The skewed debate

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.

The performance of Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg in the first debate seized the public imagination, grabbed the headlines and fuelled a massive bounce in the polls.

The build up and aftermath for the second debate became all about who did better, did anyone do worse, who looked more comfortable, who connected with the audience. Suddenly how something was said and what the body language meant has become more important than what was said and how it impacts on real people.

Policy has almost disappeared because it's complicated, can be boring and doesn't really sound great in a twenty second soundbite. Personality has become much more important.

This may be, to a degree, some have argued because the main parties agree on so much with only small degrees of difference. There simply aren't the huge ideological divides that was seen in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The debates have skewed the election. It's not about policy but presentation. It is no longer a choice between Labour and Conservative. It is genuinely a three hose race. This may change in the last two weeks of the campaign.  But it has made this vote the tightest, most difficult to call and most exciting in a lifetime. The debates have been political theatre of the highest order, even if they haven't always been totally engaging. And they're here to stay.