Don Hewitt

The skewed debate

It was about time Britain had televised debates for those seeking the country's top political job. The USA staged their first Presidential debate in 1960, the brainchild of TV producer Don Hewitt. The clash between John F Kennedy and Richard M Nixon was historic and ended with a clear win for the more telegenic Massachusetts senator, even if those listening on radio gave the win to Nixon.

Many European countries have had them for some time. And as one commentator remarked ""Even Iran has them". Perhaps he meant "I can't believe Britain doesn't".

There were long negotiations to bring the leaders of the UK's three main parties to the podium. Everything was discussed and eventually seventy three rules for how the proceedings would be conducted and filmed were agreed.

There was an expectation the debates would be important, but no-one really thought they'd be the "game changer" they turned out to be.