Fishburn Hedges

16.04.2010

The pundits have declared that Clegg won the war of the words, but who won the battle of the body language?

Our offices were packed last night as more than 100 friends and colleagues settled in to watch the sparks fly in the first leaders' debate.

Guests included expert pundits Stryker McGuire, contributing editor to Newsweek, and body-language expert Judy Apps to add a little colour and some pointers on what to look out for.

We were also joined by TV crews from Sky News and NHK, Japan's national broadcast station, to record the party atmosphere and instant reactions.

Judy expertly dissected the leaders’ body language:

- The fear factor was evident: dry lips, tight shoulders and narrow voices gave away the leaders’ nervousness at the beginning
- But they relaxed into their normal body language routine: Cameron’s finger pointing (indicating decisiveness), Brown’s hand gestures (showing a reasoned argument) and Nick Clegg’s open stance (relaxed)
- We also saw the confident, upright statures of Clegg and Cameron, compared to the more defensive posture of Gordon Brown
 
Stryker’s analysis focused on a comparison with the US Presidential debates.  He highlighted that:

- The Presidential debate of 1992 saw Ross Perot, then trailing in third place, receive a major poll boost following his performance
- But like Perot’s campaign, the Lib Dems could quickly fall back down to earth once the dust has settled on the debate
- Within 48 hours the pundits will remind people that Clegg is not a credible candidate for the premiership 

At the outset, 50% of our attendees expected Cameron to win decisively.  But on the night, they agreed with the pundits and 65% backed Clegg.

The danger now for Clegg is that expectations will be riding high ahead of the next debate.  All eyes will be on Cameron next Thursday 22 April.

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