David Cameron has agreed to take part in a single televised debate during the general election campaign, claiming it was in fact the other party leaders who were ‘running away’ from the broadcasts.
The Prime Minister agreed for a single debate between seven leaders, to be screened by ITV on April 2, had been put forward by the broadcasters in place of their previous plan for three TV debates, including a head-to-head clash between him and Ed Miliband reports Huffington Post.
Conservative sources said the package of programmes agreed by the PM includes an interview by Jeremy Paxman featuring questions from a studio audience, with Mr Miliband attending a similar event.
But there was no immediate confirmation from the broadcasters of the changed format, and other parties appeared to be caught off guard by Mr Cameron’s statement.
Confirming he has accepted an offer to take part in a televised leaders debate, Cameron said: “The other parties have now got to stop running away from this and agree to the debate that the broadcasters have now offered.”
But a senior Labour source dismissed the allegation as “preposterous” and said the party had not received any information about plans for a single seven-way debate. Labour understood that the existing proposal for three debates, which it has accepted, remains on the table.
Labour had previously accused Cameron of “running scared” of the TV debates after he insisted that first the Greens and then the Democratic Unionist Party should be included, and said that he was only willing to take part in a broadcast staged before the formal start of the campaign on March 30.
Speaking at 10 Downing Street, Mr Cameron said: “There was a formal offer of a set of television programmes including a televised debate, put together by the broadcasters led by the BBC.
“As Prime Minister, I accepted that deal in full.”
He added: “This was an offer put together by the broadcasters, accepted by me on Saturday. The other parties have now got to stop running away from this and agree to the debate that the broadcasters have now suggested.”
Conservative sources said the package of programmes agreed by the PM includes an interview by Jeremy Paxman featuring questions from a studio audience, with Mr Miliband attending a similar event.
Then, on April 2, there would be a seven-way televised debate, including Mr Cameron and other party leaders.
A further “challengers debate” would feature the leaders of the smaller parties.
On April 30, a week before polling day, Mr Cameron, Mr Miliband and Nick Clegg would take part in a rotating question time event, following one another into a television studio but not going head-to-head.
A Ukip spokesman said: “We agreed to the three debates the broadcasters proposed and will be turning up to the two we were invited to.”
The broadcasters – BBC, ITV, Sky News and Channel 4 – had previously proposed three debates, with the first two on April 2 and 16 featuring Mr Cameron, Mr Miliband, Liberal Democrat leader Mr Clegg, Ukip’s Nigel Farage, Green leader Natalie Bennett, Nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood, followed by the head-to-head encounter on April 30 between the two men vying to be prime minister.