Was chance to land killer blow taken?

Apr 30 2010 by William Green, The Journal

THE stakes could literally not have been any bigger as Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg squared up.

They knew their performances would help decide next Thursday’s general election – and whether they would disappear into political oblivion.

The Prime Minister faced the biggest challenge with Labour lying third in polls the day after Labour’s campaign “day from hell”, as the party’s Darlington candidate described it on Twitter.

So how did they perform? Nick Clegg started with the same assurance, doing his I’m different and the other two are old politics. At least he set out some figures on the coming cuts.

Gordon Brown revealed everything but the NHS, schools and police could face cuts from next year – but failed to give details.

David Cameron talked about cutting £6bn in waste. But no details, a pity. It is the biggest single issue. Mr Clegg was edging it.

But then the Lib Dem leader badly faltered on immigration. Mr Cameron accused him of planning an amnesty for illegal immigrants. Mr Clegg stumbled and got annoyed. The pair squabbled, hardly new politics.

And Mr Cameron got away with the failure to give a firm number on his immigration cap.

The Tory landed a hit over Lib Dem support for the Euro, despite Mr Clegg’s protestations. Mr Cameron vowed to keep the pound to avoid our money being poured into Greece.

He promised action on benefit cheats, edging victory as Mr Clegg’s novelty wore off. The surprise was Gordon Brown. Calm and assured. He got his message across that Cameron wants cuts now, sparking a new recession. Labour would protect spending now and secure the recovery before starting cuts.

In a stronger performance, he forced Mr Cameron to attack failing “vast regional bureaucracies” when challenging whether the Tories would keep regional development agencies.

But it remains to be seen if the Prime Minister has done enough a week before the general election. Interestingly, he did not rule out a Lib Dem coalition while attacking Mr Cameron. The Tory leader landed blows on Mr Clegg, but was there a killer punch to floor the Lib Dem surge to get a majority Government? In a week’s time we will know.