UK Elections: After Debate #2, It's Still A Three-Horse Race
The second debate of the UK elections took place last night with the focus, for the first 45 minutes at least, falling on international affairs.
As I predicted, Brown and Cameron tried to come back at Clegg after his miraculous poll results following the first debate. Cameron used the EU as his battleground while Brown kept making reference to Clegg's 'anti-americanism', much to Clegg's annoyance.
The debate led to much more even results in the poll even if the debate wasn't that even. Cameron remembered to look at the camera, Brown wore a red tie rather than a blurry pink one, and there was even some actual discussion of policy.
Nonetheless, Clegg did not buckle under the pressure and fall apart as some thought and the election on May 6, barring a dramatic implosion by Clegg in the final debate, remains very much a three-horse race.
I was disappointed with the debate on the EU, as obvious point-scoring arguments were made. Cameron stuck to the "we don't want Brussels telling us what to do" card, while Clegg repeatedly criticised Cameron for aligning the Conservatives with "nutters, homophobes and antisemites".
Brown changed his catchphrase from "I agree with Nick" to "Get real, Nick", first bringing it up in relation to Clegg's opposition to spending £100bn or so on renewing the Trident missile system.
While some may think Trident is necessary, I don't. What's more, while all three claimed they wanted to provide troops with the necessary equipment in the future, only Clegg suggested a way of having the money to do so. Saving £100bn on Trident means a lot of extra money to spend on equipment for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I was disappointed with Brown's scaremongering tactics of criticising Clegg's rejection of Trident with the threat of nuclear attack from Iran and North Korea. It was cheap and also deluded; if anybody thinks that we are the likely first target of the ire of either Iran or North Korea, then they have a very self-important view of our role in the world today.
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