Stilted exchange turns to squabble

NINETY minutes is a long time in politics. In last night’s hour-and-a-half TV debate between British prime ministerial contenders, the stilted exchanges of last week’s debuts gave way to old-fashioned squabbling.

The party leaders got stuck into a series of cut-and-thrust exchanges, with the Liberal Democrats’ Nick Clegg stranded in the middle of fundamental disagreements.

Gone were the pleasantries of the previous programme, with both Mr Clegg and Tory leader David Cameron pointedly using each other’s surnames. Only Prime Minister Gordon Brown stayed on first-name terms with his opponents – comparing them to his two sons squabbling at bathtime.

On international affairs, the focus of the first half of the Sky News debate, Mr Clegg was predictably swift to highlight his party’s opposition to the Iraq war, only for the exchanges to plunge into old divisions over Europe as the discussion widened.

There had certainly been a radical change in tone in the TV election.