Labour is to run its general election campaign from offices next door to the new Tory headquarters on Victoria Street.

Fraser Kemp, Labour's deputy election co-ordinator tells the Times that the offices will be separated by only a Starbucks coffee bar.

"There are relatively few places in Westminster which suit our purposes," he says.

Kemp also adds that Labour is studying John Kerry's failed US presidential bid.

"One of the lessons perhaps is that you must have a crystal-clear message, which you repeat and repeat until you are sick of saying it," the MP says.

"In Hartlepool we put out the same leaflet for four weeks of the campaign."