Wake Up And Smell The Clegg


Now let's be honest the thought of 90 minutes of political debate without adverts on a Thursday was slightly less appealing than 90 minutes of Tottenham v Arsenal on a Wednesday evening but somehow they both worked - just.

Nick Clegg a star is born as far as people I've talked to are concerned and the massive jump in the Lib Dems popularity post debate showed that the feeling spread throughout the country. TV audience figures of around 10 million show that the idea of a televised debate between the three main parties in England and Wales caught the public imagination as well. Gordon Brown started confidently but then seemed to cling tenaciously to his lectern thingy whilst David Cameron seemed slightly bemused at first, unsure how to carry on without the hordes of backbenchers he has supporting him at PMQ's, but grew into the format as the debate wore on.

It was Clegg though, assuming the mantle of David Watts, who was the name on everybody's lips. Apparently in the post debate warm down both the Labour and Conservative spin doctors were keen to acknowledge that the boy done good. And whilst, like Ray Davies's eponymous hero, Clegg may well be the captain of the team he is unlikely to lead his team to victory, that is unless of course the next two debates: which supposedly focus on Afghanistan and the economy, go the same way in terms of wooing the public.

What was clear was that whatever rules and regulations had been set out beforehand once this got going it took on a life of itself. It was also clear that there would be very little of the 'yah boo sucks' mentality that has blighted British politics for what seems like forever. This was a grown-up debate, three leaders setting out what they believed to be the way forward. Clegg came across well when Cameron and Brown argued and he dropped the little bomb "this is why there must be a change to get away from these two old and tired parties."

The body language was telling, Clegg was on the left of the screen as the viewer looked and stood slightly away from his lectern, he was confident and relaxed, relaxed enough to put his hand in his pocket at one point. Cameron seemed a little hesitant with the middle ground whilst Brown stood like a man who, whilst gripping a deckchair tightly, could see the bow of the Titanic slowly disappearing below the horizon in front of him. This was the political equivalent of a Daz commercial and we were being invited to disregard the two packets of Westminster Soap we didn't like in favour of the one that will wash all our troubles whiter than white.

What occurred to me as the debate developed and the subjects discussed included immigration, law and order and then the economy and city bonuses etc is how much common ground there is in British politics once you get beyond the outer wrapping of ideology. Brown tried a little too hard at times to gang up with Clegg against Cameron but it didn't work and in the end he look tired. Clegg engaged with the viewer directly, he looked straight at the camera, in a style anybody familiar with Eurpoean football highlights will be familiar with, whilst Cameron grew in confidence and by the end of ninety minutes looked as if he could handle extra time and penalties without getting up a sweat on that perma tan of his.

Clegg will have come out of this the best which must have the Conservative party faithful breaking into a dance, or at least a slight trot, around their handbags at Central Office. The thinking being that Lib Dems are so close to Labour in policies that any move towards Lib Dems will come from Labour and not Conservative, it was interesting to hear a Conservative spokesman struggling to get across the logic behind this line of thinking on the World At One today as I sat waiting to go into a meeting.

David Cameron now needs to get tougher with Brown but without looking aggressive and nasty as this has caused him problems with the electorate in the past, he needs to reach beyond the political pulpit and convince the waverers that his party can be trusted. Clegg can relax and play his own game, the Lib Dems are not associated the miasma of bad Government and ineffectual opposition, he can be David Watts or Denis Bergkamp, the audience is there for him to lose. As for Brown he looks like a man in the wrong place at the wrong time, when these debates were agreed to he was still putting on his running shoes as Cameron rounded the final bend, now they are neck and neck and Brown needs to convince the viewers why he should hold onto the baton for another five years and not drop it into the hands of the wrong team.

Bring on round two!