Hadn’t really intended watching it myself but, like many others, I got sucked in. Was fascinated not so much by the burning issues but by the vast difference between the candidates.
The TV repair man informed me, with some force, that I wasn’t to do what any “sensible person” would do after watching the televised debate and vote Lib Dem. If Labour got in again, he warned me, it would be The End for people like us. What “The End” entails or who “People Like Us” are, I never really ascertained, but he clearly felt strongly about it.
Personally, I’m not a fan of Gordon Brown. I don’t believe that a Labour win would do UK business any good and I found Brown’s continual attacks on Tory policy nothing less than dull. And as for Cameron, was it just me that found him unctuous and thought his continual references to his son were an absolutely offensive way a way to catch votes?
It was, of course, Clegg who was the complete revelation, revealing an honest and straightforward personality as yet unspoilt by the horrors of politics.
Two questions seem obvious. The first is whether he can shift the perennial belief that a Lib Dem vote is a wasted vote. The second is how long that honesty will prevail if he is shunted towards the limelight?
