Finally Cameron agrees to one election debate
DAVID Cameron has agreed to take part in a single televised debate with six other party leaders during the General Election campaign.
He had previously said that he would not take part in any debates after 30 March, when the official campaign period starts.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister said: “The broadcasters, led by the BBC, have come forward with a new offer of television programmes for the General Election, including a televised debate, and I accepted that deal on Saturday and it’s now for other parties to make clear what they’re going to do.”
The move breaks a stalemate, meaning the broadcasters avoid either “empty chairing” the Prime Minister, or not having debates. In a joint statement, the broadcasters said: “We welcome David Cameron’s willingness to participate in the first TV debate on 2 April. The broadcasters are continuing to work with all the political parties on programmes scheduled for 26 March.”
The programmes on 26 March will be interviews by Jeremy Paxman, who will grill Cameron and Ed Miliband. Last night senior Lib Dem sources said they would continue to push for Nick Clegg to also take part in such an interview, but were “very pleased” a debate would go ahead.
The Conservative chair of the culture, media, and sport select committee, John Whittingdale MP, criticised the way the broadcasters had approached the negotiations. He told City A.M. that they had behaved “amazingly badly”.