Every time you think this election cannot possibly get any weirder, the screwball waltzer takes another crazy turn. The latest political fool stepping onto the fairground ride is Michael Gove.

Last night’s leaders’ line-up on Channel 4 was the first such debate dedicated solely to the environment. Boris Johnson declined to take part and his place at the podium was taken by a melting ice sculpture.

A smart move or a childish stunt? Oh, your view on that will probably depend on the shape of your ice-cube tray. A touch juvenile, I’d say, but no less than Johnson deserved for ducking such an important debate.

Nigel Farage, who also declined to attend, was replaced by a piece of ice, too. But we don’t need to talk about Farage, as his support is falling away like a doomed iceberg – for which you can thank your icy stars.

Relations between the Tories and Channel 4 were reported to be, well, chilly all day yesterday. This ended in Gove, a former environment secretary, arriving at the Channel 4 studios with his own Tory propaganda camera crew in tow.

A short film on available on Twitter shows Gove receiving the traditional welcome from the crowd – “Liar, liar!”. He then enters the building to do his best courteous thug act. He asks if he could represent the Conservatives in this debate. “We’re weren’t expecting you,” says a Channel 4 bigwig.

Foot shuffling ensues, before Gove is told he cannot take part as he doesn’t lead his party – despite, it is worth observing, his best backstabbing efforts. Gove goes outside, points his pout at the hired camera crew and puts on a hurt voice (think homicidal teddy bear, and you won’t be far wrong).

Even more batshit crazy, Boris Johnson’s father Stanley did turn up, saying that Gove “would have made a big, big contribution”.

Well, maybe, senior sunshine. But he was more intent on causing a “big, big” political stink by pulling another of those grubby stunts his party loves. Never mind the manifesto, this election is being winged by malign trickery (most but not all of it committed by the Tories).

The Conservatives then made threatening noises about reviewing Channel 4’s public service broadcasting remit if they win the election. It’s up for review anyway, but those noises still sounded thuggish.

A Conservative spokesman, Lee Cain, is reported to have written to Ocfom demanding an investigation. Hang on while I consult my headache. It was the Tory leader who declined to take part in this debate. They sent along a gatecrasher instead, then complained bitterly about political bias as a man who isn’t the leader was turned away from a leaders’ debate. My headache is lost for words.

The party also complained that Channel 4 connived with Jeremy Corbyn, who had turned up.

Will people be fooled by this chicanery? Quite possibly as on BBC Look North last night in another of those vox-pops – please make them go away ­– a Labour-supporting woman from Barnsley said she was voting Tory “because Labour had been stopping Brexit”.

Labour’s position may be muddled, but they weren’t stopping Brexit – no one was. Brexit was beginning to make its way through parliament until Boris Johnson pulled out at the last minute, conniving this nasty election instead.

You know, the one marked on his side by fake Twitter accounts. Dodgy websites pretending to display the Labour manifesto. News footage manipulated to make it appear that shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer hadn’t answered a question when he had. And now faked-up Facebook ads misusing quotes from BBC news presenters.

Don’t you long for the days when the parties tried to win the argument with decent debate instead of fooling the people? Maybe such a time never existed, but everything seems to have turned much dirtier.