TRUST, tax and leadership dominated the general election campaign yesterday. As Mr John Major celebrated the fifth anniversary of his 1992 election victory, Labour accusing him of lying to the electorate and being a weak leader. In turn, the Tories claimed Mr Tony Blair was "cracking up" over the speed of changes in his policies.
With two opinion polls showing a reduction in Labour's lead, Tory strategists described the mood in the Conservative camp as "buoyant," despite the spectre of sleaze still dominating the headlines following the endorsement of Mr Neil Hamilton - the MP at the centre of the "cash for questions" allegations - by his Tatton constituency.
Such was Mr Major's determination to celebrate the anniversary that for the first time he resoundingly offered Mr Hamilton his support. "I would vote for Neil Hamilton and that is what I advise everybody in Tatton to do," he said.
However, several local Tories in Tatton raised the prospect of an independent Conservative candidate emerging to fight Mr Hamilton and force him to resign. The anti corruption candidate, Mr Martin Bell, who is supported by both Labour and the Liberal Democrats, formally resigned as the BBC's war correspondent yesterday afternoon and challenged Mr Hamilton to answer the sleaze allegations against him.
"I am not going back. I expect to be the next member for this constituency. I am in politics for the foreseeable future," he added.
Mr Blair repeatedly attacked Mr Major's handling of the affair, accusing Mr Hamilton of putting "two fingers up" to the Tory party and describing his failure to resign as a "stain on the political process."
Earlier Mr Major reflected on the "real improvements" his policies had made to people's lives, insisting that the average family was £1,100 a year better off since 1992 and that Britain was now "the envy" of Europe.
"If I had promised to deliver all that, no one would have thought it possible. It has not all been plain sailing, our difficulties have been well chronicled, but I am proud of the real improvements we have helped people to make to the quality of life," he said.
However, Mr Blair accused Mr Major of betraying the British people, and said that the last five years had been dominated by the Tories' broken promises on tax law and order, pensions, hospital waiting lists and education.
"If I had stood for election on this platform five years ago and made promises Mr Major made and then broke, 92 promises, imposed 22 new taxes, doubled the national debt, failed in Europe, failed our schools and hospitals and failed to give the country leadership, I would not have the gall to ask the British people to trust me again," he said.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Paddy Ashdown, mocked Mr Major's celebrations, suggesting that a minute's silence would be more appropriate, followed by an apology to the British people.
Their record is one of broken promises and weak leadership and a failed government on a scale I don't think has been seen this century," he added.
However, the Tories' attempt to celebrate their achievements was later overshadowed by the publication of an independent report by the highly respected Institute for Fiscal Studies which revealed British families have had to pay £11.5 billion worth of taxes since 1992, a rise of £7 per family per week.
The Shadow Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown, said the report proved Mr Major had "lied over tax" and that Labour's calculations of the effect of the 22 tax rises since 1992 had now been independently endorsed.
The deceit goes on. As this week we enter the new financial year the Tories talk about tax cuts, but a typical family will pay more tax this year as a result of Conservative tax rises in the last budget," he said.