History was made tonight, with the first ever leader’s debate during a British general election. Moderated by Alistair Stewart in Manchester’s Granada Studios, the broadcast on ITV1 and ITV1 HD is expected to have been watched by around 12 million people, kick starting the election campaign.
The set design has generally been derided, with its washed-out light drapes and coloured bars (which, at least, cleverly surrounded each leader with his party colours) looking like a late-1980s daytime TV gameshow. The theme tune at the start was even worse.
Stewart had the opportunity within the rules to begin the debate with a question about a breaking news issue, and some expected a mention to be made of the cloud of volcanic ash hanging over the country. Instead, he got straight into it, allowing each candidate to make an opening monologue before launching into the first question from the audience. In order to get these debates on air, a document containing 76 rules was agreed between the parties and the broadcasters, which imposed some constraints on the audience, who weren’t allowed to clap, cheer or boo, and on Stewart, whose only job was to make sure the leaders stuck to the time limits they were given.
However, this didn’t restrict the flow of the debate, with it turning out to be much livelier than anyone had expected. They argued and interrupted each other when many thought the debate would be much more sterile. The ending of the programme was particularly awkward, with Brown diving in to shake hands with the audience while Cameron dragged Clegg back up on stage.
Five opinion polls tonight put Nick Clegg as the clear winner of the debate. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in next week’s debate on international affairs on Sky News.
Yahoo! have come up with an interesting way to mark the election. You can have the chance to have your own policy selected as an advertising banner which could then be shown throughout their site. On The People’s Policies, you can either submit your own ideas or vote for other people’s suggestions. On election week, the most popular policies will appear all over the site and could even be put to the new Prime Minister. It’s all part of their election website, which also features a blog by the excellent Steve Punt of The Now Show and The Mary Whitehouse Experience.
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