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From The Times

March 16, 2010

Lord Mandelson to go head-to-head with Ken Clarke Cabinet in TV debate

Patrick Foster, Media Correspondent, Philip Webster

Lord Mandelson is to go head-to-head with Ken Clarke in a live televised battle over the state of British business, as part of a series of debates between the Cabinet candidates from the three main parties.

The BBC will screen nine “Cabinet Contender” debates, in which Labour ministers will take on their Shadow counterparts, as a supplement to the three party leader debates between Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg that will be shown by the BBC, Sky and ITV.

The showdowns, which will be hosted by Andrew Neil and aired on BBC Two in the two weeks before the election, when a date is announced, will cover subjects such as defence, health, education and crime.

Virtually all the participants have been agreed, but Labour will not confirm that Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, will take part in a debate on the economy. The Tories have said that they will field George Osborne if Mr Darling joins the debate.

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But if the Chancellor leaves it to Liam Byrne, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Tories will instead field Mr Byrne’s Shadow, Philip Hammond. The Lib Dems have confirmed that Vince Cable will take on whoever the other parties put forward.

Sources close to Mr Darling said he would definitely debate against Mr Osborne in a televised event, but would not confirm that it would be on the BBC. Neither ITV nor Sky would confirm that they had any debates planned.

The debate on defence and security is also proving a sticking point, with Labour yet to confirm whether David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, or Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, will feature. The Tories are expected to put forward Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary.

Other key battles will see Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, take on Michael Gove in an education event, and Phil Woolas take on Damian Green in a debate on immigration. There will also be a final debate on “trust in politics”, to be aired the day before the election, but none of the parties have yet confirmed their speakers.

Whereas the party leader debates are subject to a strict 76-point code that specifies that the audience must not clap during proceedings, and that the three leaders must shake hands at the end, the Cabinet debates will have no similar rules.

The events, which will be broadcast from 2.15pm to 3pm under the auspices of The Daily Politics show, will not have an audience. Each of the three politicians will have 45 seconds to give an opening statement, before retiring to their podiums, where they will be quizzed by Mr Neil and a BBC specialist reporter. Viewers will be able submit questions via email.

The format will be altered to a four-party system for the debates on immigration and the environment, in order to incorporate the UK Independence Party and the Greens. For health and education, there will be separate debate programmes in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Robbie Gibb, Editor of The Daily Politics said: “We are now in the very final stages of negotiating these Cabinet level debates. It’s clear that the public has a huge appetite for live head-to-head debates of this nature and they will provide a unique opportunity for the public to compare and contrast what each party has to offer on the issues that matter most to the public like crime, health, schools and economy.”