Tories: Criticised for "narrow campaign"

Conservative campaign chief Lynton Crosby has called for discipline and unity as the election reaches a crucial stage.

The controversial Australian campaign manager, brought in by Michael Howard to toughen up Tory strategy, sought to boost morale in a memo to candidates published in the Guardian newspaper on Thursday.

He told his troops to ignore opinion polls showing their party behind, and focus instead on the "reality on the ground".

By "sticking to the message themes and campaign we have set out, we can be confident of achieving the result we want on May 5" Crosby claimed.

"At this stage... a lot happens. The media get bored and start to look for stories of division and disunity.

"Our opponents throw everything at us to distract our attention and focus from the issues that matter.

"National opinion polls are published nearly every day - some go up, some go down, some stay the same. None of them accurately reflect the reality on the ground.

"All this amounts to a difficult period of the campaign. Understandably, people are tired and it's easy to lose focus." 

Issues

The man who managed Australian prime minister John Howard's four election victories has been criticised for focusing too narrowly on issues such as crime and immigration in a negative campaign.

But he said the strategy will pay off if candidates can convince the electorate that the Tories do have solutions.

"The sad fact is that under Mr Blair the British public has become so cynical they think nothing can be done about crime, immigration, tax and health," he argued.

"They are angry about being lied to by Mr Blair for so long but aren't yet convinced anyone can make the difference."

Crosby concluded that private polling shows that the Conservatives are campaigning on the right lines, despite reports that some shadow ministers have complained that their platform is not broad enough.

Undecideds

However, he conceded that floating voters are not yet convinced.

"All the research we are doing shows us that people who have a clear view about the issues at stake in this election intend to vote Conservative," he said.

"Those who have no clear view have yet to be persuaded."

Labour's campaign co-ordinator Alan Milburn said: "The revelation of the Conservative campaign strategy tells us all Britain needs to know about Michael Howard's Conservative Party.

"We now know for certain that the Australian right-winger Mr Lynton Crosby is the man in charge of the Conservative campaign.

"It confirms the Conservative strategy is not to win this election on a positive programme for government but to try to win power by the backdoor by appealing to people simply to 'send Mr Blair a message'."