Parties gear up for second leaders' debate
Updated on 22 April 2010
Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg prepare go head-to-head over foreign policy for their second televised debate of the election campaign.
Liberal Democrat leader Mr Clegg is under intense pressure to deliver a repeat performance of last week's debate, where he confounded critics and voters alike.
Propelling his party forward to lead the polls, Mr Clegg's relaxed performance earned him comparisons with Winston Churchill.
However, today the Lib Dems sit behind Labour and the Tories in the polls - their one-time lead eroded by a week of intense media scrutiny into party donations and policies.
"I must be the only leader who's gone from Churchill to a Nazi within a week," Mr Clegg said earlier today.
A YouGov survey for The Sun put Mr Clegg's party down three points on 28 per cent, one point behind Labour on 29 per cent (up two), with Mr Cameron's party ahead on 34 per cent (up one).
In a dramatic reversal of the 'Clegg-bounce' that followed last Thursday's debate, Mr Clegg has denied any wrongdoing over donations outlined in The Daily Telegraph.
Shortly before the debate was due to start this evening, the Lib Dems circulated copies of bank statements, which they say: "demonstrate that all donations paid to Nick Clegg's account were matched by payments out to the Liberal Democrats for the purpose of part payment of a researcher."
Lib Dem spokesman Chris Huhne said it was a "smear" to suggest that Mr Clegg had taken a "cushy, easy road to power". But the Conservatives are still maintaining he has "serious questions to answer" over those donation allegations - questions, they say, that he cannot leave unanswered.
The Conservatives have been thrown onto the back foot since Mr Clegg's winning performance last Thursday.
The party has switched their tactics over the last few days to warn against what it calls the "dangers" of a hung parliament.
Mr Cameron is also under pressure. Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has also urged Mr Cameron to be less stiff, and "be himself".
However, the Tory leader said he would not be changing his campaign tactics, and would continue to "accentuate the positive".
The Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the Tory leader needed to deliver a "knockout blow" to his Lib Dem rival.
Meanwhile, home secretary Alan Johnson said: "I don't think Gordon needs to do anything differently to what he did in last week's debate.
"This is not his natural theatre, if you like, he is not a song and dance man, very much concentrating on policy."
Mr Brown himself said he would not be talking about a coalition government tonight, insisting that he would focus on "the major issues facing the world" - from nuclear proliferation to the global economy.
In an interview with the BBC he conceded that Mr Clegg won last week's debate, adding: "I lost on presentation. I lost on style. Maybe I lost on smiling," he said. "But I've learned at the end of the debate, substance will come through. This isn't an X Factor talent show."
The debate will focus on foreign affairs, with the Lib Dems expected to highlight their opposition to the war in Iraq - the party is likely to come under attack from both the other parties over their pledge to scrap Trident without a “like for like” replacement.
