That's not about a broad church but rather a rudderless force as he found out recently to his cost. Mr Hague may have established a more efficient war room, funded by the party's billionaire treasurer, Lord Ashcroft, but the rightward, erratic direction of their party makes them ill prepared for government. And it will be the lack of appeal on the centre ground which could prove to be the Tory Achilles heel, one unlikely to be neutralised by a campaign in which they intend aslyum and immigration, the European single currency, and tax cuts, to be their strongest hands. Between today and June 7, politicians of all parties will bombard the electorate with contradictory statistics on education, health, crime, transport, you name it, there will a politician with a ready response. That Tony Blair chose a south London school in which to trigger the election signals the prominence of education in the forthcoming battle for votes.
Labour intends to focus on issues throughout the campaign.
Government ministers, and they remain in government until polling day, will defend and describe their policies to date, and hold out the promise of more. The prime minister has already revealed that investment in public services will be the priority for an historic second term of office. But he will go into this election under greater scrutiny from Labour's traditional voters still appalled at the leadership's determination to stick to Tory spending plans for the first two years of the Labour government. Labour's focus will shift from improvement in primary schools to secondary schools, higher education and universities, all facing a recruitment crisis of a scale able to undermine any initiatives to raise standards. The Liberal Democrats propose to spend ring-fenced taxes on education, while the SNP will likely outflank any other party's pledge.