FINAL U.K. TV DEBATE; PRIME MINISTER LOSES

More than eight million viewers tuned in to the BBC Thursday night to watch the third and final debate between the leaders of Britain’s three major parties, the Labor Party’s Gordon Brown, the Conservatives’ David Cameron, and the Liberal Democrats’ Nick Clegg. The number was down from the 9.4 million who watched the first debate, carried by ITV two weeks ago, but Thursday’s debate aired opposite ITV’s Coronation Street, one of Britain’s, longest-running and most-popular shows. Its ratings were down as well — to 6.7 million. It generally averages more than 8 million. Today’s (Friday) London newspapers all agreed that Cameron appeared to be the clear winner. Brown, the current prime minister, suffered a new blow to his campaign earlier this week when he forgot to remove a wireless microphone he was wearing at a photo op. Entering his limousine, he spoke disparagingly of one of the women he had been photographed with, calling her a bigot. The remarks were picked up by television crews, forcing Brown to publicly and privately apologize to the woman later.