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| Silence! Audience questions banned at leaders' TV showdown |
GORDON Brown’s live TV showdown with David Cameron could go ahead with the studio audience sitting in SILENCE.
The two leaders are demanding a BAN on questions from the floor for fear of being ambushed by rival party members.
And fed-up telly chiefs may be forced to agree to the dumb idea — after weeks of wrangling over which voters will be let in to watch the historic General Elect-shhh-ion face-off.
It would mean the audience being denied the chance to quiz the men who are running for power. Or even APPLAUD when they make a good point.
The PM wants the audience packed with nearly TWICE as many Labour supporters as Tories, to reflect his Commons majority. But furious Mr Cameron is insisting there should be more of his followers as he is well ahead in the polls.
The row is now so entrenched that broadcasters fear it could even derail Britain’s first TV leaders’ debate.
An insider said last night: "We’ve had two months of talks about the format for the debates. There have been disagreements about which leader shake hands first, where they stand on stage and how much camera time they get. But the audience has been the biggest sticking point so far."
The live encounter is meant to mirror the American presidential debate where the two contenders take questions from a news presenter and the audience. The idea has been ditched in the past after talks between politicians and TV chiefs collapsed.
But last year, Mr Brown, Mr Cameron and Lib Dem chief Nick Clegg agreed to take part in three televised clashes hosted by Sky, BBC and ITV.
Now the latest stumbling block has got senior executives fuming with frustration. If they are forced to limit audience involvement, it would mean the questioning would be left to each channel’s chosen presenter — the Beeb’s David Dimbleby, below right, Alastair Stewart for ITV and Sky’s Adam Boulton, below left.
A source said: "You could be forgiven for thinking that after agreeing to take part in this debate, they are now trying to wriggle out of it.
"But it would look ridiculous if they walked away at this late stage. It has got to go ahead now because it has progressed too far.
"The audience will be picked scientifically but we just can’t agree the formula.
"The only way out seems to be to ban all questions from the floor.
"That would be a great shame because often the general public have a way of cutting through all the clever words and pinning politicians down.
"Even that might not be enough because there are also concerns about the levels of support — or otherwise — each leader will get from the audience in the way of cheering, clapping and heckling.
"We could ask the audience not to applaud before the show but there is no way a lively British audience would obey such an instruction.
"This has to be sorted out, but it is still very much progress by small steps and there’s only three months or so until the proper campaign begins."
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