It was written just two days after Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott punched a demonstrator in Wales, in full view of the cameras, after an egg was thrown at him. Although the letter did not refer to a specific incident, it was reported that Labour sources had claimed some crews had pushed protesters forward in the hope of generating a confrontation during Blair's visit to East Anglia on Friday. The broadcasters firmly rejected the allegations, insisting there was no evidence to justify the complaint. Labour was seeking to play down the incident at its daily election press briefing on Tuesday. Chancellor Gordon Brown referred to two members of Labour's staff being knocked down, but said the party wanted to continue meeting members of the public.
All politicians accept the rough and tumble of an election campaign.
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy told his election news conference that he had not seen any evidence that the media were behaving in the way suggested by Labour. Pages will open in a new browser window External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive. An AOL Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you.