THE BRITISH election campaign became personal yesterday, with senior Tories accusing Labour leader Tony Blair of telling "bare-faced despicable lies" and making "scurrilous and outrageous" claims. Labour counterattacked, suggesting Mr Major's campaign was now "desperate" and "cracking up" in the face of defeat.
With a week to polling day, Labour's position in the latest opinion polls indicates that its lead is essentially holding, though falling slightly. Today's London Independent gives Labour an 18 per cent lead over the Tories, while Gallup in the Daily Telegraph puts the party 16 per cent ahead, a drop of four points on the previous day's Gallup rolling day-to-day poll.
Both polls are sharply at variance with an ICM poll for the Guardian, which on Wednesday said Labour's lead had shrunk to just five points.
Today's polls will therefore bring relief to Labour, which last night was subjected to sustained criticism by senior Tories, including the Prime Minister. The Conservative chairman, Dr Brian Mawhinney, led the way with a personal attack on Mr Blair's credibility. He called the Labour leader a liar eight times during one press conference and accused him of "reeling off a litany of Labour smears, scares and lies" and being evasive.
The Health Secretary, Mr Stephen Dorrell, joined in.
He squirmed on Panorama. He spluttered on Dimbleby. He smirked on GMTV," said Mr Dorrell. "Once again this morning we saw how he panicked when faced with serious questions. A rabbit caught in the headlights looks positively relaxed when compared with Mr Blair answering a question on economics. The tougher the questioning, the more he panics. The more he panics, the more he tells lies, telling bare-faced despicable lies."
However, Labour immediately launched its counterattack, suggesting the Tories were "resorting to abuse" because they had nothing new to say and had already lost the argument.
The Shadow National Heritage secretary, Dr Jack Cunningham. said Dr Mawhinney's outburst proved the Tory campaign was in disarray and the hierarchy was now in "total panic".
In an unscripted speech, Mr Blair pleaded with voters not to re-elect "the same old Tories" who, he claimed, would introduce VAT on food, children's clothes and other essentials, abolish state pensions, and break up the National Health Service
"The choice is very simple. You either wake up on May 2nd to the same old Tories who have got away with everything they wanted to, or a new start under Labour. The same old Tories, with their sleaze, damage to pensions, law and order, and damaging the future of our young people or new hope under Labour. That is the choice," he said.
However, the Prime Minister, Mr John Major, countered by producing a hit-list of tax rises which he suggested Labour would introduce in a summer budget, costing the average household £640 sterling over two years, to fund its policies.
Although Mr Major denounced Labour's claims that they would abolish the state pension as "absolutely scurrilous," and insisted he would not put VAT on food, he avoided ruling out any additions to VAT on children's clothes and books.
"Over the last few days they have made repeated assertions that the government would impose VAT on food. They know it to be untrue and yet they have said it again and again, and secondly, even more scurrilous in my judgment, they have made the assertion that the government would damage the state retirement pension when yet again they know that charge to be totally and utterly without foundation.
"In plain terms they are lies," said Mr Major.