The British Conservative Party has been dealt an embarrassing pre-election blow with the resignation of deputy chairman Howard Flight, who said the party was hiding the scale of proposed spending cuts.
Today's departure of Flight was seen as a major setback for Tory leader Michael Howard, who has made much of the running in pre-campaign skirmishes before a election widely expected on May 5.British Prime Minister Tony Blair is favoured in opinion polls to land an unprecedented third term, and was quick to pounce and make political capital out of Conservative disarray.Flight helped set up a Conservative savings review under David James which claimed they could save 35 billion pounds in government spending by tackling waste.Labour said that would mean the Conservatives slashing spending on health and education, two of the most sensitive issues for voters.Flight stepped down after The Times newspaper obtained a recording of him telling supporters that the scale of cuts was being concealed because "whatever the fine principles, you have to win an election first.""The potential for getting better taxpayer value is a good bit greater than the James findings which have been sieved for what is politically acceptable," Flight added.He was recorded as saying that some Conservative proposals were "nakedly political." After an election, he said: "you can actually get on with what needs to be done."Flight, the Conservatives' special envoy to the City of London financial district, said in a statement after stepping down that he regretted his choice of words which he said did not accurately reflect his party's position.But Labour election supremo Alan Milburn said: "This is just the tip of the iceberg."In the pre-election phoney war, the Conservatives had been setting the agenda against the normally slick Labour machine.Credit has gone to Lynton Crosby, flown in to try and replicate his success in helping Australian Prime Minister John Howard to four successive election wins.The Conservatives have forced Prime Minister Tony Blair to amend his tough anti-terrorism laws, won support for labelling Blair's immigration policy a shambles and even scored on traditional Labour ground like healthcare.That was beginning to pay dividends.