Smith: 'It's the public services stupid'

Former Cabinet member Chris Smith has said the Conservatives have been allowed to "dictate the focus" of the election campaign.

He also called for Gordon Brown to move centre stage in the campaign.

Smith, who was culture secretary until 2001, warned his party's leadership to remember "it's public services stupid", if they hoped to win an historic third term.

Speaking to ePolitix.com, Smith said: "I think the party has identified the right issues to fight the election campaign on, but in a way that has allowed the Tories to dictate the focus too much.

"The election, when it comes, will be fought absolutely on the issue of investment in public services.

"The fight should be between the government's record on investing in health, education, public safety, transport and so on, and what's on offer from the Tories, which would inevitably involve cuts in investment.

"That is the basic battleground of the election that we need to get that across."

Echoing former President Bill Clinton, Smith added that for this election "'it's the public services stupid".

He said that "is the core issue that has to be at the heart of this campaign".

"The more we can get back to emphasising that as the clear difference between the two major parties as the thing that will determine the shape of British society, the quality of British society, the better," he added.

Brown and Milburn

When asked about the chancellor's diminished role in the election campaign he urged the party to make the most of all its talents.

"There is plenty of available talent. The two prime examples of that talent are Gordon Brown and Alan Milburn and I hope we will see both of them operating at full effect at to full capacity in the campaign," Smith told this website.

"There has been a lot of smoke and shrapnel flying around, mostly manufactured by the press, but so long as some of these major figures, who have a lot to contribute to this campaign and to a government, are up there in the public eye then I am happy."

Smith went on to say that he regarded investment in public services "more important" than the kind of "choice agenda" being talked about by Blair

Asked why Brown had not appeared more frequently on the campaign trail, Smith replied: "He is preparing a Budget remember. A Budget, I suspect, which will form a centrepiece of the subsequent campaign."