IT WAS the worst possible day in the campaign for Tony Blair to be facing his big setpiece “debate” with Charles Kennedy and Michael Howard.

The release yesterday of the Attorney-General’s advice to the Cabinet on the war in Iraq meant that the questions to the Prime Minister were guaranteed to be dominated by the legitimacy of the assault against Saddam Hussein.

He had been answering them all day. Mr Blair entered the studio looking utterly fed up. Exhausted, his eyes all but weeping from fatigue, he greeted the first couple of questions with barely disguised irritation. In fact, he greeted an awful lot of the questions last night with barely disguised irritation. I have never seen the Prime Minister make less of an effort to charm an audience. In a way, it was quite refreshing.

Mr Blair’s game plan was straightforward: he played the tough leader, the guy who goes out there and takes decisions and gets things done. “As Prime Minister you have to take the decision,” he kept emphasising.

Mr Howard’s scheme was also clear: he was being the guy who gives it to you straight. The guy who just cannot help telling the truth. “I’m afraid I tell it as it is,” he declared, to boos from the audience, when a woman asked whether it was healthy for her children to be repeating the idea that the Prime Minister was a liar. “What you see is what you get. I am very honest and direct.”

The trouble is that people do not believe him. The Conservative leader entered with a wide grin that did not last long. He reverted to sharp and patronising lawyer, his default mode, in response to the first question. He corrected the questioner that he had been in Scotland just yesterday “actually”, talking about “precisely” that. Even the way his tongue darts in and out of his lips when he licks them is serpent-like. When an audience member asked him how he felt about being less trusted than the man, Blair, whom he calls a liar, the smile became rictus.

Mr Howard was best on public services: he began a clear and honest argument about the difference between the problems of the NHS and schools before running out of time.

And Charles Kennedy? He was the star of the night. And what an understated star. He was desperate to be serious: grey suit, grey tie. No matter what happened the Lib Dem leader, often pilloried as “chat show Charlie”, the nice guy whom no one sees as prime ministerial material, was not going to look amused. Not even when the audience roared with laughter at something he said. Mr Kennedy was direct and he was clear and he even got angry a couple of times. There was nothing passive and cuddly about Charlie last night.

He got in a bit of a muddle over the effect of his council tax proposals on people in the South East. Mr Howard was given a hard time on immigration. Mr Blair got in a terrible mess over the GP booking system, which he clearly did not understand, giving the impression that he was out of touch with the reality of the NHS.

The audience was excellent, well-informed and tough. The tournament ended with sweat dripping down the Prime Minister’s exhausted face. Does it make people feel better to watch the public tearing strips off our political leaders? Yes, I think it probably does.

SCORES

Charles Kennedy 8
Michael Howard 5
Tony Blair 4

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