Most political commentators seem to think that Nick Clegg was the ‘winner’ of the first ever TV election debate for the Party Leaders on 15th April. But what do our local candidates think?
Speaking after the leadership debate, Craig Dobson for the Liberal Democrats said in a news release:
The audience welcomed the fact that our policies are all costed, while the other two parties did not go into any details. They also liked what they were hearing from Nick on defence, on reforms to the political system, on education and on the economy. The latest polls show that the public knows that Liberal Democrat policies make sense. People are obviously starting to think about how they can make a real change for the better on May 6th.”
Graham Stuart says on his website that:
Gordon Brown’s strength is also his weakness. He has a robotic remorselessness which both fascinates and repels… Nick Clegg played the cheeky challenger well, exulting in his free pass to the top table. He won the anti-politics accolade and received warm approval from my twelve year old. David Cameron, as the man in front, had the most to lose. He was assured but landed no knock out punches. He clearly beat Gordon Brown and, for his advisors and those of us who know how much we need change, that is the only thing that matters.”
Bill Rigby for the Greens meanwhile concentrated on his own election debate with Ian Saunders last week. In a refreshing burst of honesty Bill admitted in his blog last Friday:
I must confess to making a ‘slip’. Things were going extremely well, when I was asked a question and I should have known the answer, but didn’t. So, can you guess what I did? I gave the answer to another question. Now, this is OK, and a well established ploy by media savvy operators. However, I compounded the problem by giving the wrong answer to the question that hadn’t been put (if you see what I mean).”
To be fair Bill Rigby’s Blog is probably the ‘must read’ of the local election so far. It gives a day-by-day account, warts and all, of Bill’s election experiences as well as an explanation of Green Party policy.
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