Britain's political leaders are going head to head — to head to head to head to head to head — in a seven-way debate before a May 7 national election.
Britain's Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband will go up against Prime Minister David Cameron and five other party leaders in Thursday's election debate. (Chris Radburn/Associated Press)
Britain's political landscape is at its most fragmented in decades. And Thursday's showdown includes Prime Minister David Cameron of the Conservatives, main opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband and chiefs of the centrist Liberal Democrats, right-wing U.K. Independence Party, Welsh and Scottish nationalists and Greens.
They'll have two hours to sway voters, who currently look set to deny any party a parliamentary majority.
"Obviously there will be seven leaders on the stage and it is a debate, but the most important people tonight are not the six other leaders, not the moderator, but the British people at home," Miliband said.
The format gives each leader a brief introductory speech, followed by four sections in which they will answer questions from a studio audience, with strict time limits on each response.
Cameron is centering his re-election campaign on Britain's recovering economy, and will try to sound confident and in control. He's widely seen as having the most to lose, and refused to appear in a two-way debate with Miliband.
Miliband, often criticized as cerebral and awkward, will try to appear both human and tough, while Clegg hopes to convince voters that his party still has a distinct identity after five years in a coalition government with the Conservatives.
For the four smaller-party leaders this is the main chance to address a national TV audience.
British Prime Minister David Cameron is focusing his re-election campaign. (Leon Neal/Associated Press)
UKIP has made major inroads with a core message of leaving the European Union and restricting immigration, but has been criticized for having few other policies. Leader Nigel Farage will try to show that he is a major political player.
Nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party and Leanne Wood of Plaid Cymru — Welsh for the Party of Wales — will vow to deliver more power for their regions, and potentially play kingmakers if the election result is close.
Natalie Bennett of the Green Party — which has just one seat out of 650 in the House of Commons — will try to show that her party has policies on issues beyond the environment.
Debates, a relatively new phenomenon in British politics, can transform a campaign. In 2010, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's performance sparked a wave of "Clegg-mania" that sent his poll ratings soaring. On polling day the party took a quarter of votes, and Clegg became deputy prime minister.
But Britain's first-past-the post electoral system makes it hard to translate popularity into seats in the House of Commons. Clegg's Lib Dems won more votes in 2010 than in the previous election, but still ended up with fewer seats — though they still held the balance of power in a divided Commons.
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