"It is not just to win your vote but your heart and mind for the changes the country needs to meet the challenges of the future." With those words Mr Tony Blair ended Britain's long wait yesterday and confirmed the general election will be held on Thursday, June 7th.
And the electioneering was already in full swing last night. By close of play, just hours after Mr Blair's announcement and with a full four weeks to go, Mr Blair had met his first baby of the campaign.
Demonstrating his fondness for campaigning at the coal-face, the Conservative leader, Mr William Hague, took his soapbox to Watford to ridicule Mr Blair, saying he was seeking not so much "a second term" as "a second chance".
And the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Mr Charles Kennedy - while promising that the party's campaign would be honest and positive - piled on the scorn, saying that "a government which is stressing the need for humility does itself have quite a lot to be humble about".
As Mr Blair launched his bid for "a fresh mandate for radical change", Mr Kennedy said Labour's record of delivery on public services had left voters "mightily disappointed", and renewed the traditional Liberal Democrat pledge to offer improvements "honestly" paid for by moderate tax increases.
However, Mr Kennedy coupled his criticism of Labour with a prediction that the Conservatives would conduct an irresponsible campaign. "You can be negative, you can be destructive and play on people's fears," he said: "As an opposition party in British politics you can be positive, constructive and address people's aspirations. That is what we are going to do as a party and I think the marked contrast between the two opposition parties is going to be very evident in the course of this campaign."
Pitching himself as plainspoken man of the people against the New Labour "metropolitan elite", a beaming Mr Hague told supporters carrying "Keep the Pound" placards he would "give you back your country". And he promised to reach out "to the real people" of Britain whom he claimed were appalled by "political correctness".
As devolved Scotland began what has been termed its "semidetached" election campaign, the leader of the Scottish National Party, Mr John Swinney, said: "The election we have is about who's going to speak for Scotland. We're the only party that can . . . All the others take their orders from London."
And in Wales the leader of Plaid Cymru, Mr Ieuan Wyn Jones, said a Labour victory was a "foregone conclusion". Promising to mount "the most concerted challenge ever to the supremacy which New Labour has taken for granted in Wales", Mr Wyn Jones said: "Despite their (Labour's) miserable record, this election is a foregone conclusion in England as there is no alternative."
Earlier, after a 20-minute audience with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace to formally seek the dissolution of parliament, the Prime Minister abandoned the conventional setting of 10 Downing Street for St Saviour and St Olive's Church of England school in south London to finally reveal Britain's worst-kept political secret.
Flanked by stained-glass windows bearing the school motto - "Heirs of the past . . . Makers of the future" - Mr Blair launched his bid for an unprecedented second, full Labour term "with a sense of both humility and of hope".
Every vote in the forthcoming election was precious, he told the pupils of the "beacon" school: "No one's support should ever be assumed. That is the strength of our democracy."
His humility, he explained, was "because though we can take pride in many achievements since May 1997, we know we still have so much to do, so many challenges to overcome".
Staking his claim to a second term, Mr Blair insisted: "No government of change, in any country I can think of, has done it all in one programme, one budget, or one term."
The first four years had given Labour "the chance to build foundations", now the work had to go on.
"The work goes on and now I seek a mandate not simply for more of the same. I seek a fresh mandate for radical change," he said, promising that the campaign would provide the opportunity to engage in argument "about the big issues and about the country's destiny and direction".
The great issue was about opportunity for all, not just the few: "It's about a radical vision of lifting barriers and liberating people's potential in a decent society, where everyone gets the chance to make the most of their God-given talents."
Telling his young audience they represented the nation's potential, Mr Blair said: "This is the time, and I believe ours is the task, to set those talents free and build a land of hope and opportunity for all."