TV Debates... Yes, Please

The televised debates in the US Presidential elections are great. Seriously. At their best, they give you some classic TV. Like Gerald Ford in 1976 claiming that Eastern Europe wasn't under Soviet Domination. Or Ronald Reagan neatly turning age into an advantage in his debate with Walter Mondale in '84. And how about that classic - Nixon sweating like a paedophile in a playground moment back in 1960? Even Vice-Presidential debates throw up some classics - like Sarah Palin winking like a used car salesman in 2008, or Lloyd Bentsen pointing out to Dan Quayle that he really wasn't like JFK back in 1988. Magic stuff, for a political geek like me. 

And now there is a flurry of excitement around the idea of a debate between Cameron and Brown. It won't happen, because basically Brown isn't that dumb. Whilst Iain Dale sounds a note of caution, I think Cameron would whup Brown's sorry, fat arse. This isn't the Cameron of 2005, when he lost a debate to David Davis; this is a Cameron used to debating in PMQ's, and used to selling the Conservative brand. He can debate, he is energetic and he is open to the idea that he might have to persuade others to win them over to his viewpoint. Compare him with Brown - a man pathologically unable to answer a question. A man who believes he is right, and anyone who disagrees with him is wrong and a little bit evil. Cameron would destroy Brown, and we'd see Brown glowering in impotent rage during any televised debate. It would be the final nail in Labour's coffin at the next General Election. That's why Cameron would want to debate, and why Brown is trying to bury it deeper than a barrel of nuclear waste. 

Now, I'm for the idea of a debate between party leaders at the next General Election. But not just at the next election, but at every General Election. I'd like to see the parties give control for the debates over to an independent committee - one that can organise debates between the party leaders at each election and make sure they are fair. And that they actually happen. 

Because that's the problem. The Tories are now happy to have a debate, because they are pretty sure their fella will win. But rewind to 1997. There was no way in Hades that the Tories would have signed up to a debate, because their boy would have been bitch-slapped pretty well by Tony Blair. Now the tables have turned... just as surely as they will in the future. In ten years, in fifteen years... it will be the Tories running from a debate with the party of opposition. 

Debates are great. Partly because they favour one party over the other, and partly because they are a test of the party leaders' ability to communicate their messages. Let's have them in this country, but let's do it in such a way that those party leaders can't hide from them when they are simply too scared to take part...