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Alistair Darling BBC Alex Salmond

How Salmond beat Darling in the second televised Scottish independence debate

By Francis Ingham |

August 26, 2014 | 3 min read

The BBC televised the second Scottish independence referendum debate between Scottish first minister, Alex Salmond and his rival in the Better Together camp, Alistair Darling, with opinion suggesting that Salmond won the rematch. PRCA chairman Francis Ingham offers his insight into how Salmond claimed victory.

If the first debate saw the Salmond scattergun – his rather bizarre puns re pandas for example – last night’s was the time for the Darling stuttergun to be deployed. His hesitant responses; his lack of strategy; his failure to connect with the audience. All were on display last night. And they made the evening the preserve of the first minister.

The dynamics were clear. Like a second rate team that had unexpectedly won their first leg against a superior side, Darling had the nervous confidence of a man upon whose shoulders great expectations now lay. And Salmond had the adrenaline of the man who has been humiliated by defeat, and determined to avenge it. Maybe he woke up after the debate and said "Hoots Mon. That was embarrassing. That can’t happen again." And it didn’t.

So how did he turn around the loss of last time into the resounding victory of last night?

Well. He addressed the issues. He had an answer to the ‘Plan B’ minefield. And actually, he turned it to his advantage. In retrospect, the former chancellor might have been better deploying his line of attack in the final debate…

He took Darling on. OK – it wasn’t dignified. But hell, this is politics. Dignity doesn’t win. Cudgels often do.

And he engaged with the audience. Clinton killed Bush in the ‘92 debates to great effect by looking at the audience, walking outside of the podium, and being human. The lesser man (apologies, interns and Hillary) won. And the same engagement plan worked last night. A profound, albeit simple lesson for us all.

The polls should move. I say should because Darling won the first debate, and yet the polls moved against him. That’s just politics. But I’d bet a fair few bits of whatever currency Scotland ends up with that they will.

And if Darling lost, and Salmond won, who else was on the scorecard?

Politics, probably. A no-holds-barred fight leaves blood on everybody. And few other than politicos will have enjoyed the spectacle. Middle-aged men shouting over each other is hardly inspiring for the body politic. Maybe in future, the audience need the power to give a subtle prod when things become too unseemly. Given Messrs Darling and Salmond were both pretty lame in their Ice Bucket Challenges, overhead big buckets of ice, audience-controlled, might have been in order...

Alistair Darling BBC Alex Salmond

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