From Catherine Mayer, TIME’s London Bureau Chief:
On one topic at least there was a perfect consensus when the leaders of Britain’s three largest political parties faced each other in a 90-minute televised debate this evening, ahead of elections on May 6. This was the first ever such contest, and everyone – the protagonists Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Conservatives’ David Cameron and the Liberal Democrats’ Nick Clegg; the moderator, a veteran anchor called Alastair Stewart; the studio audience; even the continuity announcers – agreed on one thing: it was a historic event.
America has had presidential debates for half a century. British politicians have always found reasons to sidestep such clashes. But this time, it looked like a win-win-win situation for the three parties. Parties pay for campaigns and TV debates suddenly looked like free advertising to the incumbent – and impecunious – Labour government. The Conservatives, ahead in the polls, but not by enough to be sure of an outright majority, thought the debates – they’ve agreed to three in total – might finally push them over the finishing line. And for the Liberal Democrats, a third party often ignored by the media, this meant an unprecedented platform. As Stewart said, at least once, it was indeed “a historic moment in television and political history.”
The problem with history in the making is that it’s often deadly dull to watch. The debate format, hemmed in by 76 rules, killed much of the drama in a program the broadcaster ITV had relentlessly touted as exactly that, PRIME TIME DRAMA. Westminster watchers could sense the animosity flowing between Brown and Cameron, who simply can’t abide each other. For the wider public, it was an opportunity to judge which politician could best deliver a soundbite or a pre-prepared joke. Armando Iannucci, author of a brilliant satirical TV comedy series set in Westminster, The Thick of It, encapsulated in a tweet the experience of watching the Prime Minister deliver gags. “You can see a little man performing a cartwheel in each of Gordon Brown’s eyes whenever he tells a joke,” wrote @AIannucci.
