THE LEADERS:BRITISH prime minister Gordon Brown last night claimed that he had thought Rochdale pensioner, Gillian Duffy – who he described as a "bigoted woman" – wanted to expel foreign students.
“I thought she was talking about expelling all university students from this country who are foreigners,” Mr Brown told BBC broadcaster Jeremy Paxman, although his explanation is hard to reconcile with a transcript of the encounter.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats received another boost when the normally Labour-supporting Guardiannewspaper announced its support for the party, though it urged voters to back Labour candidates where the Liberals cannot win in a bid to stop a Conservative majority.
Conservative leader David Cameron, who is enjoying mounting confidence in the wake of Thursday’s final TV leaders’ debate, yesterday published a US-style contract with voters, promising 16 key pledges.
In the contract, which will be sent to millions of homes, Mr Cameron says he is determined to cut the number of MPs and ministers’ pay, offer a veto to residents to block council tax rises and cut wasteful government spending.
“If we don’t do the things it sets out, if we don’t deliver our side of the bargain: vote us out in five years’ time,” said Mr Cameron, who is photographed signing a sheet of paper.
The Conservative leader has been criticised for failing to convince voters in sufficient numbers, though the Conservatives now believe that the momentum is with them in the campaign’s final days.
In a sign of the Conservatives’ buoyant mood, Mr Cameron spent part of the day in Penistone and Stockbridge constituency in South Yorkshire, where the Tory candidate needs a 10.5 per cent swing to win.
“There are no ‘no-go’ areas for this campaign. There is a chance of winning – I would not be here if there was not,” said Mr Cameron, accompanied by local candidate Spencer Pitfield. Describing the Labour campaign as being ‘in freefall’, Mr Cameron went to say that he thought Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg looked “flaky” during the TV debate.
However, Labour will be relieved at a YouGov poll in today’s Sun newspaper, which reports that the Conservatives are unchanged on 34 per cent, the Liberal Democrats unchanged on 28 per cent, and Labour is up one point to 28 per cent. Although the rise is within the margin of error, Labour strategists had feared that the poll would have shown a sharp drop after the TV debate – even though it was Mr Brown’s best performance so far.
The difficulties in Labour’s campaign were summed up yesterday when a poster launch by Mr Brown and nine cabinet ministers was interrupted when a car was struck by a bin lorry and crashed into bus shelter just metres away.
Former prime minister Tony Blair finally joined Labour’s campaign, saying that he would “have come earlier” but he had been delayed in the Middle East because of the Iceland volcano.
Rejecting suggestions that Mr Brown had failed, his predecessor said, Labour had “every chance” of winning in next week’s election.
Praising Mr Brown, he said: “I think if people actually look and listen to the substance they will see somebody who is completely honest, who knows his facts, knows exactly the policies that the country should follow,” he said.
Questioned about Mr Blair’s entry, the Conservative leader – a long-time admirer of Mr Blair’s political skills – said: “It’s great to have him back in the country. He’s one of the few people who could actually afford another Labour government.” Meanwhile, the mounting confidence of Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was illustrated by his claim that the election is now “a two-horse race”.