Clegg seizes his chance

The main stories... ...and how they were covered

Clegg seizes his chance

The election race was thrown wide open last week

by a dramatic surge in support for the Liberal

Democrats. It followed Nick Clcgg's confident

showing in the first televised leaders' debate, in

which he repeated his call for voters to "try

something different". Capitalising on a platform

never before enjoyed by a third-part)' leader, Clegg

painted himself as a fresh alternative to the "old

parties" who had "played pass the parcel with

your government for 65 years". He was widely

judged to have won the debate, and in subsequent

polls the Lib Dems pushed Labour into third place.

The outbreak of what some dubbed "Clcggmania"
forced the other two parties to adjust their tactics.
David Cameron scrapped a planned TV election
broadcast and recorded a new one in which he
warned that a hung parliament could leave Britain

"stuck" with Brown. The Prime Minister, meanwhile,
emphasised Labour's pledge to push tor voting reform and
called for a "progressive alliance" with the Lib Dems to keep
out the Tories. Clcgg rebuffed the advance, describing Brown
as a "desperate politician" who had previously blocked reform
and was now "clutching at straws".

What the editorials said

There's only one "credible explanation" for the sudden
outpouring of support for the Lib Dems, said the Daily Mail:

"revenge". The public is lashing out at the
political classes. But they may come to regret it.
While the Lib Dems have an "admirable record in
defending civil liberties", many of their other
policies - ever-closer union with the EU, an
amnesty for illegal immigrants, scrapping Britain's
nuclear deterrent — bear less scrutiny- More

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importantly, a Lib-Lab pact would change our
voting system forever by introducing proportional
representation, with all the "paralysis and
chicanery that involves". We're heading for an
"old-fashioned political stitch-up", agreed 1 he
Daily Telegraph, "guaranteeing that the one
absolutely clear wish of the electorate - to be rid
of the Labour government - is not met".

On rhc contrary, said The Guardian, the rise ot
the Lib Dems marks a welcome shake-up or our

politics. The debates have put the party on equal tooting with
the other two - and voters like what they sec. Clcgg's success
has also highlighted the iniquity of the first-past-the-post
system. If this week's ICM poll results were repeated in the
election, Labour's 28% of the vote would win 275 seats, the
Tories' 33% would win 245, and the Lib Dems' 30% just 99.