I think it was Kenneth Clarke who characterised the election campaign as a series of exchanges between three political leaders and an exclusive club of celebrity broadcasters. The Conservatives' former chancellor struck a chord. The election battlebuses have made way for helicopters, and the travelling circus of politicians and reporters for staged encounters between leaders and media stars. The morning press conferences are there so the journalists can strut their stuff for rolling news programmes. The politicians rehearse their lines, the broad-casters burnish their egos. Modern elections are made for television; and the inquisitors are as self-important as the politicians.

The consensus among this media elite is that the past few weeks have seen a scratchy campaign. None of the three main parties has woven a convincing narrative about how they would govern Britain during the next five years. Michael Howard's Tories have eschewed a prospectus for government in favour of an effort to mobilise popular grievances. Tony Blair has rested on Labour's economic record. The Liberal Democrats have resonated only in their opposition to the Iraq war.