Anders Hanson

I am so proud. Yes, I know it makes me sound soft, but it’s the best way of describing how I feel tonight after watching the Newsnight debate. I am genuinely proud of Nick Clegg’s performance tonight.

Nick answered every question concisely and to the point, but also went on to expand on his brief answer. He was truly liberal, laid to rest most of the accusations against him, seemed genuinely ambitious and visionary, and even dealt well with the difficult questions on coalition and immigration.

But most of all he handled Paxman well, by being persistent, telling him to shut up when he had to, but answering the questions properly at the same time. I think it is fair to say that Paxman wasn’t at his rottweiler best, (maybe he was worried that Chris would punch him), but it showed that Nick can answer the tough questions as well as the easy ones something which, if I’m honest, he hasn’t always done.

As this campaign has gone on I’ve been through ups and downs emotionally. It’s just a part of being so close to the campaign. My summary of how I think it has gone is that Nick started off well, Chris then challenged hard for a while with Trident and school vouchers, it all went flat part way through as the media lost interest, the general consensus was that Chris then won on Question Time (I never blogged on it, but I think that Chris started off strongly and maintained that throughout, Nick got better as it went on and was very good at the end but it wasn’t quite enough), Chris then went mad on The Politics Show (which has gone down badly with members if our canvassing is anything to go by), and then Nick has shone tonight and turned in a stunning performance.

Something for everyone perhaps, but I think what it has shown is that when Nick is good he is brilliant and can really enthuse you, when Chris is good he is competent but dull. I would much rather go with the former.