PM must face up to debates

David Cameron declared he wouldn't take part unless the Greens were included. He was immediately accused of running scared by opponents and Tory peer Lord Tebbit (with friends like these...)

Cameron tried to save face by playing the democratic card, arguing if minority parties such as the Lib Dems and UKIP were allowed to take part in a live TV debate before the nation, then the Greens should be permitted too.

Suspicious? You have every right to be. If Cameron truly wanted all minor parties represented, he should be opening the floor to the Scottish and Welsh nationalists as well as Northern Irish politicians (not to mention Al Murray who has just announced his comic alter ego Pub Landlord will challenge Nigel Farage in the election).

So it's safe to assume Cameron is running scared. And with good reason. He has the most to lose. As Prime Minister, he will be on the defensive from the off, having to defend his record over the past five years from all directions.

Bad enough he has to face Ed Miliband accusing him of plans to privatise the NHS and Nick Clegg putting the case for a fairer approach to deficit reduction, there will also be Nigel Farage opening the Pandora's Box that is immigration and EU membership.

It's no wonder he'd rather sit at home in his slippers, supping cocoa and watching a box set (Game of Thrones seems fitting).

It was so different five years ago when Cameron was super keen to go head to head with the then PM Gordon Brown, inviting Clegg along to make up the numbers. Together they made history. It was the first televised debate between leaders ahead of a general election in the UK.

And remember what happened? After endless "I agree with Nick" statements from Cameron and Brown in the first debate, the Lib Dem leader was declared the winner. If there was a loser, it was the lacklustre Labour leader who seemed tragically lacking any of the passion we saw him display in the Scottish referendum campaign.

So the lesson from 2010 tells us to beware of newcomers. Considering Cameron is already scared Farage may damage Tory election prospects on May 7, you can see why it might suit "call me Dave" to find an excuse to avoid a televised grilling alongside the kippers.

There's another lesson, this time from a bit further back. In 1964, the then Labour leader Harold Wilson first mooted the idea of a televised leaders debate, but Tory PM Alec Douglas-Home would have no truck with it. However, once Wilson was Prime Minister, he lost all enthusiasm for a TV debate, despite an invitation from Tory challenger Ted Heath.

So Cameron's reluctance is nothing novel and if anything enhances our suspicion that he is "frit" that he will come off badly.

This is understandable, but no good for democracy. It is wrong to say the public are disinterested, distanced and disenfranchised from politics – they just need to be engaged and they need to see that decision making matters. The energy and enthusiasm that swept Scotland last year in the independence campaign showed that the public do care when the issues are deemed to be important.

Granted the decision whether Scotland should break away from the union was pretty momentous, but what fired voters up was the fact there were two opposing camps putting up a proper fight with different views.

This is a good enough reason to include the smaller parties in the TV debates (and remember it is only one of the three that UKIP et al are being invited to join, the first is to be between Cameron and Miliband; in the second they will be joined by Clegg).

A TV debate could give the public a rare chance to hear the views of parties outside the mainstream, where they can judge for themselves whether they make sense or not. It is also an opportunity to see our leaders stand by themselves, shorn of spin doctors and having to think and speak on their feet.

My solution? Make them compulsory, then Cameron will have no excuses but to take part.