Cable impresses Ask the Chancellors audience
Updated on 29 March 2010
Nobody was a clear winner in Channel 4's Ask the Chancellor debate, according to members of the audience - but the Liberal Democrats' Vince Cable undoubtedly impressed.
Vince Cable appears to have impressed the audience most at Channel 4's Ask the Chancellors debate.
As they left the debate, many participants said they thought the Liberal Democrat's performance was very strong and reassuring. Others felt George Osborne's Tory mantra for "change" was the argument to vote for. Some were pleasantly surprised by Alistair Darling's performance, comparing his policy ideas with Vince Cable's. Others were not impressed at all, claiming all three men had avoided going into policy detail.
One man said: "I was quite surprised George Osborne didn't get a better reception. I anticipated there would be more support for the Tories. But I think Vince Cable came across very well. I think he's trusted by everybody and I think he would make a great Chancellor."
More on Channel 4’s Ask the Chancellors debate
- Ask the Chancellors: debate highlights
- Ask the Chancellors: internet reaction
- Ask the Chancellors: live blog
- Ask the Chancellors: FactCheck
- Gary Gibbon: Cable man of the match
- Gary Gibbon: Cable wins, but nobody ganged up on him
Another man, impressed by George Osborne, said: "Clearly there's nothing more new coming out of the existing government. George Osborne has some good ideas and as Osborne said the Lib Dems aren't going to get in. So time for a change."
One woman was surprised by Darling's performance: "Personally, I thought you could see some similarities between what Alistair Darling and Vince Cable were saying so the idea of what would happen in a hung parliament, I think it's raised some interesting questions with regards to that."
"I would have preferred it if they had gone into more depth with their answers," another woman told us. "I think they were trying to score points at times rather than actually answering the questions."
One member of the audience told us his vote has now changed as a result of the debate: "I think Vince Cable came out on top... I was going to vote Labour, potentially Tory, but now I'm definitely going to vote Lib Dem so for me it worked."
Our final interviewee found faults with all three economic spokesmen, but was pleased most with Cable: "I thought there were no firework moments," he said. "I thought George Osborne tended to hide behind his party a little bit. He mentioned David Cameron a lot. Alistair Darling missed a few opportunities and I think Vince Cable, as usual, spoke with a lot of authority."
