The final televised debate on BBC last night: Cameron victorious?

The final leaders’ debate aired last night on the BBC, with the three would-be prime ministers clashing over taxes and well, taxes. So who won? The verdict today is mixed on the respective performances of Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown – but it looks like Conservative leader David Cameron could be on his way to Number 10.

The three major party leaders clashed over tax and how best to rescue the British economy last night during the final televised debate on BBC – and, if the polls and pundits are to be believed, Conservative leader David Cameron carried the night.

According to polls conducted immediately following the debate, the Tory leader should start packing now, because barring an act of God, he’s on his way to Number 10 Downing Street. Cameron cast Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown as “someone who’s in a desperate state” and the British economy as “stuck in a rut and we need change to get it moving.” Cameron also injected a little “Buy British” in his rhetoric, claiming that the country needed to stop relying on countries like China and start making its own products again.

As for the other two leaders, both of whom were under intense pressure to perform in last night’s debate, the polls are a bit more equivocal (although The Sun, with the headline “Scrambled Clegg and toast … but Cam’s full of beans”, seems to think that the other leaders don’t really matter any more).

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg generally takes the second spot, but with some wide variation – one poll has him neck-and-neck with Cameron, another has him coming in last. It was Clegg’s performance in the first televised debate that shook up the election, exploding the normally two-party race into a three-party. With the second debate, some pundits claimed that he narrowed it back down to two – himself and Cameron. In this debate, he stayed on message – he’s the political outsider, Cameron and Brown are the political dinosaurs who got Britain into this mess. But he wasn’t able to pull off the clear win he scored in the first debate and the other two took the opportunity to hammer the Lib Dem leader on his immigration policies.

YouGov: Cameron 41%; Clegg 32%; Brown 25%

ComRes: Cameron 37%; Clegg 35%; Brown 26%

Angus Reid: Cameron 37%; Clegg 29%; Brown 23%

Times/Populus: Cameron and Clegg 38%; Brown 25%

Guardian/ICM poll: Cameron 35%; Brown 29%; Clegg 27%

Sky News’ Instant Poll of Polls: Cameron 38%; Clegg 32%; Brown 26%

Coming into the debate, Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown needed to knock it out of the park, owing to mediocre performances in the previous two debates and his stunning Bigotgate gaffe on Wednesday.

The embattled leader seemed to recognize last night just how dire the straits are for Labour. During his closing statement, Brown said, “I know that if things stay as they are in, perhaps in eight days’ time, David Cameron, perhaps supported by Nick Clegg, would be in office.” (Notably, The Telegraph turned this little soundbite its headline today – “Tories on top, PM admits”.) Nevertheless, he tried to rally: “I don’t like having to do this, but I have to tell you that things are too important to be left to risky policies under these two people. They are not ready for government because they have not thought through their policies.”

Check out highlights from the debate on BBC‘s really handy interactive tool here.

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