The British election campaign was gathering momentum last night as politicians awaited Mr Tony Blair's confirmation of a June 7th bid for a historic second full Labour term in power.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Charles Kennedy, took his campaign bus to Portsmouth and declared himself "rarin' to go", while the Conservative leader, Mr William Hague, maintained the Tories were "planning for victory" and "ready to win".
Mr Blair, meanwhile, charged ministers to fight apathy in the Labour heartlands - telling them they faced "a tougher fight than it seems" and to ignore opinion poll predictions of a second landslide victory.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to have his regular monthly audience with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace this evening.
While he could yet delay the election announcement until tomorrow or Thursday, speculation was building at Westminster last night that the meeting with the sovereign - at which the Prime Minister will formally seek the dissolution of parliament - might be brought forward to this morning.
That would clear the decks for an immediate announcement of the election date, followed by a final question-time showdown with Mr William Hague in the House of Commons tomorrow and the dissolution of parliament on Friday.
Broad smiles and thumbs-up were the first and clearest signals of Mr Blair's intentions as ministers left last night's "political" Cabinet at which they approved Labour's election manifesto and were briefed on Mr Blair's campaign plans.
And it quickly became clear that Mr Blair intends to put investment in, and reform of, the public services at the heart of his appeal for a second term.
Significantly, the Health and Education Secretaries, Mr Alan Milburn and Mr David Blunkett, were put up for the cameras to signal an election manifesto prioritising schools and hospitals on the back of Labour's first-term economic achievements.
There was "unfinished business" and "work in progress". Of Labour's four years in office, Mr Blunkett said: "Four years is a very short period of time to actually make the investment count and make a difference to people's lives. We have been very clear in Cabinet that the economic stability allows us now to go forward with investing in key services, giving us the opportunity to invest again in schools and hospitals."
Echoing Mr Blair's warning against complacency, Mr Milburn insisted: "We will fight this campaign, whenever it comes, as if it were on a knife edge. We are not going to take a single voter for granted."
However, following reports that Mr Blair privately wants a landslide win and to further marginalise the Tories, Mr Blunkett rejected suggestions by Lord Hattersley - a former deputy leader of the Labour Party - that such an outcome would be bad for British democracy.
"The most dangerous thing of all was the failure to win a majority in the eighties, and the betrayal of the British people," said the Education Secretary, who is widely tipped to go to the Home Office if Labour wins.
However, Mr Hague dismissed as "very arrogant" those people "who think they know the result of the general election before a vote has been cast." He was speaking at the launch of his party's manifesto for the local elections, which was a general election event in all but name.
"Even though there may be two elections on June 7th, there will only be one Conservative campaign and we are ready to win," he insisted. Mr Hague claimed Mr Blair wanted the local elections on June 7th to be "the forgotten elections" because of the failure of Labour councils to deliver value-for-money services.
He said of Labour: "They are a national and a local disgrace. . . All spin and no delivery."
Mr Hague also unveiled his campaign theme music for the general election - an instrumental called Heartlands composed for the party by Michael Batt, the force behind the musical success of The Wombles. Mr Hague said the music, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, embodied the musical traditions of the United Kingdom "and a very Conservative sense of pride in country".