Gordon says Yes to debate

Yesterday the news broke that Gordon Brown has agreed “in principle” (whatever that means) to a televised leaders debate.

This just confirms what we’ve all known for the past week or so when it was reported that the Prime Minister has made a decision but refused to announce it in his conference speech. The reason given was that he didn’t want it to overshadow his policy announcements. He neednt have worried since The Sun’s decision to back the Conservatives overshadowed it anyway.

But Gordon Brown delivering his decision doesn’t answer all the questions surrounding the proposed debates. Nigel Farage and Alex Salmond want in too. They are even threatening to take the ludicrous step of legal action.

The other day I raised the possibility of holding the three debates around the country, inviting a different ‘minor’ party to sit beside the main three in each one. Now I’m having second thoughts. If you let one minor party have a platform then they’re all going to want one. This is the problem with having more than two political parties. It’s probably easier to keep the debates confined to Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats – the parties that field candidates up and down the United Kingdom.