Downing Street declines to provide a minister for tonight's special edition of BBC Question Time

By Tim Montgomerie
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There is a special edition of BBC1's Question Time tonight - at 10.35pm. There'll be six panel members...

1. John Prescott
2. Brian Paddick
3. Camila Batmanghelidjh
4. John Sentamu
5. Fraser Nelson
6. David Davis

My understanding is that QT repeatedly asked for a minister but Downing Street said no. Now obviously Fraser Nelson and David Davis are right-of-centre but will they be in a position to defend every aspect of government policy? Both, for example, oppose government policy on prisons. I think both would rather spend more money on the police than, say, overseas aid. Both are also pretty civil libertarian and won't fully agree with the PM's more hawkish position on CCTV.

If, at times in the programme, the Coalition is left with no panelist defending its policies, it will only have itself to blame.

Friday morning update

It wasn't just Question Time...