He was due to hold talks with senior cabinet colleagues today to finalise Labour's manifesto. It is now certain Blair will call a June 7 election. He will ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament during a scheduled meeting at Buckingham Palace at 6pm on Tuesday. But he may wait to make a public announcement outside No10 the following morning. Blair signalled that he is ready to go to the country by pulling out of a conference of socialist leaders in Berlin.
Labour are the biggest pre-campaign election favourites in recent history.
The latest polls had the Government enjoying a lead of about 20 points. The Tories, meanwhile, face an election wipeout. To add to Tory leader William Hague's woes, he was slapped down by ex-PM Sir Ted Heath yesterday. Heath handed Blair a political birthday gift when he said the Tories didn't stand a chance because of their attitude to Europe. He said Enterprise Minister Wendy Alexander would work as a link between Scotland and party bosses in London.