Not that an election is a disappointment, of course. July. Not much chance of rain, so Labour won't be slaughtered for that reason at least. I'm probably still too heady to realise, but what's the 'obvious difference' in the debates this time? Two parties speaking from a position of government (but not really, as it's C+F, not coalition)?
I'm actually wondering how many people will see it coming. Someone is bound to highlight it. Afterwards, of course, it'll seem so totally obvious.
I think I know...
A couple of snippets from The Fourth Lectern
From A Highly Unusual Election, by Greg Callus
The ruling that the debates would consist of “the leaders of parties standing in a majority of seats, who already have representation in the House of Commons” was widely agreed to have been phrased very carefully to ensure the exclusion of the BNP, despite the official argument that it restricted the floor to only those Party Leaders with a real (however miniscule) chance of winning a majority at the General Election. The SNP and Plaid Cymru were loudly annoyed and the BNP were up in arms about it.
CCHQ, 0500 - 0615
Andy Coulson
...
I ignored us failing to take Brentford & Isleworth because the result from Brighton Pavilion was in. It was official – Caroline Lucas had taken it for the Greens, with a majority of over two thousand.
“Christ”, said a staffer near the front. “They’ll need five lecterns next time!”.
There was a moment of absolute silence and then we all cracked up. You know what it’s like when you’ve been tense for hours, you’re exhausted and excited simultaneously and then someone says something that just sets you off? And it sparks everyone? Well, this was that for us. Howls of laughter, way beyond what the crack merited. It took us a couple of minutes to settle down and even then we could be set giggling again by anyone saying “FIVE lecterns?”. By the end of it, we had postulated an SNP alliance with the English Democrats so they could claim they were standing in more than half of UK seats, Griffin winning in Barking and even Dr Taylor getting a movement to stand in another three hundred and twenty four seats. The Eight Lecterns.
So, assuming they can field the candidates and I believe they can, the current rules would require a fifth lectern for Caroline Lucas.
Am I right?
Edit: Damn it, beaten to the punch due to the need to show my working.