IS THERE AN ECHO IN HERE?:

Blair set for third term as Lib Dems advance (Philip Webster and Peter Riddell, 5/05/05, Times of London)

TONY BLAIR is heading for a third term with a three-figure majority but potentially the lowest share of the popular vote for any governing party in modern times, a Populus poll for The Times suggests today.

Three other polls report a similar verdict. But the result of today’s general election promises to be the most unpredictable since 1992, with signs that the Liberal Democrats could be gaining ground in several Conservative seats.

Charles Kennedy sent campaigners to a number of constituencies in the South West after party workers reported a chance of surprise victories in some Tory strongholds.

Oliver Letwin, the Shadow Chancellor, is fighting hard to hold off the Liberal Democrats in Dorset West and both Conservative and Liberal Democrat strategists reported that New Forest East, where the Conservative majority is nearly 4,000, had become a tight contest.

Overall, the polls did not make good reading for the Conservatives. The Times poll suggests that Labour has been holding on to its support in the final days of the campaign and, along with the Liberal Democrats, is taking most votes from those who have only recently made up their minds.

The Tories certainly gave late deciders no reason to choose them.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 4, 2005 10:56 PM