MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Tory Leader Cameron Gains Ground in Latest Debate according to Polls

Liberal Democrats' Nick Clegg remains as the rising star

British Conservative leader David Cameron gained ground on the Liberal Democrats' Nick Clegg in the leaders’ debate, as polls gave conflicting verdicts on which of the two won.

The Thursday night debate was more combative as the leaders sought to directly inflict political damage on their opponents. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who made it clear that he was not interested in “style and PR” continued to trail the opposition leaders' more polished performances.

The immediate ComRes poll for ITV News gave victory to an emboldened Nick Clegg, with 33% saying he won the debate, compared with David Cameron and Gordon Brown’s 30% each. But a YouGov poll for The Sun showed 36% thought that the Tory leader had performed best, against 32% for the Lib Dem leader and 29% for Brown.

A livelier and more combative discussion saw less use of first names and more direct attacks among the politicians.

Cameron shrewdly lifted some of Clegg’s tactics from the first debate, lumping the Lib Dems and Labour together as the “other two parties” and, like Clegg, warning of old politics.

The debate over the future of Trident was the one unifying force for the Tories and Labour. Clegg, who had claimed to have spent little time preparing for the debate, sought to use the generals’ letter to The Times newspaper this week calling for Trident to be included in a future review of defence spending to support Lib Dem policy not to renew Trident.

Cameron said: “I never thought I would utter these words. I agree with Gordon”.

Brown emerged as the loser in the polls but gained ground after last week’s unconvincing performance. He continued to try and present an image of a more experienced statesman, gently mocking Cameron and speaking of his own experience on the international stage.

Brown struggled the most when he clashed with Cameron over Tory policy on giving free eye tests to the elderly. Brown said there was no pledge to keep them in the Tory manifesto, but Cameron immediately hit back, saying: “Let me tell you right now, we’ll keep them”.

The Tory leader then challenged Brown to withdraw leaflets claiming that the Conservatives would scrap free bus passes for the elderly. Brown, caught on the back foot, claimed he had not authorised these leaflets.

Brown also belatedly described his shame over the expenses scandal, a tactic which Cameron had adopted the previous week.