Farage bookies' favourite to win TV election debate

Nigel Farage is the bookmakers' favourite to win Thursday night's televised seven-way leaders debate - the only event in which David Cameron will go head-to-head with his rivals.

Mr Cameron's allies are hoping that the two-hour ITV debate will become a political slanging match, illustrating his argument that the UK general election next month could produce a messy and unstable result.

The format - the result of protracted wrangling between the broadcasters and Number 10 - will give an invaluable platform to the leaders of smaller parties, including the UK Independence party's Mr Farage.

Ukip has been slipping in opinion polls in recent weeks but Mr Farage showed in televised Europe debates with Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg last year that his populist style can be highly effective.

William Hill makes Mr Farage the 13/8 favourite to be voted the "best" leader in the debate in snap polls to be published immediately after the end of the debate at 10pm on Thursday.

Green leader Natalie Bennett, Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood, Nicola Sturgeon for the SNP and Mr Clegg will also join Mr Cameron and Labour's Ed Miliband for the event in Salford.

Mr Cameron, who gave a lacklustre performance in last week's televised interrogation by Jeremy Paxman, has been taking part in dress rehearsals with Tory colleagues playing the role of his rivals.

Mr Miliband has been played by Rupert Harrison, George Osborne's chief adviser, Mr Clegg by health secretary Jeremy Hunt, while Mr Cameron's Scottish adviser Andrew Dunlop took the role of Ms Sturgeon.

Mr Cameron has been lucky in the drawing of lots before the debate; he will stand at the end of the leaders' line-up - some distance from Mr Farage - and will have the final word in the closing statements.

Meanwhile Mr Miliband, who put on a combative show in his grilling by Mr Paxman last week, may find the seven-way format more challenging.

The Labour leader will find himself in the unusual position of being attacked from the left: Ms Bennett, Ms Wood and Ms Sturgeon all claim to be ideological partners in a Green/Nationalist "progressive alliance".

Ms Bennett, the Green leader, will speak first in the debate and will be hoping to erase from the public mind some of her recent media performances, when she forgot key aspects of party policy.

Meanwhile Mr Clegg's return to Manchester comes five years after he burst on to the political scene in the first of three televised elections before the 2010 campaign; the resulting "Cleggmania" is now a distant memory.

The debate will be hosted by ITV News's Julie Etchingham and will be broadcast between 8pm and 10pm. The leaders will make short opening and closing statements and will address questions raised by the studio audience.

Immediately following the debate ComRes and ITV will release the results of a specially commissioned snap poll, revealing viewers' first verdicts on the leaders' performances.

The debate will be the last time Mr Cameron will appear in a televised debate with his opponents. Later in the campaign Mr Miliband will join the leaders of the smaller parties for a "challengers' debate" which will exclude Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg.

A week before polling day there will be a BBC Question Time special featuring separate appearances by Mr Cameron, Mr Miliband and Mr Clegg.

© The Financial Times Limited 2015. All rights reserved.
FT and Financial Times are trademarks of the Financial Times Ltd.
Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
Euro2day.gr is solely responsible for providing this translation and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation