Britain: Michael Howard vowed to "battle for Britain" yesterday as he published a Conservative manifesto promising to fulfil "the simple longings of the British people" after "the let-down" of the Blair years.
Those simple longings were reduced to just 11 words on the cover of the party's slimmed-down blueprint for government: more police, cleaner hospitals, lower taxes, school discipline, controlled immigration and accountability. However, the detail laid the basis for a radical Conservative agenda claiming to combine increased spending on key public services with tax cuts and an overall reduction in the role of the state. This was coupled with tough pledges on border controls, more police and extra prison places.
With Europe reduced to a secondary issue under this Conservative leadership, Mr Howard repeated his claim that only his party could guarantee Britain's economic stability by rejecting membership of the euro and maintaining the Bank of England's independence. And he said a Conservative government would hold a referendum on the European constitution within six months of taking office.
However, the Conservative leader drew Labour and Liberal Democrat fire as his party delayed publication of the detail of its proposed £4 billion in tax cuts. The prime minister, Tony Blair, accused Mr Howard of campaigning on "a fraudulent prospectus" while Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy - who later suspended campaigning after his wife Sarah, who is expecting their first child, went into hospital - said the Conservative economics were "simply not credible". Mr Howard adopted a highly personal tone as he appeared alone at the podium at campaign headquarters to explain why, at 63 years old, he had decided not to hang up his boots, enjoy his retirement and spend more time with his grandchildren. Recalling the battles of his political life and his personal battle "to get to where I am from a state school in a small town in south Wales", he said: "There is another battle I have to fight. I love my country and I know it can be a much, much better place to live in than it is today. So I'm going in to battle for Britain."
Mr Howard resumed his equally personal attack on the prime minister. A vote for Mr Blair, he said, would be a reward for eight years of broken promises and a vote for five more years of talk. "If Mr Blair is re-elected, what hope is there that things will get better? If Mr Blair has got what it takes to sort out the things that really matter, why hasn't he done it before?"
Again inviting the electorate to "wipe the smile off Mr Blair's face" and send him a message, Mr Howard said: "If you vote for the Liberal Democrats, the message you'll be sending Mr Blair is simple: 'Carry on, please, you're doing just fine.' It's a vote for higher taxes, more immigration and softer sentences for murderers and rapists. I don't think that's the message people really want to send Mr Blair. So don't let him get away with it again." He went on: "Imagine five more years of it: five more years of smirking; five more years of failure; five more years of talk.
"Imagine waking up on May 6th to see Mr Blair re-elected. Imagine how you'd feel. You don't have to settle for that. Use your vote to tell Mr Blair that it's just not good enough. Use your vote to take a stand. It's time for change. It's time for action."
The party's "action" plan includes a lower-tax economy, support for saving and dignity for pensioners; discipline in class, choice for parents; no university fees; more investment in local hospitals, more choice for patients and 5,000 extra police.