Are you chicken, Dave?
PM mocked for saying he will only take part in TV election debates if the GREENS can too
DAVID Cameron was branded a ‘chicken’ last night as he torpedoed plans for TV debates ahead of the general election.
The Prime Minister insisted a proposal by Britain’s main broadcasters to invite Ukip but exclude the Greens was unfair.
He said he would not take part in the debates unless they included Green Party leader Natalie Bennett as well as Ukip’s Nigel Farage.
The SNP, on course to become the third-largest party in the UK and potentially decide the election, has threatened legal action unless it is also involved.
Tory strategists believe giving a platform to the Greens and the SNP, both already taking big chunks out of Labour’s support, would counter the threat to their party from Ukip’s inclusion.
The move came as ofcom proposed that broadcasters should give Ukip the same standing as the Tories, Labour and the Lib Dems in their general election coverage for the first time. If they become a ‘ major party’, Ukip would be granted extra party election broadcasts.
Under plans unveiled by the BBC, ITV, Sky News and Channel 4, Mr Farage would be invited to one debate also featuring Mr Cameron, ed Miliband and Nick Clegg.
The Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem leaders would then take part in a three-way discussion, before Mr Cameron and Mr Miliband go headto-head in a final televised clash.
The 2010 election was the first to feature American-style TV debates, which all included the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem leaders. Britain’s Got Talent- style push-button polling of viewers was used to declare a ‘winner’ in each case.
Yesterday, Mr Cameron’s stance on future debates plunged the plans into chaos, with mounting doubts over whether any will now take place.
Labour said Mr Cameron should be replaced with an ‘empty chair’, but this would be open to legal challenge
‘Wants to avoid them at all costs’
and seems unlikely. Mr Miliband and Mr Farage branded Mr Cameron a ‘chicken’ for snubbing the latest proposals, but the Prime Minister insisted he was not ‘running scared’, and implied the debates distorted the last campaign.
He said they could still happen – but suggested they take place well before the election campaign’s launch.
He told ITV Granada News: ‘ It’s not for me to say who is in or out, but ... you can’t have one minor party in Ukip who’s got a couple of MPs if you don’t have another minor party, the Greens, who’ve got an MP and who beat the Liberal Democrats at [the european elections].’
Asked if he would refuse to take part if the Green leader was left out, the Prime Minister replied: ‘Correct.’
More than 275,000 people have signed a petition saying the Greens should be included in any debates. However, Labour reacted angrily to Mr Cameron’s remarks. Mr Miliband said: ‘It’s not for the Prime Minister to choose who is in the TV debates.
‘He wants to avoid these debates at all costs. This is a Prime Minister who is running scared ... trying to chicken out of these TV debates.’
In a tweet to Mr Cameron, Mr Clegg wrote: ‘The public expect it, just say yes and stop making excuses.’
Mr Farage added: ‘This proves that the Prime Minister is now a chicken, running scared, and running away from having an open and honest debate.
‘It seems deeply irresponsible of Mr Cameron to hide away when this is obviously the most important general election for a generation.’