British Election TV DEBATE AGREED

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31001, 5 March 1966, Page 15

British Election TV DEBATE AGREED

(A’.Z.P.A. Reuter —Copyright)

LONDON, March 4.

The British Prime Minister, Mr Wilson, last night accepted the gauntlet thrown down by the Conservative leader, Mr Edward Heath, to appear in a nation-wide television confrontation during the election campaign.

But he agreed to take part in the television debate in the final stages of the election contest only if the Liberal Party leader, Mr Jo Grimond, was invited to appeal’ as well.

Mr Wilson made known his decision in a letter to Mr

Heath after the Opposition leader had formally challenged him to a “face to face" television appearance, in the style of the Kennedy-Nixon debate in the United States. A similar challenge was made by Mr Wilson to his Conservative predecessor. Sir Alec Douglas-Home, during the 1964 election campaign. But Sir Alec Douglas-Home rejected it, saying it would create a Presidential-election type atmosphere alien to British politics. “Not Presidential" In his reply to Mr Heath's proposal, Mr Wilson said last night: "While I fully agree with the previously expressed view of the Conservative Party that a General Election in Britain is not a Presidential contest, and while I would hope that issues would be fought out on policy, I believe that such a programme would be invaluable.” Political commentators in several British newspapers today suggested that Mr Wilson's terms for a three-party confrontation might lead to Mr Heath losing some of his impact as chief Opposition leader. The “Daily Telegraph" reported that its latest gallup poll put Labour 11 per cent ahead of the Conservatives—--2 per cent more than in a previous poll published a week ago. Yesterday the “Daily Mail" published a survey carried out by national opinion polls which gave Labour a 12.4 per cent advantage over the Conservatives —a drop of 1.1 per cent since a similar survey was announced two weeks, ago.