.....when did they first start in this country? We never used to have them. They're quite a recent thing aren't they? I don't remember there being anything like these in the election of 1997, Blair/Major. It seems to me that, once again, people want to copy what the Americans do. They've had them for years. Up until recently the method here was to campaign around the country and have press interviews. Do these debates achieve anything? I don't think so.
They are purely for entertainment value and of course AB threads but they rarely reflect what the election outcome would be. Remember when Nick Clegg charmed the pants off everyone when on with Cameron and ??Brown?