General Election 2010: David Cameron wins 2nd debate with passion

DAVID Cameron went on the attack last night in a determined TV onslaught designed to regain the mantle of the only leader who can change Britain.

David Cameron hit back at Nick Clegg in the TV debate David Cameron hit back at Nick Clegg in the TV debate

The Conservative leader used the second live leaders’ debate to tear into Labour and the Liberal Democrats over their craven surrenders to Brussels and support for mass immigration.

He savaged Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, the surprise winner of the previous debate, for putting the country’s security at risk by threatening to scrap the nuclear deterrent.

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And in a fierce attack, he angrily accused Gordon Brown’s Labour activists of spreading lies and trying to scare pensioners about Tory policies for the elderly.

The three leaders battle it out in the foreign affairs TV debate The three leaders battle it out in the foreign affairs TV debate

Mr Cameron brushed aside criticism of his nervousness in the first clash a week ago to launch a calm and assured performance in last night’s second round.

Instant polls declared him the winner of the debate, hosted by Sky News in Bristol. A Sky TV poll gave him 44 per cent with 41 per cent for Mr Clegg and just 14 per cent for Mr Brown.

Mr Cameron scraped a win on 37 per cent to Mr Clegg’s 36 per cent while Mr Brown was trailing on 27 per cent, according to a Populus poll. But a ComRes poll put Mr Clegg ahead with 33 per cent while Mr Brown and Mr Cameron were tied on 30 per cent.

Mr Cameron, who warmed up for the clash by going for a run with aides, appeared far more relaxed than in the first debate from the moment he delivered his opening statement, and sought to reclaim his position as the only leader who could really deliver change.

Staring calmly into the camera to address the millions of voters watching, he said: “Real change comes from your values.” He insisted the Tories would “make our defences strong, our borders secure and our country safe”.

He also used the statement to highlight his party’s key election idea, the plan for a “big society” of responsibility and less government meddling.

Mr Brown, who drew the winning lot to speak first, appeared to be deliberately attempting to strike a statesman-like tone in his opening statement, but read the words from a script on his lectern.

He made direct reference to his dire unpopularity, saying: “If it’s all about style and PR, count me out.” Insisting he was the only one with a strategy for economic recovery, he added: “Like me or not, I can deliver the plan and am the one to do it.”

From his first words, Mr Clegg tried to repeat his first week success by condemning the “old parties”. And he did his best to capitalise on the Lib Dems’ opposition to the Iraq war, saying: “We should not have invaded Iraq.”

EUROPE

Mr Cameron vowed Britain would “not be run by Europe” and said he wanted to keep the pound.

“I think we should be in Europe because we are a trading nation. We are part of Europe, we want to co-operate and work with our allies in Europe to get things done,” he said. “But we have let too many powers go from Westminster to Brussels, we have passed too much power over and we should take some of those powers back. I want us to be in Europe but not run by Europe.”

He added: “I don’t want us to join the euro, I want us to keep the pound as our currency. I don’t want us to give up the British rebate, I want to make sure that we get value for money. I want to cut some of the bureaucracy, some of the rules, some of the regulations that I think drive business so mad. To those that say somehow this would be isolation, I say nonsense.”

Mr Clegg drew on his experiences of working in Brussels. He said: “What I learnt when I was there was this – the European Union is not perfect. Anything that takes 15 years to define chocolate is not a model of democratic efficiency.

“What I also learnt was a whole lot of things, whether we like it or not, whatever your views on Europe, which we simply can’t do on our own. We can’t deal with international crime which touches and affects every single community in this country on our own. We can’t deal with climate change on our own.

“We can’t regulate these wretched banks which got us into trouble in the first place, which now sprawl across countries. I don’t think the EU is perfect, I want it reformed, that is why I want to lead in the EU. But we are stronger together and weaker apart.”

A robotic Mr Brown, sporting a Labour-red tie, said: “There are three million reasons why we need to be part of the European Union and they are called jobs.

“Three million jobs depend on our membership of the European Union, half our trade is with the European Union, 750,000 businesses trade with Europe. The idea that we should again be isolated, on the margins and not in the mainstream of Europe, would be a terrible mistake. Let us never again be an empty chair in Europe. My fear is that David’s policy would put us in that position.”

During the early skirmishes Mr Brown managed to get a laugh from the audience from one of his pre-planned jokes stating that Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg were like his two young boys “squabbling at bathtime”.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Mr Cameron turned his guns on Lib Dem policy by savaging their opposition to a “like-for-like” replacement for the Trident submarine-based nuclear deterrent. “I believe we are safe with an independent nuclear deterrent in an unsafe and insecure world,” he said.

Mr Brown turned on Mr Clegg’s nuclear policy, saying: ‘I say to Nick – get real, get real to the danger we face.”

FUTURE WARS

Mr Cameron said a Tory government would learn from the mistakes made in Iraq and Afghanistan, and carefully weigh up the risks before sending British troops into conflict again. And he tore into Mr Brown for failing to give our troops adequate kit to protect them.

“We have got to make sure we never send our troops into battle again without proper equipment or proper helicopters,” he said. Signalling that a Tory government would not act as America’s puppet, he said: “If I was Prime Minister, I would think very seriously about what is in the national interest.”

Mr Brown, who was jeered by anti-war protesters as he arrived for the debate, risked accusations of scaremongering by claiming that he saw secret intelligence reports about potential terrorist plots “every day”.

Mr Clegg attacked the Government’s record in Afghanistan, insisting troops “need the right equipment” to ensure they can return home “with heads held high”.

CLIMATE CHANGE

The three leaders were quizzed about their individual efforts to help the battle against green house gas emissions. Mr Cameron highlighted his own efforts to insulate his homes, Mr Brown boasted of solar panels at his constituency home in Fife while Mr Clegg claimed he usually took the train back to his Sheffield constituency.

GENERAL ELECTION 2010 DEBATE: HAS GORDON BROWN LIED TO PENSIONERS?

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