The Leaders Debate The Daily Mirror – 5 March 2015
Paddy – Mirror Op-ed – 450 words
Back when he was Leader of the Opposition David Cameron goaded Gordon Brown for being frightened of live television debates.
He shouted across from the Dispatch Box in the House of Commons, jabbed his finger in the Prime Minister’s direction and accused him of running scared.
But there is only one party running scared of these debates now – the Conservative Party. And there is only one man running scared – David Cameron.
By wriggling, ducking and slipping out of every proposal put forward by the broadcasters, the Prime Minister has shown his true colours.
In the words of his great idol Margaret Thatcher – he is too “frit” to defend his own record.
Despite what the Conservatives might say, these debates breathed new life into politics five years ago, with 22 million of us tuning in to watch them. We should not allow them to be killed off in the interest of one man and one party.
David Cameron sang their praises when they were in his favour but now he bullies the press and hides behind his office in Downing Street. This is simply unacceptable.
These debates do not belong to the Prime Minister or the Tories, they belong to the British people.
So let me be clear. If David Cameron will not defend his part in this government then Nick Clegg, is more than happy to defend ours. He has already written to Ed Miliband proposing this.
This is because Liberal Democrats believe in debate, we are proud of our record in Government and we have fought every step of the way to cement these debates in the political calendar.
We are proud that in Coalition we lifted the country out of recession, cut taxes for working people, created two million apprentices and stopped the Tories trampling on our civil liberties.
What’s more, David Cameron is not only proposing a ludicrous, seven-sided, bite-sized squabble fest of a debate but has say it must take place before the Conservative manifesto is published.
This means he avoids being grilled on his party’s plans for Britain. I’m not surprised for they show every sign of being truly frightening.
The Tories have put on us notice, they intend to return to the nasty party unless the Liberal Democrats are there to constrain them.
David Cameron and the Tories might not want these debates to happen but the public, the Liberal Democrats and the broadcasters do.
It is time for the Prime Minister to ditch the excuses and stop playing politics with these debates – if he does not then history will judge him as he judged Gordon Brown – frit.
Paddy Ashdown is the Chair of the Liberal Democrat General Election Campaign