Brown did well in tonight’s debate. And that’s important for the country.

The third Leaders’ Debate has taken much the same form as the first two.  Nick Clegg still comes across as the best performer, reflecting the bounce he achieved in the first debate, although that bounce was not enhanced after the second debate. Clegg continued to be most self assured, looking straight int the camera.  It was a shame he joined the “don’t let anyone scare you” chorus.

David Cameron is no heavy weight.  He looked shallow with his attacks on Brown about “trying to frighten people”.  He backs the family, backs this and backs that.  He has a “great team”.  He offers a frsh government and a fresh start.  But he doesn’t say what that means.

This was Gordon Brown’s debat.  On the conomy he was a man amongst boys.  He has unparalled authority on the economy and on world affairs.  By comparison, Clegg looked weak.  He put himself forward as the leader to see the country through to the recovery.  Cameron lost it on inheritance tax while Brown scored big on fairness.

Brown’s was strong that there is too much at stake, that he is the one to fight for the future. When asked for detail Cameron had nothing to offer, nothing, and he got it wrong presentationally and politically. 

Cameron’s hidden politicies will benefit the rich and harm the poor, and that came across in the debate.  And finally, Brown was effective in linking some of the policies of the Tories and the Lib Dems.

Labour leave a lot to be desired, but Labour will be less terrible than a Tory / Lib Dem coalition.  Well done, Gordon Brown, you did well tonight, and that was important for the country.

A final thought.  Nick Robinson has just concluded on the BBC 10 O’Clock News that there were no winners in tonight’s debate. Given his anti-Labour bias, that must mean that Gordon Brown won!

Why do some Labour Elders want to see the Party defeated?

What an interesting week this is turning out to be.   With the polls narrowing, David Cameron barely able to cope with the questionning at his press conference on Monday (even calling Nick Robinson a stooge of the Labour Party – the man was a yopung Tory for goodness sake!), and today Gordon Brown was far and away the most compelling at Prime Minister’s Questions, we see some Labout elders trying to commit electoral suicide.

Geoff  Hoon and Patricia Hewitt have raised the issue of Brown’s leadership. The Blairites in Labour clearly have a death wish.  And then Charles Clarke calls for a secret ballot on the leadership.  What is their problem?  Do they have to sow the seeds of division?  It seems that for some Blairites, a Cameron victory would be less undesirable than Brown being successful at the polls.  The bitterness and divisions may run deep, but now is the time for them to shut up.