Britain: Poll date set for June 7

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, MAY 8. Britain today embarked on a hectic four-week election campaign after the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair met the Queen and advised her to dissolve Parliament to set the ball rolling for a general election on June 7.

This put an end to weeks of speculation, and brought a sense of realism to unofficial electioneering or what The Times called the ``phoney campaign'' which had been going on since almost the start of this year. From tomorrow, the ``Thunderer'' is expected to discontinue its ``Phoney Election'' column and get into formal campaign mode. Labour start as favourites to win the election with the Tories, according to all indications, headed for a rout. A solid 20-point lead in opinion polls and with odds favouring it 20-1, Labour is assured of a second term in office and the best the Tories can do is to cut their losses though even that looks an uphill task, judging from opinion polls.

Despite considerable disillusionment with the Blair Government's performance, particularly its handling of the foot- and-mouth crisis, the odds are that Labour may actually improve on its 1997 performance ending up with even a bigger majority in next Parliament. Mr. Blair, however, is not taking chances, and told his Cabinet colleagues on Monday not to be lulled into complacency and instead fight the election as though it were on a ``knife's edge.'' His main worry is widespread voter apathy which if translated into a low turnout on the polling day could affect his party's majority. For unlike the Tories who have a committed vote bank, Labour depends hugely on floating voters, many of whom may not necessarily turn up at the polling booth thinking that the party is winning in any case and that their vote is not crucial. It is the flipside of a victory taken-for-granted that is worrying the Labour leadership.

In a pep talk which sounded unusually strong, coming from a Prime Minister who virtually has the election in his bag, Mr. Blair warned his Ministers that ``this is going to be a much tougher fight than people imagine.'' He told them to ``forget the polls and commentators'' and instead seek every vote with a ``real grown-up'' and sustained campaign. According to one newspaper, Mr. Blair's tough talk was prompted by fear that the ``talk of another Labour landslide was part of a Conservative strategy to engender more apathy.''

Ironically, it was the Tories who sounded more gung-ho clearly in a bid to put up a brave face and boost the morale of their dwindling supporters. The party chief, Mr. William Hague said a Tory victory was still possible, and believed it was ``very arrogant'' for people to think that they knew the outcome of the election even before a single vote had been cast. ``We are planning for victory. We are ready to win,'' he declared, launching a tirade against Labour which he called a ``national and local disgrace.''

The Liberal Democrats had no pretensions of winning the election but expected to increase their tally in Parliament. Their leader, Mr. Charles Kennedy, fighting his first serious electoral battle, was off on the campaign even as the big boys in the Labour and Tory party were still holed up in their London offices. The campaign is expected to be viciously personality- oriented, though the Tories plan to force a debate on issues such as asylum and Europe - the two areas in which they think they have a better rapport with the grass roots voter than Labour. Labour is expected to focus on the theme of improving public services and creating a more equitable society.

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Section  : International
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