British army personnel were sent into the Yorkshire Dales last night as the spectre of foot-and-mouth disease once again cast its shadow over the general election campaign.
Confirmation of 17 new cases of the disease since the election was called compounded a difficult day for Labour, as the Conservatives kept the Prime Minister and Chancellor on the defensive over tax, and as Baroness Thatcher denounced Mr Blair for removing her legacy "by stealth" and for still harbouring socialist instincts.
Last night the Conservatives continued their twin attack on Labour in the Liberal Democrats' south-west stronghold, as Lady Thatcher joined Mr William Hague at a rally in historic Plymouth to fire the first shots in what the Tory leadership intends to be a protracted election battle over the euro.
The Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown, meanwhile, was finally forced to break silence and dismiss as "a typical Tory election smear" claims that he planned a new 50 per cent tax rate which would hit up to four million middle-income earners.
Throughout the day the Chancellor had again refused to say whether the Labour government planned to raise the ceiling on National Insurance contributions above inflation to finance future spending plans.
The Ministry of Agriculture had said the cluster of new foot-and-mouth cases in the area around Settle in Yorkshire represented a "localised" outbreak. The government's Chief Veterinary Officer, Mr Jim Scudamore, described the outbreak as "very serious" as local Farmers' Union leaders warned the area faced a "major catastrophe".
The Conservative agriculture spokesman, Mr Tim Yeo, accused the government of "massaging" the disease figures in an attempt to minimise the electoral damage caused by the recent epidemic.
The Prime Minister had earlier battled to put health centre-stage in the election campaign, as he announced Labour's plans to recruit 20,000 extra nurses and an additional 10,000 doctors, and to create a new National Health Service University. But he and Mr Brown remained on the back foot for the second successive day over tax and national insurance.
At his morning press conference Mr Blair insisted: "The fact that we're not going to write every budget does not mean in any way we have plans we have not financed." Mr Brown was insistent he would not make commitments beyond those in the manifesto, and that it would be irresponsible to do so.
The shadow chancellor, Mr Michael Portillo, then charged that by failing to commit himself to keeping the upper earnings limit on National Insurance contributions the Chancellor had "effectively announced a 50 per cent rate of tax" which would fall on millions of middle-income earners across Middle Britain, "on middle-class Britain, on senior nurses, on police inspectors, on deputy head teachers."
Amid a mounting sense that the Tories had "drawn blood" on the tax question, Mr Brown last night mounted what was seen as a damage-limitation exercise, telling the BBC: "What I am saying is that there will be no 50 per cent tax rate, and these Tory claims are a typical Tory election smear."
Lady Thatcher's public endorsement of Mr Hague's leadership was in marked contrast to her relative silence during Mr John Major's 1997 campaign and came just 24 hours after Sir Edward Heath's refusal to say the Tory leader would make a better prime minister than Mr Blair.
And last night she delighted the Tory activists in Plymouth with the assurance that "the Mummy is back" while threatening to re-ignite the Tory party's internal European war by going beyond Mr Hague's commitment for the lifetime of the next parliament and declaring she would never give up sterling.
The writer and broadcaster Sir Ludovic Kennedy yesterday announced that he is to stand for parliament in an attempt to legalise voluntary euthanasia. The 81-year-old has registered as an independent candidate for his home constituency of Devizes in Wiltshire, a seat being defended by the Conservative Party chairman, Mr Michael Ancram.
Last week the broadcaster quit the Liberal Democrats after 45 years because the leader, Mr Charles Kennedy, will not promote voluntary euthanasia. Yesterday Sir Ludovic said he regarded euthanasia as one of the great political issues.--(PA)