Labour today tried to switch the election agenda onto the NHS after refusing to back up claims that broadcasters had incited protesters to mar its campaign.
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British Prime Minister, Tony Blair
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Prime Minister Tony Blair personally cleared TV stations of inciting either egg-throwing demonstrator Craig Evans, or Sharron Storer, the angry partner of a cancer victim who confronted the premier.
Asked on BBC Radio 2's Jimmy Young programme whether the party was saying broadcasters had provoked those incidents, Mr Blair replied: "No. Certainly not, so far as those two things are concerned."
Earlier both Mr Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown had repeatedly declined to offer any proof of Labour General Secretary Margaret McDonagh's claims in letters to broadcasters that she had "growing evidence that broadcasters have been inciting and colluding with protesters at campaign visits by senior politicians".
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Sky News, ITN and the BBC have dismissed her allegations and Mr Brown confined himself this morning at Labour's news conference to reading out a statement from Ms McDonagh.
It said: "At the end of last week we raised concerns with the broadcasters about safety of staff and public which had been made to us from our regional staff.
"We want meetings with members of the public to continue to be right at the heart of our campaign. Equally we will continue to facilitate broadcast access to all major events involving our senior politicians.
"There was never any attempt to influence the broadcasters' agenda but we did feel it important to raise these concerns. We met with the broadcasters and we have made our point."
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said of Labour: "What on earth are they so thin-skinned about? They're pathetic."
Conservative Party vice-chairman Tim Collins accused Labour of "intimidation and thuggery" by writing the letter and shadow chancellor Michael Portillo said Labour's campaign was "shambolic".
The row continued to overshadow the tussle over tax between Labour and the Tories, after Mr Brown again said he would not rule out National Insurance contributions increases if Labour won the next election.
And the Conservative treasury spokesman Oliver Letwin appeared outside Conservative Central Office to insist he had never said his party wanted to make £20 billion worth of tax cuts.
Mr Blair tried to steer the agenda onto the health service by confirming plans to employ 20,000 new nurses and 10,000 extra doctors, and to set up an NHS university modelled on company colleges to provide in-house training for staff.