Election Debates
Neill Harvey-Smith
UK election debate epilogue
Opinion by Neill Harvey-Smith By the end of April, the Liberal Democrats had broken through to a consistent 30% in opinion polls on the back of the third impressive performance by their leader, Nick Clegg. The Guardian published an interview on Friday April 30th in which he claimed the election was a “two-horse race” between his party … Continue reading
Election Debates’ verdict: Clegg wins third UK leaders’ debate
Election Debates’ seven-member adjudication panel has give the third UK leaders’ debate to Nick Clegg in a split decision. Three judges gave the debate to Nick Clegg, two to David Cameron and two to Gordon Brown. There was less division about the loser – five judges had Brown last. View the debate here (courtesy of … Continue reading
Harvey-Smith: Cameron wins third UK leaders’ debate
Neill Harvey-Smith Winner: David Cameron Scores: Cameron 85 |Clegg 80 | Brown 77 David Cameron gave a brilliant performance in the final debate. He achieved three things simultaneously. He seemed Prime Ministerial – strong, positive and composed; he put Nick Clegg under real pressure over his policies on the Euro, immigration and VAT; he also … Continue reading
Election Debates’ verdict: Brown wins second UK Leaders’ Debate
Election Debates’ seven-person panel declares Gordon Brown the winner of the second leaders’ debate in a split decision. Five members of the panel gave the debate to Brown, while two judges gave the debate to Nick Clegg. No one gave the debate to David Cameron. Moreover, six of the judges thought that Cameron was the … Continue reading
Harvey-Smith: Clegg wins second UK leaders’ debate
Judge: Neill Harvey-Smith Winner: Nick Clegg Scores: Brown 80 | Cameron 76 | Clegg 82 Nick Clegg gave a strong and assured performance, handling the expected attacks from other leaders very well and arguing with clarity and optimism. David Cameron was more fluent than last week and stronger stylistically. But he managed to sound like … Continue reading
Election Debates’ verdict: no clear winner, but a clear loser in the first UK leaders’ debate
Six Election Debate experts split the first UK leaders’ debate of the 2010 General Election 3-3 to Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg. No one gave the debate to David Cameron. While there was no clear winner, there was a clear loser with four of the six judges identifying Cameron as the wooden spooner. Watch the … Continue reading
Election Debates’ experts on the UK debate rules
We asked Election Debate experts for some brief observations about the 76-point plan for UK leader debates, agreed by parties and producers earlier this week. Read the 76-point programme format here. Tommy Tonner: This is a ridiculous format which tries badly to import a presidential style debate into a parliamentary system. Two main objections, the … Continue reading
Obama wins third presidential debate: Harvey-Smith
Judge: Neill Harvey-Smith Winner: Obama Scores: Obama 78 | McCain 74 Reasons: Barack Obama scored a victory in the third Presidential debate. This was the Joe the plumber debate. Unless you are Joe or one of his employees, there was little to choose on matter. Obama played safe by highlighting similarities as well as difference between … Continue reading
Biden wins vice presidential debate: Harvey-Smith
Judge: Neill Harvey-Smith Winner: Biden Scores: Biden 84 | Palin 72 Reasons: Inauthentic is the word that sums up Sarah Palin’s performance in the VP debate. At the start and towards the end of the debate, Palin tried to paint herself as an ordinary American, talking about the need for families to take personal responsibility … Continue reading
