Labour: Bidding for core support

Tony Blair has warned voters against letting Michael Howard into Downing Street by default.

The prime minister said there was "only one party now offering a serious programme for government" and urged Labour voters to turn out on Thursday.

Senior Labour sources fear that a combination of apathy and defection to the Liberal Democrats could result in the Conservatives coming through the middle in many key marginal constituencies.

They also fear that Labour's headline poll lead is masking a deteriorating situation on the ground.

Number 10

Speaking to party members in the marginal Watford constituency, Blair said Howard could get into Downing Street "through the back door".

"There is a reason why today both parties, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, want to go back and talk about Iraq rather than the other issues," he said.

"I want to say this very directly to the British people. They are carrying on talking about Iraq because they have nothing whatever to say on the economy, the health service, schools, law and order."

He said the Conservatives were "without any strategy to get into Downing Street through the front door".

"Their strategy is not actually to go in by the front door. Their strategy is to hope that in seats like Watford, that what happens is people stay at home, or hope that they might vote Lib Dem, the Tory vote holds up and they go in by the back door," said Blair.