Labour's personal jibe at Hague
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Your support makes all the difference.THE GLOVES will finally come off after a low-key European election campaign today as Tony Blair and William Hague launch personal attacks on each other.
A Labour election broadcast on television tonight shows a photograph of Mr Hague in his now-discarded baseball cap and asks: "Do you want Tony Blair? Or do you want this man? The choice is yours."
But the Tory leader will hit back by accusing Mr Blair of being "two- faced" over Europe in a speech in Birmingham. He will say: "Two-faced when he croons about his love for the pound before the last general election and then commits to abolishing the pound after the election. Not so much `I love the pound' but the Pound Love Rat."
Labour's broadcasts will focus on Mr Blair's leadership rather than its policies on Europe. It includes a string of endorsements from personalities including Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, who says: "If you want Britain to get results in Europe then there's only one leader, Tony Blair."
But Labour's campaign to play down Europe during the campaign for Thursday's elections has backfired, according to the party's own private polling.
Labour's surveys suggest the Conservative Party has managed to put the single currency firmly on the election agenda, despite Mr Blair's declaration that the European elections were not a referendum on the euro.
Focus groups conducted by Labour also suggest that the party's warning to voters not to "let the Tories back in" on Thursday cuts little ice. "People do not regard the Tories as a threat," said one report of a group discussion.
Party workers have told Labour's Millbank headquarters the voters are confused about the purpose of Thursday's election. They have met resistance on the doorsteps to Labour's support in principle for joining the euro. One Labour official admitted: "It was all very well for Tony Blair to say Thursday is not about the single currency - but the genie was already out of the bottle."
Some MPs are furious with Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, for bringing in proportional representation which will allow rival parties to highlight which Labour MPs would lose their seats at the next general election.
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