This is one for the diary. Next Tuesday, at 10.30am, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg will sit down in a Commons committee room, side by side, and take questions together about diversity in parliament. Given that they sometimes give the impression that they can't stand each other's company, it should be a hoot.
The hearing has been arranged by the Speaker's conference, a special committee set up by Michael Martin (or Lord Martin, as he is now – he took his seat in the upper house about half an hour ago) to consider ways of getting more female, ethnic minority and disabled candidates into parliament. It's been sitting for almost a year, and it has even published an interim report, but so far its work has not attracted much attention. Tuesday's session should change all that.
John Bercow, the Speaker, will chair the meeting, although he won't be asking any questions himself. He'll leave it to the other members.
The session will last an hour. There does not seem to be any precedent for the prime minister and main opposition leaders being quizzed together in this way but, with a televised election debate in the offing, this could be seen as a dry run. Brown, Cameron and Clegg will not be debating with each other as such, but it will be fascinating to watch as they all compete for the upper hand.
