Britain gears up for Farage vs Clegg in televised EU debate on BBC

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Britain is gearing up for great TV entertainment when Nick Clegg takes on Nigel Farage in a televised TV debate.

The debate, which will be aired on BBC Two and on London LBC Radio on Wednesday 2 April, will see the leader of the left wing, pro-EU Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister and a former MEP who is banned from criticising the EU (criticism of the EUSSR is a big no-no in the EUSSR), take on the leader of the right wing, anti-EU party UKIP, Nigel Farage MEP, who was once fined for telling the EUSSR's unelected president Herman van Rompuy in the European Parliament that he has "the charisma of a damp rag", discuss whether or not Britain should be inside or outside of the EU.

UKIP want Britain to leave the EU, whereas the Lib Dumbs think Britain should be at the heart of it.

The two have been involved in a growing spat over the issue of the EU, ahead of May's European elections. Whilst polls show that Farage is the most popular of the four main party leaders, they also show that Clegg is the least popular, and the Lib Dems trail UKIP in the polls.

Last month, Mr Farage accepted Mr Clegg's invitation to a televised "open debate" on whether the UK should stay in the EU.

The BBC said the televised debate would take place in front of an audience "selected by a reputable polling organisation to be demographically representative and with an equal number of people for and against British membership of the EU". Questions will come from the audience members and from members of the public who have been invited to submit possible questions.

James Harding, Director of BBC News and Current Affairs, said: "We are delighted to have negotiated successfully to broadcast this important debate. Europe is always a highly charged issue in British politics and this is a fantastic opportunity to test the arguments."


BBC to host Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage TV debate

5 March 2014
BBC News

Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage are to go head-to-head on BBC television in a debate on Britain's future in Europe.

The hour-long debate will be shown on BBC2 from 7pm on Wednesday, 2 April, and will be hosted by David Dimbleby.

Mr Clegg's Liberal Democrats are the most pro-EU of the main parties at Westminster, while Mr Farage's UKIP advocates withdrawing from the EU.

They have been involved in a growing spat over the issue, ahead of May's European elections.

Last month, Mr Farage accepted Mr Clegg's invitation to a televised "open debate" on whether the UK should stay in the EU.

'Fantastic opportunity'

The BBC said the televised debate would take place in front of an audience "selected by a reputable polling organisation to be demographically representative and with an equal number of people for and against British membership of the EU". Questions will come from the audience members.

James Harding, Director of BBC News and Current Affairs, said: "We are delighted to have negotiated successfully to broadcast this important debate. Europe is always a highly charged issue in British politics and this is a fantastic opportunity to test the arguments."

Mr Clegg last month challenged the UKIP leader to a debate on his weekly phone-in programme on LBC radio, which will also host a clash between the two party leaders.

He said: "I will challenge Nigel Farage to a public, open debate about whether we should be in or out of the EU, because that is now the choice facing this country and he is the leader of the party of 'out'; I am the leader of the party of 'in'.

"I think it's time we now have a proper, public debate so that the public can listen to the two sides of the argument and judge for themselves."

'Needy for publicity'

In response, Mr Farage said he wanted the Conservative and Labour leaders to join in a four-man debate, which he suggested should take place during the European election campaign in April or May.

But he said he would take on the Lib Dem leader in a head-to-head debate even if the other party leaders declined.

The Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem leaders took part in a TV debate for the first time in the run up to the 2010 general election

Downing Street said David Cameron will not be taking part in the debate with Mr Farage and Mr Clegg.

A spokesman said the prime minister would be setting out his views on Europe during the European election campaign and did not want to start "another process", adding the Lib Dems were "a bit needy of publicity".

The Labour Party said the party's priority was to reach agreement on TV debates between the two prospective prime ministers ahead of the next election.

"Anything else will be a matter for negotiation after that is agreed," he added.

Leaders debates have long been a feature of election campaigns in the United States, but took place for the first time in Britain at the 2010 general election.

But there is some doubt over whether the exercise will be repeated in 2015, amid behind-the-scenes wrangling over the likely format and timing of the programmes and battles about who should be allowed to take part.

'Quite wrong'

The BBC's chief political correspondent Norman Smith said the debate between Mr Clegg and Mr Farage could encourage the party leaders to sign up to general election debates or, alternatively, "provide some room to argue against them".

UKIP is consistently ahead of the Lib Dems in national opinion polls, with Mr Farage claiming his party is in with a chance of topping the polls at the European elections.

The Liberal Democrat party president Tim Farron, by contrast, is warning his party it faces the "fight of their lives" to retain its 12 MEPs.

Republican candidate Mitt Romney clashed with Barack Obama in 2012

Mr Clegg, who has known Mr Farage since his days as an MEP, between 1999 and 2004, has opted to launch an all out attack on his Eurosceptic rivals, focusing on their voting record in Brussels and Strasbourg.

In a speech on the EU's role to the Centre for European Reform, Mr Clegg accused Mr Farage and his colleagues of failing to "stand up for Britain" in the European Parliament.

"Nigel Farage and deputy leader Paul Nuttall rarely turn up to vote in the European Parliament, despite being happy to take their taxpayer-funded salaries," he said.

"UKIP MEPs refuse to roll up their sleeves and get down to work. Nigel Farage hasn't tabled a single amendment to EU legislation since July 2009."

Mr Farage hit back at his rival's claims, saying: "Nick Clegg has some cheek raising attendance and voting records. Although Nick Clegg lives in London, between 2010 and 2014 he has voted in Westminster only 22.6% of the time.

"By contrast I live eight hours away from Strasbourg, lead a national party and have voted 55% of the time in the European Parliament."

He also said that the group of MEPs that he leads, the "Europe of Freedom and Democracy", had "put down hundreds of amendments since 2009, so factually Nick Clegg is quite wrong in what he's saying here".

He said he would use the TV debate with Mr Clegg as a "platform for the majority of British people who want our relationship with Europe to be one of trade and co-operation but not one of political union".

BBC News - BBC to host Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage TV debate

 

[taxslave]

SHould be interesting. As a trading block the EU is a good idea but somehow they managed to let a gaggle of social leftards micro manage the whole area and dictate almost everything down to the color of shoelaces one can wear on sunday.

 

[Blackleaf]

SHould be interesting. As a trading block the EU is a good idea but somehow they managed to let a gaggle of social leftards micro manage the whole area and dictate almost everything down to the color of shoelaces one can wear on sunday.

It's a good idea as a trading block only.

But, I'm afraid, the founding fathers of the EU always had the intention to make it something much more than that - a superstate.

Britain should leave before we are part of an undemocratic USE or EUSSR.

 

[Blackleaf]

FIRST BLOOD TO EUROSCEPTIC UKIP LEADER FARAGE AFTER HE WIPED THE FLOOR WITH EUROPHILE LIBERAL DEMOCRAT LEADER CLEGG LAST NIGHT IN THEIR EU DEBATE

LEADERS' DEBATE 1

RESULT

There are actually two debates on the EU between Farage and Clegg.

The first one, on London radio station LBC, took place last night. It was also live on BBC News 24 and Sky News.

And, as I predicted before hand, Farage wiped the floor with little Cleggie.

In a YouGov poll of 1,003 voters taken just minutes after the debate ended last night, some 57% of people thought that Nigel Farage had performed better in the LBC debate and 36% Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

WATCH LAST NIGHT'S DEBATE

The LBC Leaders' Debate: Nick Clegg v Nigel Farage - YouTube

Thumbs up: Nigel Farage won 57 per cent of the public vote in a snap YouGov poll after the debate​

Mr Clegg and Mr Farage each had one minute to set out their position as the debate began. Courtesy LBC/Global TV

Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage have clashed over who is telling the truth about EU immigration.

The pair were taking part in a live TV and radio debate about whether Britain should stay in the European Union.

Mr Clegg - who wants Britain to stay in - said the UKIP leader's claims about how many Romanians and Bulgarians might come to the UK were "simply not true".

But Mr Farage denied this and said EU immigration was costing Britons jobs and driving down wages.

The exchanges on immigration were the most heated in the hour-long debate, which ranged across issues such as trade, the Human Rights Act, the EU referendum, gay marriage and political integrity.

'Scare' tactics

BBC chief political correspondent Norman Smith said "there was no knockout blow" and both men had given a good account of themselves and their case.

In a YouGov poll of 1,003 voters, some 57% thought that Nigel Farage had performed better in the LBC debate and 36% Nick Clegg.

Mr Clegg - who stared down the TV lens during his opening statement as he did during the 2010 election debates - made jobs the centre of his pitch to the audience.

Mr Farage said Britain needed to regain control of its own laws and borders, saying the European Union was a "failed project" and it was time to leave it.

He also hit out at the EU's role in the Ukraine crisis, saying: "We should hang our head in shame - we have given false hope - the EU does have blood on its hands in the Ukraine."

The issue of immigration sparked a fiery exchange between Mr Clegg and Mr Farage. Courtesy LBC/Global TV

The UKIP leader made a few jokes - but it was an earnest, and at times, impassioned battle of wits between two politicians who, despite being former colleagues as MEPs in Brussels, are diametrically opposed on the European Union.

Mr Farage attacked Mr Clegg for being part of the political elite who had "never had a proper job" but the pair mostly steered clear of personal attacks.

Mr Clegg brandished a UKIP leaflet from the Eastleigh by-election, highlighting its claim that 29 million Romanians and Bulgarians were poised to come to the UK - a claim he said was wrong and a "scare" tactic.They couldn't bear to look at each other, eyes fixed firmly on the studio audience or TV cameras. ”

Mr Farage, though, was unfazed: "I am not claiming 29 million have the right to come to Britain. I am saying 485 million people have the total, unconditional right to come to this country."

The next debate between the pair will take place on Wednesday on BBC Two.


BBC News - Nick Clegg clashes with Nigel Farage in EU debate

 

[Blackleaf]

It was the second of the EU debates last night between pro-EU Nick Clegg and anti-EU Nigel Farage.

And, once again, Farage wiped the floor with lefty Establishment Cleggie to make it a clean sweep of victories.

A YouGov poll taken just minutes after last night's debate, this time hosted by BBC Two at the BBC's Broadcasting House in central London and also shown on Sky News, shows that 68% of people thought Farage won the debate, compared to just 27% who thought Clegg had won, a win by a margin of 41 percentage points for Farage.

That makes Farage's victory in last night's debate, refereed by veteran BBC political broadcaster David Dimbleby, even more convincing than his victory last week, when he won by 21 percentage points.

In a heated and confrontational televised debate the leader of the UK Independence Party warned that extremists would resort to “violence” unless the European Union “ends democratically”.

Mr Farage said that uncontrolled immigration had been beneficial for people who wanted to “take in servants” but led to the development of a “white underclass” which had been left behind.

He repeated his controversial defence of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, saying he had “outwitted and outclassed you all” and accused Mr Clegg of being “hell-bent” on war with Syria.

In the most aggressive confrontation of the debate, Mr Farage accused Mr Clegg of “lying to the British people” after he said that 7 per cent of Britain’s primary legislation comes from the EU.

Mr Farage said that the real figure was closer to 75 per cent, and may even be even higher. “You are lying willingly to the British people about the extent we have given away democracy,” he said.

Mr Clegg attempted to mock the UKIP leader as someone who was not a serious politician.

At one point, he brandished a UKIP leaflet - featuring a picture of a Native American - which he said suggests that if the British people ignore immigration, they will "end up on a reservation".

"What are you going to say next, that you are Crazy Horse or Sitting Bull?," he asked.

Mr Farage said he did not "recognise" the leaflet and did not "endorse its sentiments".

The Lib Dem later claimed the leaflet was distributed in Lancaster and Fleetwood ahead of the 2010 election but UKIP said it was not "official" party literature.

At the end of his great victory over a member of Britain's pro-EU, anti-British, ruling left-wing Establishment, Farage said: "Let's free ourselves up and in doing so let's give an example to the rest of Europe.

"I know the people are behind this. I would urge people - come and join the people's army. Let's topple the establishment who got us into this mess."

The lefty anti-British, pro-EU, PC ruling Establishment in Britain is crumbling.

Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage in heated BBC debate over EU

BBC News
3 April 2014

Nigel Farage and Nick Clegg make their opening statements

Watch the second Europe debate here:

Nick Clegg vs Nigel Farage, Europe debate 2 (02Apr14) - YouTube


Nick Clegg has accused Nigel Farage of peddling "dangerous fantasies" in an ill-tempered BBC TV debate on Britain's future in Europe.

Mr Farage accused the Lib Dem leader of "wilfully lying" to the British people about Brussels' grip on UK laws.

He also claimed EU immigration had hit the "white working class" the hardest.

Instant polls said Mr Farage had won by a bigger margin than he did in their first debate last week.

YouGov's snap poll gives the debate to Mr Farage by 68% to 27%, while a poll by ICM/Guardian suggested 69% of people watching thought the UKIP man came out on top.

A YouGov/Sun poll suggested Mr Farage won their first clash last Wednesday by 57% to 36%.

The BBC's chief political correspondent Norman Smith said Mr Clegg was much more fired up than he had been last week, while Mr Farage had been more measured.

'Billy no mates'

Mr Clegg kicked off the one-hour debate - hosted by David Dimbleby - by accusing his opponent of foisting a "dangerous con" on the public by arguing for Britain's exit from the EU, telling the audience in the BBC's radio theatre "if it sounds too good to be true, it is".

He warned leaving the EU would lead to a 'Billy-no-mates Britain".

An early flashpoint was Mr Farage's support for Vladimir Putin over Syria.

The UKIP leader accused the Lib Dem leader of being "hell bent" on getting Britain involved in a war - but Mr Clegg accused him of trivialising the issue.

Mr Clegg and Mr Farage both produced leaflets during the debate

Mr Clegg also said Mr Farage's views on Mr Putin were reminiscent of a "pub bar discussion" - and that the Russian leader could have brought the conflict in Syria to an end with "one phone call".

Poking fun at Mr Farage, the Lib Dem leader suggested the UKIP leader would claim next that "the moon landing never happened, Barack Obama is not American and Elvis is not dead".

Mr Farage said the British people had "had enough of getting involved in foreign wars".

'Making things up'

He said he did not want Britain to be part of an "expansionist" EU foreign policy, claiming that the EU wants its own "army and navy".

Mr Clegg said this was a "dangerous fantasy that is simply not true".

The pair traded verbal blows over the percentage of British laws made in Brussels, with Mr Clegg claiming it was only about 7%. He also said the European Commission only employed the same amount of staff as Derbyshire County Council.

Mr Farage told the Lib Dem leader: "When I said yes to these debates I thought you would honestly make the pro-EU case.

"By saying 7% of our laws are made in Brussels, you are wilfully lying to the British people about the extent to which we have given control of our country and our democracy and I am really shocked and surprised you would do that."

Mr Clegg hit back, accusing the UKIP leader of "making things up to make a point".

The pair again clashed on EU immigration, with Mr Farage saying it was "good for the rich because it's cheaper nannies and cheaper chauffeurs and cheaper gardeners but it's bad news for ordinary Britons".

The UKIP leader said the scale of immigration over recent years had "shocked" the country and increased segregation in towns and cities.

But he said the worst social impact was that "it has left the white working class effectively as an underclass, and I think that is a disaster for our society".

The Lib Dem leader suggested that Mr Farage "does not like modern Britain" and that, in contrast, he was very comfortable with it.

'Crazy Horse'

Mr Clegg attempted to mock the UKIP leader as someone who was not a serious politician.

At one point, he brandished a UKIP leaflet - featuring a picture of a Native American - which he said suggests that if the British people ignore immigration, they will "end up on a reservation".

"What are you going to say next, that you are Crazy Horse or Sitting Bull?," he asked.

Mr Farage said he did not "recognise" the leaflet and did not "endorse its sentiments".

The Lib Dem later claimed the leaflet was distributed in Lancaster and Fleetwood ahead of the 2010 election but UKIP said it was not "official" party literature.

Mr Farage said that immigration had led to the development of “white underclass” which had been left behind. In his closing (or should that be victory?) speech he declared: "I know the people are behind this. I would urge people - come and join the people's army. Let's topple the establishment who got us into this mess."

Towards the end of the debate, the UKIP leader issued a warning about the rise of far right parties in Europe, saying: "I want the EU to end but I want it to end democratically. If it doesn't end democratically I'm afraid it will end very unpleasantly."

He used his closing statement to make a pitch for votes in May's European elections, saying: "Let's free ourselves up and in doing so let's give an example to the rest of Europe.

"I know the people are behind this. I would urge people - come and join the people's army. Let's topple the establishment who got us into this mess."

Mr Clegg sketched out a vision of Britain's future in Europe entirely at odds with his Eurosceptic opponent in his closing remarks, promising "real remedies for the way the world is today not dangerous fantasies about a bygone world that no longer exists."

"And that is why I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that we remain part of the European Union because that is how we protect the Britain we love."

BBC News - Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage in heated BBC debate over EU