Duncan Smith becomes an election issue as Prescott calls him Labour's big asset

Iain Duncan Smith's leadership became the central issue of the local elections campaign in England yesterday after Tory MPs criticised his Commons performance and Labour claimed he was "an asset" to the Government.

John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, used the last day of campaigning to launch a highly personal attack on the Tory leader, declaring "we hope he will be there until the general election". Mr Prescott's remarks, the first time Labour has publicly highlighted Mr Duncan Smith's failings as an advantage, came hours after Tony Blair outgunned the Tory leader over the issue of a European defence policy during Prime Minister's Questions. The Tory leader attempted to exploit splits within the EU but his question backfired badly as Mr Blair pointed out the Tories and the Government agreed with each other on the issue of Nato's supremacy.

Labour MPs jeered loudly while several Tory MPs looked embarrassed by Mr Duncan Smith's performance. One Tory backbencher said: "It was cringe-making and grotesquely embarassing to those of us who had to sit and listen to it."

At Labour's final campaign briefing, Ian McCartney, the party chairman, unveiled a cardboard cut-out of Mr Duncan Smith with a speech bubble stating "No bullshit".

The stunt was a reference to an interview the Tory leader had given in which he declared his party would win the next general election. "Put money on it. We are going to win the next election. I am not bullshitting. The Government is on the edge of complete failure," he told The Daily Telegraph.

In the same interview, Mr Duncan Smith also admitted the public did not "know anything" about his party's key policies on public services.

"They [the public] don't know anything about our health policy, they don't know about our crime policy, they don't know about our asylum policy, they don't know about education policy," he said.

"In other words, the communications bit, which is phase two, is just about to start."

Labour's change of tactics echoes the highly personal campaign against William Hague in the 2001 election.

Tory critics of Mr Duncan Smith believe the local elections will be a referendum on his performance and insist he has to make a net gain of 150 seats to stave off a challenge.

Mr Prescott ridiculed the Tory leader's prediction of 30 gains at the local elections and said his performance was so bad it had helped Labour. "Yes, he is an asset. He is the leader of the Tories, the one they have chosen, and we hope he will be there until the general election," he said.

Mr Duncan Smith did score a victory during Prime Minister's Questions over the cash crisis currently besetting hundreds of schools.

Pointing out that heads were planning redundancies, he forced Mr Blair to admit there are "problems for particular schools in particular areas". The Tories also hit back at what they said was a Labour leak on plans to "name and shame" Tory councils tomorrow that had withheld money from schools.