Search Coreco

Footer

The Third Man

16.04.10

It used to be the case that a week was a long time in politics, but now, after the much anticipated Leaders debate last night delivered a surprisingly enticing slice of political drama, 90 minutes can be an entire career.

Enter stage left one Nick Clegg. Making a mockery of Tory claims that Vince Cable had an advantage from the centre position, he took his chance with both hands and delivered a positively authoritative performance which threw the election wide open.

the-first-televised-gener-001

Whilst the other leaders flustered and blustered, trading the odd insult, he refused to be drawn and looked more like a potential Prime Minister than any of them. With undoubtedly the best candidate for Chancellor also on his side, by rights they should now have a decent chance and will hope that the message begins to get across that a vote for the Lib Dems. is not a wasted vote.

For the first time in a long time there now seems to be a realistic alternative.

But, let’s not get carried away. There are another 90 minutes of fierce debate to come and things could all turn on their heads again and probably will. Now Mr Clegg is considered a worthy adversary, he will no doubt face a much tougher test in the next 2 debates.

To be fair all three did British democracy proud and at least appeared to be intelligent and passionate about their claims – it was undoubtedly good TV. Apart from, of course, the ITV set which proved yet again that ITV have little clue that TV has moved on since the 1980’s!

There is still not enough substance in policy, however, with Brown warbling on about statistics, (though he did at least make a couple of “gag” attempts which just about got through), whilst Cameron tried to bring every subject back to the NI rises which kinda missed the point. Even Clegg struggled a bit on a couple of issues.

Cameron must, however, be kicking himself this morning. Apart from a good section on defence, he looked slightly uncomfortable, even standing back from the lectern a couple of times whilst the others were trading lines. He has far more convincing to do, especially as he is backed by the most lightweight and inexperienced candidate for Chancellor. “Dave” will never get away from the style over substance accusations and on a stage he was expected to excel on, the style ebbed away as well.

They will all learn from this historic event, however and the next debate will be totally different. I expect as we get closer to the election they will unfold to be much more entertaining and fierce.

In debate terms then it is 1-0-0 to the Yellow team, (2-0-0 if you count the Chancellors debate), but there is much to play for.

I only hope people do start voting for who they really want, rather than believing they have to vote red or blue as this is nonsense.

We all like it when a 3rd or 4th football team come through to challenge in the Premiership, supporting their attempts to unseat the stranglehold held by the top two. This is no different.

The third man has justified his seat at the table; it is up to him to convince us he can stay there.

Comments are closed.

Andrew Montlake

Written by Andrew Montlake

Andrew Montlake, better known as Monty, began his journey with an Hons degree in Economics & Politics before starting in the mortgage industry in February 1994. As a main founder of Coreco in 2009, he successfully grew the brand, marketing, and communications, and was made MD in 2019 focussing on the overall vision, strategy, and culture of the company. As Coreco’s media spokesperson, Andrew can often be seen or heard on TV and radio as well as regularly commenting in the national, local, and trade press. He is the author of this acclaimed Mortgage Blog and is well-known for his social media, podcasts, and public speaking. Andrew is now proud to serve as Chairman of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries, (AMI) as a cheerleader for the Mortgage Industry as a whole and continues to work at the coal face, writing mortgage business and advising clients.

Read more posts by Andrew