Natalie Bennett (Green): Natalie Bennett started very well for the Greens but she did seem to tire somewhat and fade into the background in the second half. A sincere and solid performance and one without a recurrence of the 'brain fade'' which blighted her famous radio interview on LBC Radio. But, to my mind, her performance lacked passion and spark. Caroline Lucas should have done the debate - she's just a much more natural and charismatic speaker.
David Cameron (Tory): David Cameron’s overall performance? Well, dear oh dear, he was just awful. Veering between mechanically-rehearsed soundbites and jumpy protestation, you could tell from the opening seconds that he wanted to be elsewhere. His down-the-nose patrician tone when discussing opponents was off-putting, his denials of plain reality made him seem unsettlingly deluded, and some of his logic was definitely flakey. Stuck in the past, he delivered continuous and monotonous rhetoric on blunders made by the previous New Labour government. Just in case you didn't get it after seemingly hundreds of repetitions, he's the man with the plan. Bully for him. But he'd be unwise to plan getting my vote.
Nick Clegg (LibDem): Nick Clegg is a natural at this sort of event and from the start his strategy was to distance himself and the LibDems from most of the coalition nasties. It was them, not us. It didn't work and too often he got involved in playground squabbles with Cameron. I just don't think he understands what's happened to him - a busted flush in action, I'm afraid.
Nigel Farage (UKIP): TV pictures did him no favours with him looking sweaty and flustered throughout, but as ever, he came across smug, callous and expounding his usual one-size-fits-all approach to politics (Austerity? Stuck in traffic? The NHS in trouble? Blame immigration. Looking for the crock of gold at the end of the rainbow? It'll be there when we leave the EU) For some inexplicable reason he went off on a tangential tirade targeting HIV patients who apparently exploit our NHS to its virtual destruction. Totally unnecessary but Numpty-Nige just never thinks things through, does he?
Ed Milliband (Labour): Ed Miliband, still hampered by a speaking voice that lacks power, came through with some credit, but not enough, I feel, to swing many voters. He had obviously been trained to within an inch of his life and it worked - sort of. But I did find the manic stares into the camera and the forced smiles very off-putting. At least we did not get another "hell, yes" moment. And for that I was truly thankful.
Nicola Sturgeon (SNP): She clearly did the SNP’s hopes a lot of good with a very strong performance. When she claimed there was nothing Nigel Farage would not blame on foreigners, his expression suggested she had pressed a raw nerve. If only Ed Milliband had talked with such eloquence about left-of-centre policies. She was the best performer according to a YouGov poll and it left me thinking that there could have been a victory for the Yes vote in the Scottish independence referendum if she had become SNP leader earlier.
Leanne Wood (Plaid Cymru): Some say that Leanne Wood came across as a bit too Wales-centric but she deserves great credit for the best-delivered closing statement of the night. Nice but amateurish? But she did what no other leader had the balls to do directly when she delivered a killer blow to Nigel Farage, chiding him "You ought to be ashamed of yourself" when he complained about foreigners with HIV receiving free treatment on the NHS. She warned him that his comments were "dangerous" and "dividing communities". Coming straight from the heart, it was a powerful moment. And I'm a sucker for a Valley accent.
One final observation: we had four men seeking power and three women seeking change. We had four political automatons in suits and three human beings in skirts. I know which cohort came out on top.
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