Tony Blair accused the Conservatives of "Basil Fawlty" economics yesterday.

In a speech to business leaders in Docklands, he said: "[The Tory party] promises to cut tax, spend more, borrow less - all at once ... It then promises to square it all by a 'savings' programme of £35bn. Under scrutiny it has fallen apart."

The prime minister said the Tory manifesto had virtually nothing to say about the economy.

"It is a very odd thing for someone like me, brought up with the idea that the Conservatives were always heard first on the economy, to see them now in the position of Basil Fawlty and the war," he said.

Labour will today campaign on its policies on childcare.

Interviewed in the Mirror, Blair says that "we have deliberately decided to help families with children".

"We have actually done quite a lot and we want to do more."

Talking about female voters, the prime minister says "they're volatile. They swing about quite a lot."

Speaking to the Telegraph, a Labour official says that internal polling has revealed that many voters had no idea Howard was ever a minister in a Tory government.

"When they are told or reminded that he was the minister who brought in the poll tax, they recoil. The effect is quite dramatic," the official said.

Meanwhile in an interview with today's Guardian Gordon Brown says he his battling to win the "schoolgate election", in which the economy is as much about childcare, maternity pay and flexible working as it is about statistics.