Blair, Howard, Kennedy set for pre-election 'Question Time'

The leaders of the three major political parties will appear together in a special edition of Question Time one week before the General Election.

Tony Blair, Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy will be the guests in the live debate on April 28, which will air in a primetime slot on BBC One.

The news follows the Prime Minister's earlier confirmation of Thursday, May 5 as the polling date.

Blair has consistently resisted Howard's call for TV duels like those carried out during the US presidential elections.

The three leaders will appear consecutively in the 90-minute special, each facing a grilling from the same studio audience.

"We did talk about a [head-to-head] debate but it became perfectly clear that particularly Labour had no interest," BBC News controller Helen Boaden told the Media Guardian.

Ric Bailey, executive editor of Question Time, added that an agreement had not yet been reached over who would appear first.

"We haven't been talking to the leaders all that long," he said. "We came up with the proposals and we got a tacit agreement. A lot of the detail and the choreography has got to be sorted out but they will appear live on the same programme."

Source: DigitalSpy.co.uk

If the BBC are being impartial, surely they can't simply stop at three party leaders?

I think it is because based on election results these are the 3 main political parties.

Oh come on, be realistic. You wouldn't have a table big enough if you had a representative from all the parties standing at the upcoming election. A line has to be drawn somewhere, and I'm happy with where it is.

Of course in the nations there will also be focus on the main political parties there.

The technical term is "bias toward incumbents".

In which case, Plaid and the SNP should also be there, at a bare minimum.

What about the Official Monster Raving Loony Party?

how many seats do they hold? none ... well there's your answer.

If we field 50 candidates or more, we're entitled to a party political broadcast - we should be entitled to a bit extra telly time. We're the only palatable option to the electorate after all.... we're going to close the M25 for starters!

http://www.answers.com/topic/official-monster-raving-loony-party

as i have said before - you often find that people who claim to be *wacky* (or in this case loony), are usually quite the opposite.