Parties: Focusing on tactics

Michael Howard has renewed his assault on the prime minister's "lies", while Labour and the Liberal Democrats have criticised the negative tactics adopted by the Conservatives.

As the election campaign descended into bitter personal accusations, the Conservatives intensified their attacks on Tony Blair's honesty.

The Opposition launched a poster campaign showing Blair's face alongside the words: "If he's prepared to lie to take us to war, he's prepared to lie to win an election."

And subverting Labour's latest election slogan, the poster adds: "If you value the truth, vote for it."

The prime minister said he was not worried by the personal attacks, but would instead "carry on talking about the issues that matter to the hard working families".

And Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said the Tories were the "losing team".

The row came as the latest MORI opinion poll in the FT put Labour on 36 per cent, just two points ahead of the Tories among those certain to vote. The Lib Dems were on 23 per cent.

But with Labour voters less inclined to turn out on May 5 than their Conservative counterparts, the success of tactics adopted to motivate supporters could hold the key to victory in marginal seats across the country.

Howard's attack

Speaking to the Times on Wednesday, Howard stepped up his attacks on the prime minister's integrity.

The Conservative leader said he had once had a "very high respect" for Blair but now regarded him as "a liar".

"What lowers the level of politics is the extent to which politicians don't speak plainly and tell the truth as they see and the extent to which politicians pussyfoot around in what they do and what they say," he added.

"Trust and character are important aspects of this campaign."

And speaking at a press conference in Edinburgh, Howard defended his use of personal attacks.

Howard pointed to Labour posters which had similarly attacked his character.

"The message that I think people should send to Mr Blair is 'we've had enough of your broken promises, we've had enough of your talk, we've had enough of you'," he added.

Pressed by reporters, he added: "I'm not aware of any occasion where I have knowingly or deliberately misled people."

Labour response

Labour has criticised the negative Conservative advertisements.

But the party has also launched a personal attack poster of its own.

It shows a sleeping Michael Howard dreaming of charging people for hospital operations, and underneath his pillow is a secret document entitled the 'Tory hidden agenda'.

"Vote Labour. Or wake up with Michael Howard," the poster adds.

And a Labour party political broadcast highlighting Howard's record in government, including his introduction of the poll tax, is also set to be broadcast on Wednesday.

Delivering a speech on Labour's education policy, the prime minister said he would not be distracted from domestic issues, but hit out at the Tory campaign.

"First, they produce an economic plan so inept, so obvious in its risks to the country's hard-won stability that they, once the party of the economy, now can't talk about it," Blair said.

"Then they try to make immigration the single election issue, in a profoundly unpleasant way.

"Finally, when that fails, they turn to personal attacks on me.

"My response? I will carry on talking about the issues that matter to the hard-working families of this country - the economy, the NHS, our schools, law and order.

"I don't care in the least about the Tory attacks on my character. I do care about the future of this country."

Negative campaign

And overlooking his party's own adverts, Labour campaign chief Alan Milburn told the BBC that the Conservatives are at fault for running a negative campaign.

"They think their only hope of winning is to play a relentlessly negative, grievance-based, protest campaign in the hope that they don't win by the front door but by the back door," he said.

"They are now into this phase where, I think as a final act of desperation, because their economic plan has disintegrated under pressure, their immigration plan has disintegrated under pressure, they're now playing dead because they think that's the best hope of staying alive."

Labour suspect the Tories have imported the so called Queensland strategy from Australia in which the underdog suggests it cannot win and calls on the electorate to register a protest vote against the incumbent and thereby, if successful, winning a surprise victory.

Lib Dems

The Liberal Democrat leader sought to distance himself from the negative tactics being employed by his opponents.

Speaking at a party press conference, Kennedy said that the Conservatives were "falling back on the most negative form of personal campaigning" to shore up their vote.

"What they get up to is a matter for them. They are the losing team," he said.

Kennedy added that he would not accuse the prime minister of being a liar.

"I've not used that particular four-letter word. I'm not persuaded it's guaranteed to be true," he said.

The Lib Dem chief said he thought the prime minister "was sincere in his views at the time".

"And I feel he was wrong in his views and political judgment," he added.

"That's how we've approached it from start to finish, I'm not about to change that fundamental judgment."