The order in which the party leaders will stand in this Thursday’s televised debate has been set as follows: Natalie Bennett, Nick Clegg, Nigel Farage, Ed Miliband, Leanne Wood, Nicola Sturgeon and David Cameron.
So Ed Miliband will be in the middle, and David Cameron and Nigel Farage will be sufficiently far apart from one another to thwart Ukip’s ambition for their leader to land a good run of blows on Cameron. Still, Farage is next to Miliband, which means he’ll have a chance to land some blows on the leader of a party he’s trying to take votes from too.
The standing order does matter a little, but what all the party leaders will be more worried about is how they use the very short amount of time they will have available to speak. Farage needs to come across as the most appealing insurgent in a room of insurgents. He will be debating alongside Nicola Sturgeon, probably the most formidable insurgent debater there, and could look less exciting by contrast.
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