Now that the general election campaign is under way, the eyes of Britain will be on Brighton and Hove Not only has the city by the sea three extremely marginal seats but it also has in Brighton Pavilion the only Green MP in Caroline Lucas.

Brighton dares to be different. It used to be so Tory that it entered the Guinness Book of Records for having the biggest ever majority.

Until 1950, Brighton and Hove was one constituency but with two MPs. In 1931, Tories won by more than 60,000 votes.

One of the defeated Labour candidates, Lewis Cohen, quipped: “I demand a recount.”

He was never elected despite several further attempts but achieved more than most MPs in founding the Alliance Building Society and using his great wealth to help poor people.

Brighton Kemptown also entered the record books, this time for the number of recounts – seven – needed to confirm Dennis Hobden had won in 1964 by seven votes. It was the first time Labour had ever gained a seat in Sussex.

Hove remained a byword for Conservatism until 1997. Watching early results on TV, Tony Blair saw it had gone Labour and remarked: “Now I know I have won.”

Since then in so many ways Brighton has become the resort that is not like any of the others. It was there that thousands of people told the 2001 census that on religion they were Jedi Knights.

Always a gay town, Brighton has made being alternative into an art form. And only Edinburgh can rival the coastal city for its commitment to the arts.

Some fear the next five weeks of electioneering will be dull. Not in Brighton and Hove they won’t. There are contests to savour in all three seats.

Most intriguing of all is Brighton Pavilion where the Greens wisely concentrated their energies in 2010 to win the seat.

They will put a similar effort into holding the seat as well as winning a few others in places like Bristol and Norwich.

Gains may be beyond them but they are registering more than a blip on the opinion polls and they could have an influence on the results in several seats.

One of them is Kemptown where they are likely to eat into the Labour vote much more than that of Tory Simon Kirby.

Ukip will not find Brighton favourable but could pick up more votes in Hove from Tory Graham Cox rather than from Labour’s Peter Kyle.

There is also a hefty Liberal Democrat vote to be squeezed in Hove and more of it is likely to go Labour than Conservative.

Both the main parties are fielding excellent candidates in Hove. Graham Cox belongs to a long line of caring coppers who have replaced their top police jobs with Conservative politics. Peter Kyle has both social and business skills.

The crucial factors here could be how many votes the energetic maverick Christopher Hawtree can gather for the Greens, which could dent Labour, and whether Tory votes will be lost because popular MP Mike Weatherley has stepped down through ill health.

In Kemptown, Simon Kirby has built up a personal vote which will help in a tight contest as long serving MP Sir Andrew Bowden proved several times in his 27 years.

The personal vote will also benefit Caroline Lucas in a three-cornered fight. Many people will vote for her as MP but not for Green councillors.

And for all the negative words that have been written about the council, there are still thousands of people who applaud its radical spirit.

Labour, which never should have let Pavilion slip out of its grip, will fight harder this time. The Tory campaign has been lacklustre but there are still scores of Conservatives in every suburban shrubbery.

My colleague Tim Ridgway says predictions make you look silly. He is quite right, so here goes.

Caroline Lucas will win Pavilion with an increased majority. Peter Kyle will scrape home for Labour in Hove and Simon Kirby will retain Kemptown for the Conservatives.

Anything could happen nationally in the next five weeks to wreck those forecasts and locally Brighton and Hove is always capable of springing surprises.

It doesn’t take much in these days of instant communication through social media to start a bandwagon rolling and a charismatic candidate with new ideas could add to unpredictable politics in the city that refuses to be conventional.