From the archive: Wounded Brown’s desperate last stand - 30 April, 2010

DAVID Cameron won the third and final TV debate last night after he used the last exchanges between the party leaders before polling day to launch a series of personal attacks on a wounded Gordon Brown.

Instant polls after the crucial BBC debate showed that the largest number of viewers believed the Conservative leader to be the strongest contender.

It followed an hour and a half of tense exchanges when Mr Cameron repeatedly went in for the kill against the Prime Minister, employing far more aggressive tactics than he had used in previous weeks. He described Mr Brown’s attacks on Tory policy as “desperate stuff from someone who is in a desperate state”.

The exchanges came a day after Mr Brown had thrown his campaign into disarray when he was heard describing a Labour-
supporting pensioner as a “bigoted woman”.Wounded by that gaffe, Mr Brown desperately needed a victory last night to get the Labour campaign back on track.