It is 100 days until the general election, and what seems like the 100th development in the sorry saga that is the televised leaders’ debates.
This morning, speaking on the BBC’s Today programme, David Cameron came the closest he has so far to saying he will take part in the TV debates. However, he caveated his response by saying that he would only participate under certain circumstances.
The very simple question put to him was: “Is it your intention to take part in the television debates?”
He replied:
Yes, I’d like that to happen. But if you include one minor party, Ukip, you have to include another minor party, the Greens . . . The broadcasters have gone rather further than I expected . . . You can’t have someone from Plaid Cymru and the SNP without someone from Northern Ireland, so they’ve got in a bit of a muddle over that.
Pushed on whether he will definitely take part, Cameron would only go so far as to say, “I want to go and debate” and “We’ve got to get on with these debates”.
The circumstances under which he would participate include representation of Northern Ireland in the debates – the DUP and Sinn Fein have so far been left out by the broadcasters – and also to broadcast the debates as soon as possible, before the election campaign.
On the first demand, as George reported last week, it looks like the PM is using the DUP’s absence as another excuse not to agree to the debates, as he did when the Greens had been excluded from the panels. Also, the Tories are preparing for the circumstances of having to do a deal with the DUP behind the scenes in anticipation of a hung parliament.
On the second demand, Cameron argued that the television debates during the 2010 election would have been “better outside the election campaign” because “they took the life out of the campaign, because nobody could talk about anything else”.
Cameron is coming under increasing pressure to agree to take part, as the broadcasters are coming up with new formats to satisfy the PM’s wishes, and his rival party leaders are painting him as a coward for his reticence. Nigel Farage has called Cameron a “chicken” on the issue, and Ed Miliband has accused him of “running scared”.
Content from our partners
Related
