British prime minister Tony Blair won welcome backing from former US president Bill Clinton yesterday as Conservative leader Michael Howard and Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy put character, trust and the Iraq war centre-stage in the election campaign.
Normal campaigning was briefly suspended as the three main parties stressed their international aid commitments at events to mark World Poverty Day. But the bipartisan spirit quickly evaporated as the Liberal Democrats vowed to step up their campaign over the war as the election enters its crucial final full week.
Mr Howard gambled on repeating his highly personal claim that Mr Blair had lied to win elections and about the military conflict. And Mr Kennedy suggested the May 5th poll could yet become "a referendum" on the question of trust, as he again called on Mr Blair to publish all the legal advice he had received about the legality of the action in Iraq.
Mr Kennedy's call followed a leak to the Mail on Sunday giving details of Attorney General Lord Goldsmith's unpublished written opinion warning that the war was likely to be challenged under international law on a number of counts. Lord Goldsmith again insisted he had advised the government that the war was legal, a spokeswoman repeating that this represented "his own genuinely held independent view." International Development Secretary Hilary Benn also suggested there was nothing new in yesterday's report. However while the newspaper did not publish precise extracts, its detailed account appeared to confirm for the first time that the attorney had entertained serious doubts about the legality of the war just weeks before the allied invasion of Iraq.
Former minister Robin Cook, who resigned over the war, said he had warned his former colleagues of the risk that the attorney's advice would eventually surface and urged the government to publish Lord Goldsmith's advice in full.
It has previously been claimed the attorney feared the war would be illegal without a second UN resolution explicitly authorising military action, before publishing a summary of his view that the invasion was legal based on assurances by Mr Blair that Saddam Hussein was in breach of UN resolutions.
The government maintains the Attorney's advice is confidential and must remain so. However Mr Kennedy said: "The longer he (Mr Blair) holds back from making that full disclosure, the more people are perfectly entitled ... to view this general election as a referendum on his conduct and on the government's decision-making over taking us into that war." As the leader of the only one of the main parties to oppose the war Mr Kennedy said he would take no "clap-trap" on the subject from the Conservatives, who had acted a chief cheerleaders for the war. However Mr Howard appears to have overcome his initial caution about launching a full-frontal assault on Mr Blair for that reason.
In his most deeply personal attack on the prime minister so far, Mr Howard declared on Saturday: "He's only taken a stand on one thing in the last eight years - taking Britain to war. And he couldn't even tell the truth about that."
Speaking in Hastings, Mr Howard urged voters: "Why do not you take a stand? Isn't it your duty to take a stand - your duty to yourselves and your duty to our country? If you stay silent, you will send him a clear message, 'Carry on, you're doing just fine'. If you stay silent, you'll have to live with the consequences for the next five years. If you're unhappy about high taxes, uncontrolled immigration, rising crime, and dirty hospitals, then why reward Mr Blair's Labour Party with your vote?"
Mr Howard went on: "Look back at the last eight years and think about the things Mr Blair has said to get elected - and you realise that character is an issue in this election." In a live satellite link to a Labour rally in London yesterday Mr Clinton issued an implicit warning to "disillusioned" Labour voters not to sit back and abstain from voting. Mr Clinton said when you got "a progressive government in power, our people get a little easily disillusioned." He continued: "They don't like this policy or that. They sometimes fall into the trap of thinking it doesn't matter and there are no consequences. But if you believe that look at the difference in the US between now and four years ago."