ANALYSIS:Liberal leader took a bIg gamble in outlining party's migration policy
LIBERAL DEMOCRAT leader Nick Clegg found out last night that one swallow does not make a summer. He must now hope the British public will believe he was being unfairly attacked by Labour and the Conservatives.
Clegg always faced a major battle to repeat last week’s performance in Manchester when, within days, he came from nowhere in terms of voter recognition days to being regarded as the most popular politician since Winston Churchill.
Ten million people watched last week’s debate, and millions more warmed to Clegg on the back of water-cooler conversations and positive media coverage.
Last night’s debate, which was shown by Sky News and BBC News, was watched by a smaller audience – probably no more than three million, though the final figures will not be known until later today.
Clegg appeared tired on occasions, and took a major gamble to detail his party’s policies on immigration before several million viewers – policies that would grant amnesties to those immigrants who have obeyed the law since arriving in Britain. Regardless of the merits of the idea, the policy will be unpopular with many undecided voters.
The prime minister, Gordon Brown, and Conservative leader, David Cameron seized on it in different ways – though Brown probably did best with his warning that it would spark a new wave of illegal immigration.
Despite the risk that they would be seen to be ganging up on Clegg, both Brown and Cameron were intent on ensuring he did not get the free pass he enjoyed in Manchester.
The Liberal Democrat leader, knowing the issue would be raised by the others, went on the offensive about his demand that a cheaper alternative be found for the Trident nuclear missile system, and quoted the support of army generals.
However, Cameron successfully raised issues in the minds of those voters who care about such issues when he said: “You can’t rustle up a nuclear deterrent at the last minute.”
Brown attempted to neutralise his weaknesses in public presentation from the off, saying that if people wanted “a TV popularity contest, if it is all about style and PR, count met out”.
He did, on occasions, indulge in jargon, as he is wont to do, when he tried to explain about “the tripartite committee” set up to look at the future of the British economy.
Cameron, on the other hand, sought to appeal to the Tory heartland with a strong denunciation of the European Union, saying he wanted only to push the UK’s interests in the way Nicolas Sarkozy did for France and Angela Merkel for Germany.
His attitude, described as a return to the days of “Little Britain” by Brown, may rejuvenate voters’ fears about the Tory party of Margaret Thatcher.
Clegg was quick to pounce, and scored well when he asked the Conservative leader how it helped the UK to join “a bunch of nutters, anti-Semites and climate change deniers”.
Brown, equally, was happy to bring back images of the Tories’ past battles in Brussels: “Let us never again be an empty chair, my fear is that David’s policy would lead us there,” he said.
Immediately after the debate the Comres/ITV poll put Nick Clegg as the winner, while Yougov for the Sun plumped for Cameron.
