Brown agrees to TV debate
2009-10-03 21:00
London - Prime Minister Gordon Brown has agreed to take part in Britain's first televised election debate among party leaders.
Brown, who has been accused of dithering on a host of issues, had been reluctant to participate in US-style election debates even though his two main rivals had agreed.
"It is right that there will be a strong focus on the leaders' debates and it is right that in a Cabinet system of government that ministers and opposition ministers also debate the issues in a series of debates on television and radio too," Brown said in a letter posted to his Labour Party's website on Saturday.
Britain has never held televised clashes between party leaders during an election campaign.
Brown had previously said that voters get to see party chiefs tussle most weeks in Parliament during the rowdy - and televised - prime minister's questions session.
"I relish the opportunity of making our case directly to the people of this country," Brown said.
Britain's Sky News channel - owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp - has been pressing Brown to take part in the debate, along with Conservative Party leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg.
From Margaret Thatcher to Tony Blair, British leaders have typically dodged the cameras in televised debates.
Thatcher famously told Labour Party rival Neil Kinnock that "such a debate would generate more hot air than light" after he demanded a prime-time TV duel in 1987.
A televised debate could influence voter turnout at a time when many Britons have become disillusioned by mainstream politics. A scandal this year over lawmakers' lavish expense claims was blamed for the low turnout in local and European elections in June.
A general election must be held in the UK by June 2010.
According to a series of recent polls, Brown's Labour Party is expected to lose the election after 12 years in power to the Conservatives.
- AP