TV election debates

As I suspected, the recent noises- apparently on behalf of the PM- about general election TV debates is really just positioning to get changes to the format/approach. David Cameron made his support for the debates and his intention to take part clear in his joint mid term press conference with the DPM earlier this week. He knows that the jeanie is out of the bottle- quite rightly- and that to return to being one of the few major democracies anywhere in world not giving the public a chance to see the men and women who want to run the country answering questioning and debating each other is not tenable.

It will be fascinating this time to see how much change is agreed; less debates (hopefully less shouting by Alistair Stewart!), just the leaders of the two main parties (unlikely), more audience involvement etc?

TV debates are a good thing. The more we see our leaders "unvarnished" (the word of the week) the better. It will also serve the PM well. He improved with each debate last time. I think the debates will help him gain ground on his opponents in what will be another very tight election.