Blair tries to steer focus away from Iraq

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday tried to move the election campaign away from Iraq as his Labour Party launched a last-minute offensive in key constituencies.

Mr Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown launched a final Bank Holiday blitz of key marginal seats in an attempt to shore up their vote ahead of Thursday's election.

The mini-tour, which took in four south-east seats taken by Labour for the first time in 1997, was used by Mr Blair to drive home his message that a protest vote for the Liberal Democrats could let the Tories in.

"What we have got to be careful of is people saying: 'Look at the opinion polls, it doesn't really matter if I drift off and vote for someone else'," said Mr Blair.

"There are three ways to get a Tory MP. One is to vote Tory, one is to stay home, one is to vote Liberal Democrat.

"Take nothing for granted. Unless people come out and vote Labour, it is a Tory government they will wake up to on May 6 and that would be a disaster for the country."

The warning was underlined by Labour's latest campaign poster which stated: "If one in 10 Labour voters don't vote, the Tories win."

Labour dreads that its supporters many of them angry at Mr Blair over the Iraq war will either fail to vote, or cast protest ballots for the Liberal Democrats, who opposed the war.

Political analysts say there remains a legion of undecided voters whose ballots could decide the outcome, not least in marginal constituencies.

Meanwhile, Michael Howard said he was "very, very confident" about a Conservative victory, as he accused Mr Blair of tying to "cling on to office."

The Tory leader unveiled an eight-point list of what a Conservative government would do, including setting tougher immigration controls.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy dismissed Labour claims that a vote for the Lib Dems could let the Conservatives back in to power "by the back door" as "utter rubbish."

"History will certainly judge Tony Blair on Iraq but first the British people will judge him on Thursday. And they will judge the Conservatives too.

"Tony Blair's judgment on the Iraq war was fatally flawed, but the Conservatives have been utterly incoherent, utterly opportunist and utterly flaky," said Mr Kennedy.