Political

TV leaders debate set to happen: if Sky keeps its nerve

I’ve always wondered why the media don’t call the bluff of party leaders when it comes to holding leaders debate at general election time.

Many in the media regularly and sincerely go on the record about believing such debates would be good for democracy, but in the past they’ve always held back from the idea that a debate could go ahead without all the relevant party leaders first agreeing.

That’s a view that has puzzled me because – particularly since the law was changed a few years ago – there are pretty strong legal grounds for being able to hold a debate, even if not everyone invited agrees to take part. Moreover, leaving aside the legal issues, any invited party that tries to take legal action to stop a debate would face a barrage of bad publicity. They would (judging by previous opinion polls) be on the wrong side of public opinion. They would also open their leader up to repeated questioning about why they don’t want to debate – which, even if answered well, puts them on the back foot. The media and bloggers would also have a whale of a time digging up previous quotes from prominent members of that party backing a debate (and such quotes exist for all the main parties).

So all that it needs for a leaders debate to happen is for a major media organisation to decide to make it happen – and then hold its nerve.

It looks like that logic is going to be put to the test because Sky has sent out the invitations, and already got a yes from David Cameron and Nick Clegg. Over to Gordon Brown – and if he drags his feet, will Sky flinch?

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