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Summary
Labour leader Gordon Brown, Tory David Cameron and Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg come face-to-face in a 90-minute debate over spending cuts, tax and political reform in the UK's first prime ministerial TV debate. Interestingly, two opinion polls taken immediately after the debate suggested that Mr Clegg won. David Cameron came across as the relatively young, energetic and articulate individual that we know him to be; Gordon Brown tended towards waffle and repetition, often seeking refuge in reams of statistics; and Nick Clegg sought to appear relaxed, confident and the voice of sweet reason, playing the other two against each other with some success.The debate was the first of three over the coming weeks, in the run up to the general election scheduled to be held on May 6. The audience, which thanks to rules agreed in advance were banned from clapping, sat in silence as the three men bidding to be the next prime minister addressed questions ranging across the domestic scene, from health and education to tax and spending. The debates are bound by more than 70 rules agreed after weeks of negotiations between the parties and the broadcasters. The audience was asked to applaud at the start and end of the programmes, but are not allowed to respond to leaders' answers, with questions being put to the leaders by the presenter. Most of the 200-strong audience in each debate will be picked by pollsters ICM from the local area to ensure a balance of gender, age, ethnicity, social class and voting intention. Sky News will be showing the second debate on Thursday, 22 April, which will look at foreign affairs. The final debate on BBC One on Thursday, 29 April will focus on the economy.
