocrat than a leader. This time I go for him.

General Zod

Well, richard, Labour definitely won the poll-spamming battle tonight.

JONNY

Curious isn't it that when Sky asked for voting preference before and after the Debate we get:
pre debate Lab 29 Con 36 LD 19 other 11
post debate Lab 29 Con 41 LD 30 other 0

So Clegg won the TV Game
Cameron gained the vote
and Brown slid to 3rd place

Richard of York

@General Zod
Even the adviser to Cameron said on Sky that Caneron was not to the mark ...started well but lost it in the middle and end.

John David Barnett

anassassin

The exit poles? Are they all going home?

Richard of York

Remember Cameron needs to win 24 seats off the Lib Dems.....its looking like a very difficult task.
The marginals are stacked against Cameron he reallyneeds to be doing much better at this stage....instead of increasing his lead he is losing ground.
Brown will be a happier man than Cameron tonight.

Matt

Comrade Richard – Take heart from this evening’s debate. Our Glorious Leader has risen mightily and now victory is assured. We must continue the 13 year economic miracle our Dear Leader has begun. Through his magnanimity and superb oratorical skills at the debate tonight the workers were left in no doubt that boom and bust has been abolished, every single previous manifesto pledge has been met, every child has been taken out of poverty and all soldiers have been given everything they needed despite not appreciating it due to loyalty to the enemy. So, given that the evil Cameron was roundly thrashed tonight, what time is the celebration party at Milbank? Meanwhile on planet earth...

paul holdstock

despite all the volcanic ash about,
there was no shortage of pigs airborne over manchester tonight.

daniel maris

Clegg obviously won it by any measure.

All the media and proper polls are calling it that way.

I predicted yesterday the Lib Dems were going to do a lot better than some recent polls suggested and so I am not surprised.

I'd be surprised if they don't clock 28% on polling day. Of course, it could be more if Clegg can sustain this momentum.

Overall the debate was far better than expected - well organised and about as good as you are going to get in that sort of format. Kirsty "Give Me Another Million" Wark was completely wrong in bleating about the absence of journalistic follow up questions - the Paxmanite school of interviewing while it has its place is actually v. tiresome and obscures understanding. This was a much better format. Politics is about what people do or want to do. The Paxmanites want to know if politicians are right or wrong - which is really a bit of an irrelevance.

SarahC

Can't believe some of you were watching the same debate. Cameron really fluffed it. Gurning his way through, he looked thoroughly uncomfortable. My 11 year old daughter said he looked like he'd got stomach ache! He was constantly on the defensive and didn't land a single blow. The only time he got close, on Clegg, he just sounded petulant. Crashed and burned I'd say.

jennywren

Richard of York gave battle in vain,

andy

nick clegg always does well in pmqs when given the opportunity.
m not surprised at all.
Cameron is just a slick salesman,the sort you see on a sat afternoon selling cars.
Brown just constantly interrupts.
Clegg has style panache and knows what he is talking about.very impressive.
i was not going to vote perhaps bnp as protest,but now DEFINATLEY nick clegg

Verity

John David Barnett - That was funny.

Nicholas

Four Richard the Dork posts in one thread. The power of desperation.

Not to worry, Richard you Dork, we believe you, we really do. There is absolutely no chance all those disaffected Labour voters will now vote LibDem and plunge Labour into third place. No, no, no, not at all.

Euro elections last year anyone?

smell the glove

Richard god bless you. You remind me of the great Jonny Cocheran noted civil rights activist and erstwhile defender of o.j.simpson .when confronted with dna, witnesses, motive.means, opportunity said the glove don't fit.

leon

to be honest it looks more like torie bloggers spamming this site. cameron was by some way the weakest of the three tonight, its not even in question. i think his tactics were wrong. clegg and brown were far nimbler at avoiding questions whereas cameron looked pondersome and by consequence evasive

Ron Toddr

I would hope that Cameron will realy hammer Brown on trhe economics debate.

Though I fear that with the BBC hosting that one the audience will be as balanced as the usual Question time crowd. And at the risk of starting to sound paranoid I worry that one of the lefties at the BBC will try to give Brown an advantage by giving him a heads up on the questions.

Clegg had the advantage he had nothing to loose he could take the risk of saying that the economy is in a mess.

Brown lied well no supprise there.

2trueblue

Listened to the show. Thought that Clegg was given extra time, but hard to see how the result was a win for him. An easy line to say the the 'other two' are the same. Clegg and Cable are very good at taking credit when they can pitch in. Clegg did well because so far the Lib Dems have not had to greate any common ground, so who do they think they are going to do it with? Vote Lib Dem and end up with Brown. Balls, Cooper, Mandy. Fantastic prospect. Don't you just love reality?

PJ

Clegg did ok but we will see how he performs now that the spotlight will be on him. People will expect something next time.

Brown is only going to go one way in these debates and that is down. He has nothing new to say.

Cameron had plenty of opportunities to nail Brown but missed them. I don't expect that to happen again.

Also, watch Brown and Cameron start to ask questions about Libdem policies in the next two. Their manifesto will be looked at in minute detail before the next debate.

Lord Boyders

Missed the debate, mad dash across Europe to get home after being moribound in Munich. For some reason P&O weren't showing re-runs on the ferry at 2am.

In the office this morning, everyone says Little Nick looked a bit scruffy!

Osred

The bailiffs are coming and center left dave, left Frown, and a bit lefter cleggy are arguing about the spare change they claim is down the back of the sofa.

Good political telly though. That must have been the hardest work any of them have done for years.

Richard of York

@Lord Boyder

You really rushed across Europe to us all that your office tea boy thinks Clegg looked scruffy?......well dont rush to post again will you.

Jim Bell

How could Cameron win when he was being attacked on two sides. He could either respond to Gordon Brown's unending attack or try to question Nick Clegg on his statements. You can't do this with one right of response.

Nick Clegg had an open goal as Gordon Brown never asked him a question. Brown's tactics to only attack Cameron gifted it to Clegg.

paulg

The positves to be drawn from last night is that people who might have voted for labour will now vote for Clegg.

You don't always have to win a battle to win the war.

As long as cameron wins the last debate thats all that will really matter.

David Ossitt

Jim Bell

“How could Cameron win when he was being attacked on two sides. He could either respond to Gordon Brown's unending attack or try to question Nick Clegg on his statements. You can't do this with one right of response.

Nick Clegg had an open goal as Gordon Brown never asked him a question. Brown's tactics to only attack Cameron gifted it to Clegg”

Jim Bell spot on; and both Brown and Clegg, I thought had more and longer response times.

David Ossitt

Richard of York

“@Lord Boyder

You really rushed across Europe to us all that your office tea boy thinks Clegg looked scruffy? Well don’t rush to post again will you.”

Richard I have taken the liberty of correcting your spelling mistakes and lack of the odd capital letter in the piece above but “to us all that your office tea boy thinks” is still a complete load of rubbish.

But I digress; I am wondering what it is in your complex make up, that makes you think that it is clever or that we will warm to your ideas more, if you continue being rude and sarcastic to other posters.

Eventually the 6th May will arrive; the people will cast their vote and it is highly probable that the outcome will be a Conservative Government, when this happy day dawns you will be free to return to the mire of filth whence you came from.