Televised events are a key part of an election campaign in the eyes of the voter. An Ipsos Mori poll, carried out with King’s College London at the beginning of the year found that TV debates were the most likely source of information set to influence the vote of the population as a whole, followed by newspapers, election broadcasts and then social media.
On March 5th Prime Minister David Cameron ruled out a head-to-head debate with the Labour leader Ed Miliband. Broadcasters in the UK had planned for three televised leaders’ debates during the run up to the election, but Cameron’s “final offer” was for a 90 minute debate, featuring at least seven party leaders.
This debate took place on April 2nd on ITV. The leaders taking part were:
- David Cameron - Conservatives
- Ed Miliband - Labour
- Nigel Farage - UKIP
- Nicola Sturgeon - SNP
- Nick Clegg - Lib Dems
- Natalie Bennett - Green Party
- Leanne Wood - Plaid Cymru
The debate featured opening statements from each of the candidates and then some questions from the audience. While he may have laid out clear terms and conditions for taking part in the debate, Cameron was faced with a heckler in the crowd while answering a question about ensuring optimism for the younger generation.
The media in the UK reported that there was no clear winner of that debate, but that David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nicola Sturgeon were the top performers.
On March 26th David Cameron and Ed Miliband took part in a Q&A session, fronted by Jeremy Paxman. There was one clear winner on this night; Paxman. He rattled both leaders in their one-on-one conversation. David Cameron appeared more shaken than Miliband, but neither came up smelling of roses.
Despite performing incredibly well at each stage of the election, Sturgeon was dealt a blow on April 16 in the opposition leaders debate. Labour leader Ed Miliband ruled out a coalition with the SNP.
Just last week a Question Time “election leaders special” aired on the BBC. More than 4.3 million people in the UK watched David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg answer questions and criticism from a studio audience. A snap poll reported that David Cameron won that bout of TV grilling. Miliband had performed well, right up to the very last minute, but then this happened:
However, the clear loser on the night was Clegg:
While the Ipsos poll found that TV debates are influential in the minds of the voters, viewer figures were down in comparison to the last general election. The 2010 leaders debate drew in 7.3 million viewers to the BBC. The 2015 question time special failed to beat ITV’s Emmerdale in the battle for viewers. 
