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Some days ago we learned that the three main political parties – Conservatives, Labour, LibDems, have agreed to hold TV Debates during the run up to the General Election which of course has immediately led to protest from the various Celtic Nationalist Parties as well as UKIP and presumably, the BNP.

The real question though is whether it adds anything to British Politics or is it just something that excites the ‘Media People’ only. I must be honest and say that my viewpoint starts with a healthy dose of total scepticism. I am sure the first one will be watched by many though even then, only the committed and/or angry and the following ones by very few.

The American Model

The key problem is that where this really works is in the USA where apart from these debates, citizens never see the President or a potential President locking horns in the forum of Capitol Hill. However it is more than that, there are two other factors that make it work over there, the size of the Country and the Separation of Powers enshrined in the American Constitution.

To watch the Presidential Campaigns portrayed in the “West Wing” may give a flavour of the complexities of running a campaign in such a huge Country – “Whistle Stop Tours” is a wonderful phrase and in that context so is Richard Nixon’s “How will it play in Preoria ?” But I might suggest that it is only when you live and work there where the “locals” describe travel in terms of elapsed time rather more than distance that you can from a “British Isles Perspective” properly understand the scale of the US geography compared to ours.

But it goes beyond that, geography is only part of it, the Constitution also plays an important part too. Fixed 4 year terms with half term elections for Capitol Hill means that a eg. A Republican President can well have the “Hill” controlled by Democrats plus, the electorate votes for the President directly.

Well technically, the last statement is not entirely true for very sensible reasons and one needs to remember that the USA is a Federation where the individual States have a ‘voice’ however in terms of population density, it varies greatly, the ‘hinterland’ is sparsely populated whereas the coastal regions are very heavily and therefore our American Cousins evolved a brilliant concept called the “Electoral College”.

What this means is that the number of “Presidential votes” each State has, is based upon its population so each State declares for one candidate or the other so that Nationally, the vote represents the “common will” based on the whole population which means that it avoids the situation whereby Blair was voted in as PM in the UK with around only 25% of the potential national vote.

A Big Difference

Through Prime Ministers Questions and various other ways such as “Question Time” and pretty aggressive TV Journalists – Jeremy Paxman etc, we do see this inquisition quite regularly so at best, in a British context, all this will come down to is who can use the TV medium best.

The most important part of the upcoming election will be an honest blueprint by both main parties as to how they are going to reduce the Budget Deficit and create the environment for economic growth, nothing else matters and given the state of things, the audience will also be the Bond Markets.

That the UK has a debt to GDP ratio which is better than the USA and Japan is irrelevant, what is relevant is that Brown has not yet faced up to being honest about it and laid out a realistic path forward, he will hide behind “Tory Cuts” and “Gordon Brown Investment”, the latter being a total fiction as Cameron demonstrated some months ago at PMQs.

Hard Facts and good professional commentators are what are required over the 4-6 weeks of the General Election Campaign to analyse and present the information to the public not this total waste of space that will deliver nothing new. Yes being able to handle the Media is important but surely, we already know what that ‘pecking order is…’ Cameron first, Clegg second and Brown a distant third. Besides which, by the end of January, it is likely that subconsciously at least, the electorate will have made their mind up, if they have not done so already.

Conclusion

The problem that I have with the whole idea is that I cannot see that TV Debates will add anything in a British political context but I am prepared to be proved wrong, I didn’t like the idea of the London Wheel but became a great fan once it was up and running…who knows ? If the Labour Party finally kick Brown out then it may be very useful for the new Labour Leader to ‘reach out’ as it were but David Miliband or Hattie Harmon ? Hmm perhaps best cancel !

I am not sure that “Simon Cowell” of ‘X Factor’ fame comes to politics will achieve anything much of value to a British Political Process and nor on the basis of the longevity of ‘Jedward’ in the X Factor based upon phone in votes, that it can contribute to a better outcome, any time soon !