All over the news this morning Cameron doesn't want to participate in the GE debates unless the Greens are allowed in. Hypocritical, he was very keen to make sure Brown participated last time when Brown was there to be dismantled. He needs to grow some and get on with it.

Guardian comments -:



''Chicken. Simple solution, stick a lump of spam in a suit with a blue rosette, draw some eyes on it and transplant a cats anus where his mouth should be and no one will know the difference.''

Don't see the point of these debates tbh. We managed without them until 2010 and then it seemed to be that they were held at the behest of Sky. What purpose do they serve?

Including Farage will make it car crash tv, but why is he allowed in (with 2 MPs) when the Greens aren't (1 MP) and. for example, SNP aren't (6 MPs)?

Ratings fodder for the tv channels and although I suspect that Cameron has other motives behind his decision, this is one of the few things I agree with him on. One in, all in.

He's not "scared" much as I think he's an embarrassing k**b. All parties have their own agendae over this issue. What is absolutely clear is that if the LibDems and UKIP are to be included so should the Greens - they have done better than the LibDems in recent elections and they have the same / c. same number of MPs as UKIP. In this instance, it is all the others who are being hypocritical.

"Agendae"? The plural of agendum is agenda. This is what you get if ejukashun is dumbed down to the extent that Latin is no longer taught.

At least [iI agree with Nick[/i will be able to stick up for most conservative values.

Teached surely?

I can see why the SNP would be excluded. Same reason Plaid Cymru would be. Over 90% of the population of the UK can't vote for them.

I think the Greens should be in and I signed the petition. However while I don't agree with why they are being excluded (just how is Ofcom qualified to decide who is a major political party, they are a communications regulator?) what you can't have is any political party or party leader dictating who is on the panel.

That would undermine the editorial independence of the BBC. If the BBC invites him for him to say "no" because some other party is excluded means he can always use this excuse to avoid scrutiny.

It is also clear Cameron is a hypocrite and using this as an excuse to avoid debate given as mentioned by the O/P he had no such principles in 2010. He didn't give a stuff about the Green's being included then, he just wanted a pop at Gordon Brown.

I also think it is unacceptable that the PM is hiding behind this excuse as it means he isn't going to face scrutiny in a live debate. He is supposed to be answerable to us yet he (or Lynton Crosby more like) has dreamt up this excuse to avoid it. Not good enough.

It may be wrong for the Green's to be excluded but for the PM not to put himself up to scrutiny before a general election? Pathetic and unacceptable.

It would be great if they were included because despite his apparent altruistic calls for their inclusion they would rip him apart on the governments environmental record.

What was amusing was to hear Camoron at PMQs trying to spin the Green inclusion in the debates as being something that Labour doesn't want

I agree with that but on the basis that the entire population can vote Green, they should be in if UKIP are in. I'm not sure what the criteria are but up until 9 October last year UKIP had no seats in parliament so if that is the criteria they shouldn't even have been mentioned in this context until then (and the Greens should have been too)

I'm also perplexed as to why OFCOM is calling the shots

Equally amusing was Clegg to his right shouting "excuses, excuses"

Very poor of our so-called "unbiased" media not to rip Cameron to shreds over this.
Personally I think every national party who has an MP should be included in any tv debates which, despite my intense dislike of them and virtually everything they stand for, includes UKIP.

For once I agree with Cameron.

Personally, I don't see the point of the whole thing. Its just cheap point scoring and proves nothing and is little more than an extended version of Question Time, which itself is now little more than a joke.

However, if you are going to do it, you either include EVERYBODY (including the SNP, who could easily end up in a position of power themselves), or you simply have it between Cameron and Milliband, as these are seriously the only PM candidates and the only thing the viewing audience are wanting to see, is how any potential leader stands up in the public spotlight.

Agree 100%

I'm in company given the number of universities, schools, local authorities and even Italians who use the word. You need to distinguish between the idea of a piece of paper (our corrupted version of the word) and the Latin concept. Agendae being the feminine plural of agenda in the nomative.

I'm in company given the number of universities, schools, local authorities and even Italians who use the word. You need to distinguish between the idea of a piece of paper (our corrupted version of the word) and the Latin concept. Agendae being the feminine plural of agenda in the nomative.

As it is an election for the UK Parliament the SNP should be included even on English TV as they are likely to have a huge say in the running of the country post-election.

As it is an election for the UK Parliament the SNP should be included even on English TV as they are likely to have a huge say in the running of the country post-election.

I'm in company given the number of universities, schools, local authorities and even Italians who use the word. You need to distinguish between the idea of a piece of paper (our corrupted version of the word) and the Latin concept. Agendae being the feminine plural of agenda in the nomative.

At the end of the day these guys are answerable to us the electorate. I would have thought - if you believe you have a strong case - you would want a platform to tell as many people as possible about your stand point?

What is Cameron scared - surely not Ed for goodness sake. The one sure thing that will give the Tories an edge is to get Ed up there for everyone to see.

He should not have a choice he is a public servant at the end of the day.

He's nothing to fear from Ed but Farage will tear him a new one no doubt. So he's probably scared of having a live debate with the real leader of the Tories.

Green Party has more members than UKIP & will probably have more than the Lib Dems by the time you read this.

He will only have to face Farage in one of the three debates - so he should be able to fend him off. let's face it they spend all their time doing this.

Cameron would p1ss all over Farage in a live debate, if UKIP ever get around to publishing a manifesto that looks anything like their commitments from their September conference then the only question required would be "How are you going to pay for that and who is the person who has costed all this out?" On UKIP's two main reasons for being in existence Cameron has promised a referendum on EU membership so a draw on that debate and on immigration he consistently blames Labour and has promised to cut it back, no case to answer on that debate either both leaders are actually in agreement.

According to Chris Patten, [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30860010Cameron has everything to fear from debating with Miliband[/url