I know I know! Far be it from me to get all political! Don't worry - this is not be jumping on the bandwagon and down your throats; I'm already sick of all the hooha and twaddle, and postulating politicians being bandied about on the news regarding the forthcoming election, and we've got over a month to go! That being said, I do like to keep aware of these things and I do think our votes are important, and seeing as the recent seven-way political leaders debate was the first of its kind really, I thought I would give my brief take. As is the way with things on this blog at times, I thought I'd focus on the performance each leader gave. The general consensus is that no clear victor emerged, and I would agree with that, but I shall see if I can separate them slightly on how they each came across to me (with the help of the old trusty star system!). I must stress - this is not me suddenly commenting on my own political bent or declaring certain party loyalty, and it is certainly not me telling you who to support or vote for. I am simply giving my take on how each leader performed. So, from how they appeared on the night left to right, here we go...
NATALIE BENNETT - Green Party
The relative political outsider who since the debate has had a bit of a renaissance in voter interest and media coverage, Natalie Bennett struck me as being different enough to turn heads, but essentially not having much gumption or clear cut resolve to back up her postulating.
She often stood quite calm and collected on the end podium, waiting for her moment to strike amongst all the banter and old boy jabbering. And strike she did, and often she struck well. Her ideas, proposed policies and motivations were markedly different and clearly struck a chord with the audience, but the big let down with Natalie Bennett was that she often did not present solid, resilient enough arguments when challenged by her fellow leaders. She had enough for a good opening gambit but not much else, and when it came to her performance on the night; it seemed to me to be a case of talking the talk but not being prepared to walk the walk.
NICK CLEGG - Liberal Democrats
Nick Clegg struck me as humbly refreshing during the debate. After the frankly disastrous run he and his party have had in recent years in terms of public relations, it almost seemed as if that Clegg had reverted to type behind his podium. For the purposes of his campaign he has clearly put party first (shock horror!) and has tried to appeal to voters again by side swerving his Deputy PM status.
As a result, he appeared likable, charming and crushingly and resoundingly humble in the face of what has been a series of very public and very scathing backlashes for him in the eyes of the people. In the realms of the countless cock ups by countless politicians, Clegg is one of the very first to not only apologize, but to use that apology to his own unique advantage. Put it this way - no other leader was remotely humble about their position on the night (or if ever) and that is what made Clegg stand out. Yes OK we all probably know he wont get too far with this approach, but it certainly wasn't too detrimental to be "the most likable".
NIGEL FARAGE - Ukip
Say what you like about Nigel Farage and his marmite party. he is certainly different, and he is unapologetic about it. Yes he is probably as self-absorbed, and as self-motivated as the rest of them, but his approach to politics is so brashly upfront and unsubtle, that yet again at the debate this was his trump card. He did not care who he offended (and he did) he did not care how he looked, and he did not care what was said about him. Never has the phrase "any publicity is good publicity" been so apt as in the case of Nigel Farage.
Yes he may have been a bit of a one trick pony debating his points, yet his opposition found it very difficult to argue with them; they just took a lot of issue with him himself and his delivery. In the end, Farage probably is a bit of a joke candidate, especially if you are thinking in terms of the next PM, but I think that in his own way, he did hold his own on the night of the debate.
ED MILIBAND - Labour
Whatever I may think of the Labour party (and actually I am in two minds) I despise their leader, and the debate did not change that. Rarely have I seen a politician, or indeed anyone, who is such a feckless, twittering, falsely arrogant, narcissistic prig.
Whenever this man speaks in public, he makes me wonder how Labour ever thought it positive to make him their leader. It was obvious what Miliband's spin doctors had told him what to do at the debate; I imagine it went something like - "when you are talking, ignore whoever you are supposed to be talking to and make sure you stare directly into the camera at all times. That way you will appeal to people at home and make them feel like you are a man of the people."
What it made him look like was an arrogant, ignorant moron who did not know how to address an audience and seemed to be completely clueless about what the word "debate" meant. He seemed to think he was appearing in some lame form of party political broadcast. I actually timed it - each time Miliband spoke it was only a matter of moments before he suddenly "dramatically shifted his gaze" to stare deadpan down a lens; the shortest time was two seconds, and the longest was a hefty ten seconds. Yes it made him stand out from the others, but for all the wrong reasons.
Unfortunately for him, his actual stance and position within the debate wasn't that great either. He started OK, often when he was attempting to bully David Cameron, but he soon crumbled when it came to holes in his arguments and position, and when his opponents saw this they easily blew those holes wide open and tore him apart, leaving him shaking his head like a bemused schoolboy. He was also the one who kept musing "if I'm Prime Minister" before sentences. If he becomes Prime Minister, I for one will strongly consider emigrating.
LEANNE WOOD - Plaid Cymru
I felt sorry for Leanne Wood in a way, as she clearly was not used to the big stage and clearly not used to fighting so exposed against the big boys of Westminster. In the end hers was a deeply nationalistic position, like Nigel Farage. But unlike Farage, Leanne Wood was nowhere near passionate and convincing enough to stand out with such a simple method for trying to attract attention and voters.
Like Natalie Bennett she did try to adopt a more empathetic, sweet tone to her outlook, and she was clearly going for a nice localized community feel to attract potential support. But her delivery was simply too timid and too weedy; rendering her to come across as nowhere near confident enough in her convictions, if at all.
The main problem however, was that she would not shut up about Wales. Yes we know she is all for the Welsh and Wales as independent, but in a programme that is being shown to the UK as a whole, she surely cannot hope to win UK wide support if all she goes on about is what she will do for Wales.
NICOLA STURGEON - SNP
Of all the "alternative" party leaders, and certainly of the three female leaders gathered for the debate, Nicola Sturgeon certainly gave the strongest performance. Yes she is strongly and proudly independent when it comes to her beloved Scotland, but she has her head screwed on straight enough to know that she needs more than that to cut it in a UK wide election.
Any whispers and mutterings of alliances were ignored on the night, as Nicola Sturgeon wasted no time in standing up to and at times fighting back against her opponents. Yet she did all this from a calm, collected and measured stand point. She managed to strike that happy balance of not losing her cool and not coming across as disengaged and boring. Occasionally she did show her lack of experience and standing, and she did let her Scottish roots override her judgement and postulating at times. But she had enough style and substance to pull through, proving that she is capable of playing with the big boys now.
DAVID CAMERON - Conservative
Its possible David Cameron had a slight handicap in confidence as he is of course the current PM. Yet for all the fuss he made about whether or not he would be joining this debate, overall I didn't think he did too badly. He may have left himself open to all kinds of attack (perhaps predictably) which he didn't always react well too and he did of course come across as quite pompous and full of Tory grandeur that may not be that deserved.
However he did remain calm, and seemed sure of what he was doing. Plus despite the typical Tory facade, he did seem quite earnest in protesting the values of what he had accomplished in power, and what he could go on to achieve. Like all political spiel, this cannot be taken lightly and is probably all talk to try and cling to office, but it can be said that Cameron can talk quite well. He did not lose his rag when attacked from all sides, and whilst there wasn't really any humility in how he conducted himself (quite the reverse at times) there was a whiff of the statesman at times. Alongside his Scottish counterpart, David Cameron can breathe a slight sigh of relief in holding his own during this particular political debate.
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