Mr Tony Blair cleared the way for the British general election yesterday, declaring his government on the "home straight" in the battle against foot-and-mouth disease.
The campaigning seemed already under way as Mr William Hague told Conservative party workers they could win on the back of "the most radical and far-reaching" Conservative manifesto for a generation.
The Prime Minister insisted on observing his "golden rule" of "not talking about general elections until they are actually called". However, the widespread expectation at Westminster is that Mr Blair will fire the starting pistol for a June 7th poll within the next five days.
It emerged last night that Queen Elizabeth has no official engagements listed for Wednesday morning. This fuelled speculation that the Prime Minister could travel to Buckingham Palace to formally request a dissolution of parliament and announce the election date before a final question-time confrontation with Mr Hague in the Commons that afternoon.
The Conservative leadership certainly had no doubt that its moment of truth was at hand. "The waiting is almost over," Mr Hague declared. "If Tony Blair chooses to go to the country next week, and all the signs are that he will, we will be ready for him." And he was quick off the mark with election promises. He told some 300 Central Office staff that the shadow cabinet had completed its manifesto and he assured party workers they were "far more disciplined and far more formidable than the once famous Millbank machine" credited with securing Mr Blair's landslide victory in 1997.
There were numerous policy storm clouds on the horizon for Mr Blair yesterday as the election countdown got under way. News that 14 patients had died of cervical cancer in Leicester after being given the all-clear following smear tests threatened to shake further public confidence in the health service.
Law and order was back on the front pages too, as police questioned three suspects over the "Yardie" kneecap shooting of a pregnant woman in front of her children in South London on Tuesday.
Lord (Denis) Healey joined other senior Labour figures shocked by Mr Blair's apparent backing for President Bush's new "Son of Star Wars" global missile defence system.
London's Mayor, Mr Ken Livingstone, pledged to make public transport a key election issue in the capital, saying he would write to every candidate in London seeking their view on the government's plans for the part-privatisation of the Tube.
And as the public got their first glimpse of a new Tory poster depicting a pregnant Tony Blair, Mr Hague pledged the Tories would hold the Prime Minister "to account for his miserable failure to deliver on his promises".
This week's opinion polls were the backdrop to these skirmishes, the latest polls giving Labour leads of between 18 and 21 points and suggesting Mr Blair could increase his 179-seat Commons majority.
Mr Blair told a Downing Street press conference that the government would remain "vigilant" to the threat of foot-and-mouth. "We will not slacken our guard," he said. He told reporters: "We are in a new phase with the disease now. . .It is clear we are winning the battle against foot-and-mouth. We have the right policy. It is working." Promising no more pyres to dispose of the animal carcasses, Mr Blair claimed the countryside was almost fully open and he urged people to visit the country as "the best way" to help rural communities. His upbeat assessment came as the government published a report highlighting the difference between the 1967 epidemic and the current crisis. The report said the 1967 emergency "never became a truly national epidemic", unlike this year's crisis.
The government's chief scientific adviser, Prof David King, said the daily average of new outbreaks now stood at eight. This was still a significant number, he said, echoing Mr Blair's warning against complacency, while agreeing the epidemic was now "fully under control".
Mr Blair has pulled out of a trip to Germany planned for Monday, a move bound to fuel speculation he is within days of calling a general election.