Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

In the wake of the leaders’ debate round one, the two main parties launched a plethora of ammuntion against the Liberal Democrats. One Labour candidate has been accused of taking the attack too far. Birmingham Hall Green’s Roger Godsiff issued campaign leaflets with the slogan: “Do you want convicted murderers, rapists and paedophiles to be given the vote? The Lib Dems Do.” The Labour Party subsequently said the leaflet was not approved at a national level and it has since been withdrawn.

A Lib Dem grassroots campaign has taken the form of a Facebook group entitled “We got Rage Against the Machine To #1, we can get the Lib Dems into office!” More than 100,000 people have joined, with numbers spiralling in response to the Clegg media frenzy. According to a YouGov poll before the second debate, 34 per cent of voters think that the “Clegg effect” will be long lasting.

Celebrity endorsement has once again graced the political platform; comedian Eddie Izzard has produced a Labour broadcast in which he salutes “brilliant Britain”, stating that he takes “great offence” to the Conservative analogy of a “broken Britain”. David Cameron enlisted the help of Take That singer Gary Barlow to publicise yet another hard-hitting Tory policy – the proposed implementation of a national school music competition. Neverlet it be said that the Conservative Party isn’t working for the greater good of the education system.

Helen Mary Jones, Plaid Cymru member of the Welsh National Assembly, described the first leaders’ debate as “totally irrelevant”, on the grounds the party leaders had “nothing to say to Wales”. Plaid saw a 5 per cent decrease in its support after the political stand-off and Ms Jones demanded that her party be allowed to take part in the next two debates – an interesting point of view considering that Plaid isn’t standing enough candidates to form a government. But then, in a week that has seen Peter Mandelson joyously licking an ice cream and ballroom dancing in Blackpool, it shows that anything is possible in this election.

A young member of the British Olympic rowing is anxious to ask David Cameron to request his old school to stop profiteering and do its bit for the British Olympics effort. Eton owns the site of the Olympic rowing competition – Dorney – but they are demanding so much for its use that the British Olympic team has to travel all the way to Belgium to practice because they can’t afford the cost of using Dorney. That’s just not cricket (or even rowing).

Sky News have been promoting the debates heavily, as this publicity photo shows. Photo credit: BSkyB

On TribuneMagazine.co.uk today, Ivor Gaber asks if tonight’s Prime Ministerial Debate being only on multi-channel TV is a threat to democracy, because some people won’t be able to watch it.

Sky News, who are broadcasting tonight’s debate, have been promoting the debates a lot, and have even gone as far as to project a Mount Rushmore-style depiction of the three party leaders onto the white cliffs of Dover.

The debates won’t be projected onto the cliffs… but there are still a few ways of watching them even if you don’t have a pricey set-top box. Sky have produced a detailed guide on how to watch the debates.

Here’s the lowdown:

Live at 8pm today on the Sky News channel. This is on Freeview channel 82, Virgin Cable channel 602, Sky Satellite channel 501 (and channel 517 in high-definition, if you want to see every wrinkle in Gordon Brown’s face).

Live on the BBC News Channel. This is on Freeview channel 80, Virgin Cable channel 601, TalkTalkTV channel 501, Freesat channel 200 and Sky Satellite channel 503

Live online at Sky.com and BBC.co.uk

Live on BBC Radio 4

At 11.30pm tonight on BBC Two

At 8pm tomorrow on the BBC Parliament channel. This is on Freeview channel 81, Freesat channel 201, Virgin Cable channel 612, TalkTalkTV channel 502, Sky channel 504

The debate will also be carried on a number of channels abroad. Full details here.

That popular British election pastime – the egging of politicians – has resurfaced today, to the misfortune of David Cameron. A Cornish student perpetrated the act that will doubtlessly be enjoyed by the thousands of Brits who find it hard to resist the lure of a public ‘yolking’ (thousands of people have watched footage of John Prescott brawling on YouTube). Cameron appeared to be unfazed by the incident, joking that it was “the first one of the campaign”. It seems he is expecting more.

However, no need to despair, Tory voters: in a gallant act of selflessness George Osborne diverted attention by stepping into the limelight sporting a new headline-grabbing haircut. Credit where credit’s due: this Batman and Robin style partnership is proving to be an unstoppable force in the world of election comedy gold.

Paying my respects with David Miliband

Last Thursday I was joined by the Attorney General, Baroness Patricia Scotland on the campaign trail for one of the liveliest, most energy bursting campaign visits I’ve ever been on with a minister. We dropped in for a coffee morning at Antilles House, a sheltered accommodation block built to provide housing for older afro-Caribbean people. The energy from these 40+ pensioners from the Windies could have powered the national grid. Everyone of them had an amazing story to tell and their smiles stretched from ear to ear! Definitely my highlight from the campaign so far.

From jubilation to the most sombre moment as Foreign Secretary David Milliband joined me and MP Steve Pound to lay flowers at the doors of Our Lady Mother of the Church in Windsor Road, the Polish Church to remember those who died in the Katyn massacres as well as the great loss for Poland in the Smolensk air disaster. We entered the church to sign the condolence book before meeting members of the luncheon club in the excellent club next door. The Foreign Secretary had hoped to be flying out to President Kaczynski’s funeral on Sunday but volcanic ash barred world leaders from paying their respects in person.

Conspiracy theories were much in evidence as people shared their thoughts on the grounding on air traffic across  Europe. The nine year olds discussing this vitally important international issue recognised it has effected them badly. It wasn’t that they were going to school rather than being stuck in Tenerife, it was far more serious than that as one bemoaned, “The James Bond game I ordered for my X-Box from Thailand on ebay has been delayed, now I’ll have to wait till next week to play it.” As the Conservatives would say, “We’re all in it together.”

But you’ve got to hand it to Iceland. From relevant obscurity, thousands of miles from much else to international pariahs. First came the collapse of their banks, now eruption of their volcano. They certainly know how to put their nation on the map.

The first cracks began to appear in the Tories’ National Insurance policy last week as Shadow Chancellor George Osborne admitted NIC would go up under a Conservative government as well. His remarks, on the campaign trail in Thornliebank, East Renfrewshire where Labour’s Jim Murphy is under a sustained Tory assault, were the first tacit admission that the next government will have to use National Insurance contributions to find much-needed funds. “We can’t avoid the whole national insurance rise, so people who are earning pretty high salaries – £44,000 or £45,000 – are still going to pay it, but they’re not going to pay as much as Labour,” claimed Mr. Osborne. As things stand, NI contributions for employees and employers will increase by 1 per cent from next April. The Tories have said that they would scrap the rise for employees earning up to £35,000. Labour insists the Tory plans are incompletely costed and will leave a £6 billion hole in public spending.

Meanwhile two Tory supporters who organised fellow business leaders to sign a letter that said next year’s NI increase would wreck the recovery are to get peerages. Next chief executive Simon Wolfson and JCB chairman Sir Anthony Bamford were put forward by the Conservatives to Downing Street in January. “Any suggestion that the new peerages are linked to the campaign against Labour’s jobs tax is complete nonsense”, a spokesman said when news of their imminent ennoblement broke. Both men are long-standing Tory supporters and donors and were among 23 prominent businessmen who signed an open letter voicing support for the Conservatives plan to scrap next year’s NI increase. Mr Wolfson is reported to have donated £238,250 to the Conservatives since January 2006 while Mr Bamford is reported to have given the Tories over £1million over the past five years.