election-2001.net
Splat the MP
The count - 17/02/01
Delay election, pleads Major - 23/03/01
It is mad to hold an election while foot and mouth rages - by John Major - 23/03/01
Labour's rural MPs back calls for May election - 23/03/01
Blair trails behind by a country mile - 23/03/01 Labour is the third party of rural Britain
New Labour has half a mind to bulldoze us all into voting - 26/03/01
Election hopes are going up in smoke - 28/03/01
Blair urged by his own party to press ahead - 28/03/01
How it took 37 days to ruin the country - 29/03/01 Within a week, Mr Blair seemed to have forgotten the countryside crisis... after a fortnight he launched a global charm offensive... yesterday he made it clear that tourism, not agriculture, is his priority... he has focused on winning his second term... He must accept the blame for the delay in deploying the Armed Forces
It's going to be May 3 'cos the Sun says so - by Boris Johnson - 29/03/01 Blair's MPs fear an economic downturn in the autumn
Put the country first, says Hague - 29/03/01
Hague calls for election delay - 29/03/01
Election dilemma as disease spreads - 30/03/01
Blair faces 48 hours of agonising - 31/03/01
One man and his election - 31/03/01
Pressure increases for June election - 31/03/01
Blair delays election until June - 31/03/01
Blair's lead slips as he defies Cabinet and delays election - 01/04/01
Two thirds don't want an election in May - 01/04/01
Blair had good reason to opt for June poll - 01/04/01
How Blair's indecision was finally resolved - 01/04/01
'We're looking foolish because he can't make up his mind' - 01/04/01
The price Mr Blair will pay for flinching - 01/04/01 Beneath the smoke of burning animal carcasses, Mr Blair's vacillation has become the real story
Blind date - 01/04/01 William Hague has outmanoeuvred the Prime Minister at every turn, demanding that the Army take action, that Mr Blair take personal control of the epidemic, and that the election date be reconsidered. In each case, the Prime Minister resisted - and then gave in
Tories accuse Blair of 'dithering' - 01/04/01
Blair gambles on election delay - 01/04/01
Blair to explain election delay - 01/04/01
The long march to polling day - 03/04/01
Labour poll strategists see Kennedy as a liability - 10/03/01 by appearing to be Tony Blair's stooge
Election delay bolsters Blair's standing - 13/04/01
Tories fail to change the voters' minds - 13/04/01
Most students to shun poll - 13/04/01
Warning on vaccination swept aside - 19/04/01 Tony Blair knew a fortnight ago that the foot and mouth vaccinations proposed yesterday could do more harm than good
Chief vet ignored expert advice - 19/04/01 vaccination could mask the foot and mouth virus and lead to outbreaks months later
Army called in too late, admits MoD official - 19/04/01 The Government didn't call the Army in was because they didn't want to make it look like a crisis that would force them to change the May election date. The irony is that because they did nothing they turned it into a major crisis which forced them to push back the election anyway
Thoroughly rotten politics - 26/04/01 This election campaign could be one of the dirtiest yet
Labour denies 'baby bonds' poll bribe - 27/04/01
Baby bonds are long on rhetoric, short on detail - 27/04/01
Taxed from cradle to grave - 27/04/01 "Peerages for calves? No. Cash for peers? Sounds right but I don't think it is. Ah yes! Cash for babies! Brilliant.
Why Blair decided to rescue Phoenix - 27/04/01 The timing of the decision resulted in "Blair saves calf" headlines on the 10 o'clock news
It'll be tougher this time, Blair warns Cabinet - 06/05/01
Blair starts to pile pressure on BBC before poll - 06/05/01 to ensure that its coverage is not dominated by stories embarrassing to Labour
This election is between town and country - 06/05/01
Mummy, what is Labour's second term for? - 06/05/01
The poll that counts - 06/05/01
Parties gear up for election call - 06/05/01
Blair seeks even bigger majority - 07/05/01
Section 28 backed in Hague manifesto - 07/05/01 "Labour don't want to talk about Section 28, but we do."
Phoney war over as Blair fires the gun - 08/05/01
Blair alone on campaign trail as Cherie is tied to court case - 08/05/01
Democracy in peril . . . unless the voters have been fibbing - 08/05/01
Blair announces June election - 08/05/01
Now onto the issues - 08/05/01
Here beginneth Blair's crusade - 09/05/01 Mr Blair had chosen one of the schools that his former Cabinet colleague, Harriet Harman, had rejected for her children
Surely, children of the future will be adults - 09/05/01 The Prime Minister announced the election before the massed pupils of a south London comprehensive school. Comprehensive schools are important to New Labour politicians. They go to great lengths not to send their children to them
Hague on his soapbox targets 'the real people' - 09/05/01
Kennedy fights on two fronts - 09/05/01
Make a difference - 09/05/01 The New Labour ideology knows its enemies. They include people who live and work in the countryside, people who define their identity as English, people who feel threatened by the uncontrolled immigration that goes under the name of asylum-seeking, people who think marriage is the mainstay of children's happiness and society's peace.
They also include Servicemen who would prefer to serve Queen and country rather than a European army, people who work for themselves, people in learned professions, people who resent terrorists let out of prison and taking part in government, those who pay for their own pensions and those, Muslim, Hindu and Jewish, as well as Christian, who do not want the virtues of homosexuality extolled to schoolchildren.
They particularly dislike those - 70 per cent of the population - who want to keep the pound.
Cook signs Left's blueprint for EU - 09/05/01 While dodging questions on whether he wanted Britain to join the euro during his term as PES president, Mr Cook said that, thanks to Labour's policies over the past four years, Britain was now "in the mainstream of European politics".
Party leaders clash on euro - 09/05/01 Blair told MPs: "In principle we are in favour of joining"
Hinduja 'cover up' claimed - 09/05/01 evidence that Blair "duped" the country and mounted a "cover-up" over his relations with the Hinduja brothers... five leaked letters to the millionaire businessmen, some signed 'Yours ever, Tony', show that the links went "far deeper than we were led to believe"
Poster war begins - 09/05/01 A launch by Scottish Conservatives misfired when a poster advertising a Tesco retail park was unveiled instead of one attacking Mr Blair
Blair warns of cynicism - 09/05/01 then tries to claim the Tories will be "desperate" to avoid a debate about policy during the election campaign!
Campaign at-a-glance: Day 2 - 09/05/01
Brown upbeat on economy - 09/05/01
Hague fires asylum salvo - 09/05/01 "the system is in chaos"
Head appalled by 'panto' politics - 09/05/01 Irene Bishop says she is deeply unimpressed by the "pantomime" that has followed the announcement of the general election by the prime minister on a visit to her south London secondary school
Labour unveils pledge card - 09/05/01
Taxes 'higher under Labour' - 09/05/01
Labour's lead just keeps on growing - 10/05/01
Tory pledge to cut 28p off a gallon - 10/05/01
Day the Prime Minister learned a lesson - 10/05/01 one girl "covered her head with her pullover as Mr Blair rambled on about devolution". Another described him as "a big crook"
Tories chip away at Labour's poll lead - 10/05/01
Blair vows not to raise tax on high earners - 10/05/01 he wants his campaign to be "a conversation with the electorate"
Pledge card tones down the promises - 10/05/01 The Government has not met two of the so-called five "early pledges" of 1997
Speech at school rebounds on Blair - 10/05/01 Blair was so busy looking at the cameras that he did not pay attention to the choir as it sang... The girls had been taken to the hall before the visit to be told when to clap
Brown's tax up by £24bn, says think tank - 10/05/01
Doctors 'withdraw support over NHS' - 10/05/01
Like Kinnock in Sheffield, Blair has betrayed himself - 10/05/01 everything about the performance was in bad faith and worse taste - "I stand before you today with a sense both of humility and hope" - but everything about the event implied the opposite
Why the PM had to be seen clutching the right instrument - 10/05/01
Last blast of the trumpet (as I think I said last time) by Boris Johnson - 10/05/01 On June 7, I hope to be elected MP for Henley, and to that end I am today laying down my pen and devoting all my energies to the election
Hague circles the wagons as he launches poster offensive - 10/05/01
Tories plan to lock up 12-year-old offenders - 10/05/01
Tube strikes threaten poll week chaos - 10/05/01
Labour agrees manifesto - 10/05/01
Tories 'to cut fuel duty' - 10/05/01
Hague's tax sweeteners - 10/05/01
Tories raise tax stakes - 10/05/01
Tory manifesto: At-a-glance - 10/05/01
Brown faces 'black hole' in spending - 11/05/01 The Chancellor was forced to acknowledge yesterday that he might have to rein back on ambitious plans to boost spending on public services - the centrepiece of Labour's election campaign - half-way through the next Parliament
Armando Iannucci: Why I for one am not going to take voter apathy lying down - 11/05/01
Common sense says: have another look at Hague - 11/05/01
Handing back power to the people - 11/05/01 "Time for Common Sense"
Tories motor ahead - 11/05/01
Darling accused of scaring pensioners over Tory plans - 11/05/01 Labour tried this scare in 1997. The public won't fall for it a second time, particularly from a Government which insulted pensioners with a measly 75p-a-week increase
On the buses: No grey areas in multi-coloured Millbank - 11/05/01
Men only banned by Labour's gender agenda - 11/05/01 Labour has banned all-male platforms at press conferences and other major election events
Labour and Tories snared by pledges on taxation - 11/05/01
Tax challenge to Blair - 11/05/01 William Hague challenged Mr Blair to say he will not raise taxes at all and the Liberal Democrats accused him of being "timid on tax"
Tax dominates campaign - 11/05/01
Tax take up by £1bn a week - 12/05/01 taxmen expect to collect more than £156 billion this year, compared to less than £104 billion in 1997. That is an increase of more than £52 billion, or 50%
Voting Labour is a luxury that not everybody can afford - 12/05/01 who should vote Labour...
Voters support Hague's stand on immigration and asylum seekers - 12/05/01
Woodward peers at Labour safe seat - 12/05/01 Someone high up in the Labour Party - he has not said who - suggested that he might like to become Lord Gilbert of Dudley, and be a minister in Tony Blair's first government
St Helens is hardly home from home for Shaun Woodward - 12/05/01 even his former allies on the Conservative Left believe that the prospect of becoming a minister provided his main motivation
Can a southern Tory sinner be Labour's northern saint? [Woodward] - 12/05/01 "I wouldn't vote for him. He's got money, so he's not normal for around here. He's not got our interests at heart. He doesn't know what people around here are like. Why should he? He's got his big house in the South and people to wait on him. Let him stay there." ... so why vote for New Labour at all?
Row over Labour's new waiting list figures - 12/05/01 doctors have been forced to treat patients on the basis of how long they have been waiting and not on the basis of clinical need
Signed up by Cherie - 12/05/01
Tories would ban strikes on Tube - 12/05/01
Panorama banned from Blair press conferences - 12/05/01 effectively denying them the opportunity to ask questions of the Prime Minister during the campaign
Union turns down poll clash plea - 12/05/01 Labour tried to get the the 300,000 strong Communications Workers' Union to postpone their potentially embarrassing conference until after the election - but this time the "News Management" failed!
Rifkind: majority want to keep pound - 12/05/01
A slice of Scottish cake comes with a fudge topping - 12/05/01 Scottish Labour published five key election pledges, three of which are entirely the responsibility not of Westminster but of the Scottish Parliament and thus nothing to do with this election
Election notebook: School lesson on undermining democracy By W F Deedes - 12/05/01 Blair is offering peerages to Labour MPs of a certain age, to procure their seats for younger men of his choosing. This is a kick in the teeth for local Labour parties, who have Mr Blair's favourites thrust upon them
Hague quick off the blocks, but this is a distance event - 12/05/01 most Labour officials privately admit that the Tory leader has stayed ahead in the campaign race this week
Tories add fuel to petrol row - 12/05/01 Hague has claimed that a re-elected Labour government would send petrol prices soaring to nearly £6 a gallon
Student debt sparks heated debate - 12/05/01
Knives are out for Brown over Labour campaign fiasco - 13/05/01 Blair is to reduce the influence of Gordon Brown after a bitter internal argument over Labour's poor start to the campaign
So far, Gordon Brown is the election loser - 13/05/01 the Chancellor has lost a battle with the Prime Minister that has been simmering away for most of the past four years and reached boiling point in the run-up to the election
Labour lead holds as Hague fails to lift off - 13/05/01
Blair's revenge - he bans Rory Bremner from battle bus - 13/05/01 the television impressionist who satirises Tony Blair as a neurotic ordered around by his press secretary has been banned by Labour from travelling as an accredited journalist on its election battle bus
Why must Labour hide its face from the likes of me? By Rory Bremner - 13/05/01 When I first met Tony Blair in 1996 he was open and idealistic, keen to bring a breath of fresh air to government. Four years on, he appears careworn and paranoid
Children should not be allowed to exploit Mr Blair - 13/05/01the Prime Minister "feels betrayed by almost all the people he once trusted, like a child let down by adults"
Tories fight losing battle over taxation - 13/05/01
It is not about tax - 13/05/01 the true difference between the Conservatives and Labour will be over Britain's future role in the European Union and the specific question of the European single currency
Left woos youth with scratchcard for videos - 13/05/01 the cards, which are aimed at first-time voters, contain an individual pin number that can be used to access the party's website and enter special areas where pop videos and youth policies will be displayed
Blair's 'glitz and froth' style of government fails to impress the floating voters - 13/05/01 voters think that Tony Blair is "cheesy" and his Government has "no vision or principle"
Labour's 'big idea' - 13/05/01 Labour's big idea for the future is the "development of human potential"
Stitch-up row mars Blair's big speech - 14/05/01 Shaun Woodward, a millionaire Tory defector close to Mr Blair, was "parachuted" into the safe Labour seat of St Helens South. Party activists and trade unionists complained of a "stitch up" after no local candidate was shortlisted for the seat by the party leadership
Tories dismiss Geri's Labour role - 14/05/01 "Geri Halliwell deserted the Spice Girls, and they still came top of the pops"
Health 'factories' to rescue NHS - 15/05/01 Criticism of the privatisation of core NHS treatment is likely to come from within Labour's own ranks, especially as the scheme matches Tory plans. Labour's 1992 election campaign was built around accusations that the Tories were planning to privatise the NHS (they weren't)
Blair counters 'spin' claims - 15/05/01 Peter Mandelson makes a veiled criticism today of Labour's campaign
Frank Johnson: Election Sketch - 15/05/01 Battle Bus: Labour officialdom says Blair's destination is kept secret to protect him from the insane. But really it is to protect him from the sane
Tories 'aspire' to cut taxes beyond the £8bn promise - 15/05/01
Blair encounters giant spin machine on Highland fling - 15/05/01 yesterday showed that Mr Blair is not yet ready to risk random encounters with the public
Labour is true party of business, claims Brown - 15/05/01
Smile, you're on 'cameo camera' - 15/05/01 Grinning condescendingly, Geri Halliwell handed out cups of tea to a couple of elderly women who were having to watch her on television. They, at least, were not smiling
Widdecombe is scoring points in rugby country - 15/05/01 there is nothing artificial about Ann Widdecombe. Brisk, truthful, on top of her brief, her unspun, anti-politician appeal is a clear strength
Blair is irritated as pledge over sleaze comes back to haunt him - 15/05/01 Much to Mr Blair's obvious irritation, half the 20-minute "Today" interview was taken up with questions about whether he had fulfilled his promise to lead a Government that would be "purer than pure" (he hadn't)
Purer than pure? - 15/05/01 Four years ago, of course, Mr Blair seemed to think that ministerial corruption was an important subject
Tories hit out over rapes - 15/05/01 around 1,000 crimes had been committed by the 35,000 offenders freed under the early release scheme
Hague in fresh EU row - 15/05/01 he will not discipline candidates who sign a petition calling for a referendum on withdrawal from the European Union
Blair woos bosses - 15/05/01
Tory broadcast says Labour to blame for rapes - 16/05/01
Blair looks to third term with pledge of enterprise - 16/05/01
Blair looks to American zeal in drive to woo business - 16/05/01
Balls joins Brown for the campaign - 16/05/01 The arrival will further strengthen Mr Brown's influence at Millbank
Hague lets Tories sign petition on quitting EU - 16/05/01
Why the Barnett formula is an issue they just cannot avoid - 16/05/01
Blair risks wrath of left in public sector reforms - 16/05/01 Blair will unveil a Labour manifesto today outlining sweeping reforms of the public sector
A Tory tabloid says 'vote Labour' - 15/05/01 Defend the pound, beware Europe, lock up criminals ð this is familiar Sun territory. So how come it's backing Blair?
Blair sets out objectives - 16/05/01 Labour election manifesto, Ambitions for Britain, to be published today
Rachel Sylvester: Election Analysis - 16/05/01 The Prime Minister sees the transformation of Britain's relationship with the Continent as a defining mission. But he will not be saying so today
Pity the poor Labour voters of St Helens - 16/05/01 THE last time I wrote about Shaun Woodward in this column, I described him as "an unprincipled creep on the make". As most people agreed, this was a very fair assessment of the man. Mr Blair knows that Mr Woodward would never have been picked to fight this safe Labour seat if the St Helens CLP had been given a free choice. So he stitched the selection up for him
Labour manifesto: At-a-glance - 16/05/01
Labour plans radical decade - 16/05/01 the manifesto features seven pictures of Mr Blair inside but none of his fellow ministers
Ambush upset Blair's day - 16/05/01 Sharron Storer, 38, ambushed Tony Blair on the doorstep of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, complaining that there was no bed for her partner, a cancer patient, on the bone marrow unit
Prescott in punch-up with protester - 16/05/01
Election turns ugly - 16/05/01 Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has been involved in an angry scuffle in which punches were thrown - only hours after the launch of the Labour manifesto
In pictures: Prescott's fracas - 16/05/01
Prescott sees red - 16/05/01 he was pictured hitting a protester...
Hague 'war' on crime - 16/05/01 he said 35,000 criminals had been let out of jail under the Government's special early release scheme and promised a Tory government would scrap it
Blair's 'Ambitions for Britain' - 17/05/01 summary of Labour Manifesto
George Jones: Manifesto Analysis - 17/05/01 Blair is offering to achieve Left-wing goals by Right-wing methods... the manifesto leaves open the question of what will happen midway through the parliament
Ambition misplaced - 17/05/01
PM gets tongue-lashing on wards - 17/05/01 Sharon Storer upstaged a pre-planned photo call with patients with an onslaught on the lack of resources at the hospital
Police Federation shakes Straw with the WI treatment - 17/05/01 the most hostile reception experienced by a Home Secretary at the Federation's conference in the last decade
Prescott punches a protester - 17/05/01
Blair defends 'true and loyal' Prescott - 17/05/01 "John is John"
Prescott swings from left - 17/05/01 Blair will be horrified that such a display of anger will have dominated the news bulletins and wrecked the coverage of the party's manifesto launch
Hague: Labour would release 80,000 criminals - 17/05/01
Eggs fly. Prescott cracks. And Labour's big day is scrambled - 17/05/01 a day on which the launch of Labour's manifesto was overshadowed by a series of angry protests at Tony Blair and his ministers over the Government's record
Blair orders public services to go private - 17/05/01 20,000 more nurses, 10,000 more doctors, 10,000 more teachers and 6,000 extra police
Frank Johnson: Campaign Sketch - 17/05/01 Mr Blair was accompanied by - in ascending order of importance to him on this particular day - the Chancellor of the Exchequer; the Minister of Agriculture; a veritable operating theatre of spin doctors; photographers; and television camera crew
Manifesto strong on the what but thin on the how - 17/05/01
Matthew Parris: A craven audience at court of King Tony - 17/05/01 an elderly man with glasses was suddenly pinned to the wall by a Labour Party marshal. It was done with huge violence and took the old man by surprise. And in walked Tony Blair
Minister urged to quit over Army mergers - 17/05/01 Iain Duncan Smith, the Shadow Defence Secretary, accused Mr Spellar of mounting a cover-up so as not to lose votes in Scotland
No defence - 17/05/01 Iain Duncan Smith, the shadow defence secretary, has accused the minister of not telling the truth, and he has called for his resignation. He is justified in doing so
Lowest turnout since 1918 forecast - 17/05/01
Anthony King: Election Analysis - 17/05/01 Gallup's latest survey suggests that the main parties and their leaders have been wasting their time
Fight for the grey vote - 17/05/01 In Labour's election manifesto this time, the word pensioner is mentioned 76 times, compared to only 30 times in the 1997 manifesto
Will Labour get more radical? - 17/05/01 The big pledge in 1997 was to cut class sizes for five to seven year olds. This time there are no specific targets for reducing class sizes
Prescott 'regrets' blow - 17/05/01
Hague: 'Keep cool' Prescott - 17/05/01
Woodward to face challenge - 17/05/01 from a party activist who is to run against him as an independent socialist
Widdecombe woos police - 17/05/01 Shadow home secretary Ann Widdecombe has won an enthusiastic reception from the Police Federation conference - in marked contrast to the boos received by Labour's Jack Straw on Wednesday... in a swipe at political correctness, which she blamed for damaging officers' morale, she promised "more PCs, less PC" if the Conservatives won the election
Stars back Labour - 17/05/01
Prescott calls in the minders - 18/05/01 he will have protection from Special Branch officers for the rest of the election campaign
The clenched fist - 18/05/01 Many who watched the fracas on television will have been strongly reminded of Labour's quality of yobbery that Blairites are at such pains to conceal. Not for nothing is the clenched fist a traditional symbol of socialism
Blair woos 'one nation' Tories - 18/05/01
Suppose they threw an election and no one came - 18/05/01
Hague raises poll stakes with attack on asylum rackets - 18/05/01 The number of people applying for asylum has more than doubled since 1997 and last year the figure reached a record 76,000 - nearly 100,000 if dependants are included
Maths test forces new teachers to quit - 18/05/01 teachers are quitting the profession because they cannot pass a Government-imposed computerised test that has no relevance to their ability to teach
Frank Johnson: Campaign Sketch - 18/05/01
Hague stokes asylum row - 18/05/01 he pledged to speed up asylum seeker applications and decisions
Hard hat for Prescott - 18/05/01 Some journalists were ordered to leave before Mr Prescott arrived despite having previously been cleared by security
Labour woos grey vote - 19/05/01 Hague accusing Labour of "cheek" following the 75p-a-week rise in the basic pension
Tories target schools 'crisis' - 19/05/01 accusing Labour of being hostile to the best schools in the country and eroding head teachers' power
Punch fails to hit Labour - 19/05/01
Truth watch: election broadcasts - 20/05/01
Silent partner - 20/05/01 Profile: Ffion Hague
Neighbours reject Blair in his own constituency - 20/05/01 many are saying that they will not be voting Labour for the first time in their lives
Labour accused of 'gimmickry' over low fares for pensioners - 20/05/01 as the party unveiled a 10-point "charter for pensioners"
A day for tea and cake - but not an egg in sight - 20/05/01
What must Labour do to lose this election - 20/05/01
Prescott, me and the PM's teddy - 20/05/01 the last time I came face to face with John Prescott I thought he was going to hit me
Mr Blair's problem is not cynicism, but hope - 20/05/01 The real prize fight last week was between Blair and the public - formerly known as "the People"
Labour plans to set limit for numbers of asylum-seekers - 20/05/01
Revealed: the pay policy Labour wants to hide - 20/05/01 it would cost industry about £150 million a year. Labour ministers wanted to bury it during the election campaign, but it has been leaked
Nurses condemn 'Third World' health service - 20/05/01
'Dirty' NHS is big issue for floating voters - 20/05/01
Labour moves away from foxhunting ban - 20/05/01
Parties talk tough on crime - 20/05/01
Blair under fire from boardrooms - 21/05/01 Labour's claim to have replaced the Conservatives as the party of business is challenged today by more than 140 leading businessmen and women
Business's big guns sign up for the Tories - 21/05/01
Labour is bad for business - 21/05/01 The party can miss its pledges on the public services; it can alienate the police; it can even assault voters physically. But as long as mortgage rates keep falling, no one cares
TV to blame for protests, says Labour - 22/05/01 Labour officials appeared angry and embarrassed that its attempt to put pressure on broadcasters had leaked out
Labour has no policy other than annihilating the Tories - 22/05/01 Gordon Brown has taken to talking about "irresponsible" Tory tax cuts as if it was inherently immoral to allow people to keep and spend their own earnings
Top head attacks Blair 'false dawn' - 22/05/01 head teachers are "overburdened with bureaucracy" and teachers are demoralised
Labour dashed our education hopes, says head - 22/05/01 "The whole of the nation's schools are being treated as if they were in the bottom 10%"
We'll cut red tape, Hague tells business - 22/05/01
Tories promise to raise all pensions - 22/05/01
Film producer gives credit to the Tories - 22/05/01 a second Labour term would "pose a significant risk to Britain's future prosperity"
Overkill - 22/05/01 It is a tribute to Labour's presentational skills that, as the number of slaughtered animals has climbed above three million, foot and mouth has virtually disappeared from the news
NHS plan hit by TV row - 22/05/01 Labour general secretary Margaret McDonagh wrote confidentially to broadcasters accusing them of "inciting and colluding with" anti-government protesters
Farming row erupts - 22/05/01 Foot-and-mouth has resurfaced as an election issue - with the government being accused of giving misleading information about the extent of the disease's decline
Prescott's rating falls - 22/05/01
Where have all the posters gone? - 22/05/01
Gordon Brown's phone-in - 22/05/01 Whoever you were, wherever you were calling from, and regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation, Mr Brown was willing to be evasive with you
Labour is 'kebabbed' once more over tax plans - 22/05/01 Alistair Darling was ambushed by journalists asking whether Labour would bring in a further rise in NI contributions
Tories draw blood over Labour tax policy - 22/05/01
Brown rules out big rises in tax - 23/05/01 but not lots of little rises
Labour wriggles over 50pc tax - 23/05/01 As Mr Brown stonewalled at the press conference, he was seen fiddling nervously with his pen
How Brown can quietly raise taxes to 50 per cent of income - 23/05/01 Gordon Brown has imposed £1 billion a week in extra taxes since Labour came to power and got away with it Scot-free
I would never give up the pound, declares Thatcher - 23/05/01 "New Labour in its shrivelled heart" was embarrassed by Britain's history and was seeking to remove Britain's sovereignty by "stealth"
Iron Lady attacks 'arrogant' New Labour - 23/05/01 "The greatest issue in this election is whether Britain is to remain a free, independent nation state. Or whether we are to be dissolved in a federal Europe. There are no half-measures, no third ways - and no second chances"
Euro was Nazi idea, says Tory veteran - 23/05/01 "A single European currency was first proposed by the Nazi Reichsbank to Hitler at the time of Dunkirk as a means of perpetuating German dominance in Europe. Now it is EU policy."
Leader: Hard pounding - 23/05/01 Tax and Europe were the two issues that both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown most wished to avoid
Blair clears TV over 'protest collusion' - 23/05/01 Labour is now trying to justify Miss McDonagh's outburst - seen at Westminster as a crude attempt to "lean" on the broadcasters
Blair tries to woo back women voters - 23/05/01 he faced his first all-women audience since his disastrous appearance before the Women's Institute last year... Blair tries to woo back women voters - 23/05/01 he faced his first all-women audience since his disastrous appearance before the Women's Institute last year... Blair tries to woo back women voters - 23/05/01 he faced his first all-women audience since his disastrous appearance before the Women's Institute last year... Blair tries to woo back women voters - 23/05/01 he faced his first all-women audience since his disastrous appearance before the Women's Institute last year... Blair tries to woo back women voters - 23/05/01 he faced his first all-women audience since his disastrous appearance before the Women's Institute last year... Blair tries to woo back women voters - 23/05/01 he faced his first all-women audience since his disastrous appearance before the Women's Institute last year... Blair tries to woo back women voters - 23/05/01 he faced his first all-women audience since his disastrous appearance before the Women's Institute last year... Blair tries to woo back women voters - 23/05/01
he faced his first all-women audience since his disastrous appearance before the Women's Institute last year... But they're tired of broken promises and gimmicks - 23/05/01
Parties battle over Europe - 23/05/01
Parties on defensive over Europe - 23/05/01
Jordan seeks swing vote - 23/05/01
Labour 'boost' for schools - 23/05/01 Blunkett promises an extra 10,000 teachers by 2006
Blair signals more private state schools - 23/05/01
Brown seeks lead in Europe - 23/05/01 lead balloons?
Not even Prescott's punch can knock out the voters' cynicism - 24/05/01 most people are unimpressed by the politicians
The cap fits - 24/05/01 Gordon Brown hurriedly appeared on television to allay fears that he might abolish the ceiling on NI contributions
NHS ops at risk - Labour - 24/05/01
Kennedy blasts Labour - 24/05/01 the British people had voted for a change of policy in 1997, but had just got "a change of party"
Ancram confronts Labour on tax - 24/05/01
Parties draw battle lines over Europe - 25/05/01 Tony Blair yesterday gave his strongest indication yet that Labour wants to scrap the pound if it returns to power on June 7
No stopping federal advance - 25/05/01 plans to turn the EU into a full-fledged superstate are moving at "lighting speed"
Turning the European tide - 25/05/01 why does Mr Blair talk of leaving the EU as though it were something so utterly unthinkable? Is he saying he wants to be at the heart of the EU regardless of how great the disadvantages might be? Is he committing Labour to EU membership for ever?
Frank Johnson: Campaign Sketch - 25/05/01 voters do not seem to want someone amusing, knowledgable and convincing. They prefer Tony Blair
David Hare's election - 25/05/01 "Mandelson's reality is better than the illusion of exile"
Mass slaughter 'must go on' - 25/05/01 "We want an end to foot and mouth. Labour wants and end to British agriculture."
It won't be only Tories who are buried in a landslide - 25/05/01
Brown gets the blame for party's 'invisible' women - 25/05/01 Gordon Brown is being blamed personally by Labour women for presenting the party as "one massive boys' club"
Tories go on the attack over neglected defence issue - 25/05/01 the forces could no longer cope with the same number of commitments, especially with the Army so short of soldiers
Labour to eject Woodward rebel - 25/05/01 Lord Stoddart of Swindon will be ejected from the party after endorsing a breakaway candidate standing against ex-Tory Shaun Woodward
Blair talks up euro - 25/05/01 under Labour "the pound is doomed"
Tories allege schools failure - 25/05/01
Maff reveals 1,500 more virus farms - 26/05/01 The true number of farms infected with foot and mouth disease so far is likely to be more than 3,000, almost double the present official total of 1,637
Labour shuns rural wasteland - 26/05/01
Hague seeks to turn the election into vote on euro - 26/05/01
Tories playing with fire on EU, says Blair - 26/05/01
Two weeks to save the pound, says Hague - 26/05/01 The cost of scrapping the Pound is £36,000,000,000 - equivalent to building a whole new Millennium Dome every month for the next three years - and what do we get in return? Nothing
Blair's 1982 election leaflet: "Above all, the EEC takes away Britain's freedom to follow the economic policies we need"
The euro - let's have the facts - 26/05/01 the Prime Minister has for the first time come out fighting for the single currency
'No blank cheque' for Brown - 26/05/01 Blair's remarks were seen at Westminster as a deliberate attempt to re-assert his own authority
Times: The Labour pound: Britain will thrive best in Europe outside the single currency - 26/05/01 EMU has always been a political venture and is so described in every European country but this
Time to change Labour's single currency mantra - 26/05/01
Chancellor says it all on Ladies' Day - 26/05/01 journalists noticed how women had become a "token" presence at Labour's morning press conferences, their role being generally to read out a prepared statement, then keep quiet while the men answered questions
Hague warns of euro defeat - 26/05/01
Milburn: Tories pose a 'trojan horse' threat to the NHS - 26/05/01 But Labour faced embarrassment when staff shortages forced the closure of a paediatric unit in Rochdale shortly before Cherie Blair was due to visit
Labour targets crime cash - 27/05/01
Labour chases crime barons - 27/05/01
Hague woos rural vote - 27/05/01
Blair film gets personal - 27/05/01 a "nauseatingly hypocritical vanity film"
Jospin reveals 'superstate' plan - 29/05/01 Labour, clearly embarrassed, sought to divert attention
Forget the Tories: what about Labour's splits on Europe? - 29/05/01 How Labour has managed to avoid any focus on its own splits for so long is one of the great political mysteries
Leader: An election about Europe - 29/05/01 If even a quarter of M Jospin's agenda were implemented, the EU would become a state in its own right
Tories say euro vote must refer to pound - 29/05/01
Michael Gove: Don't trust Blair and his patriot games - 29/05/01 The PM's disdain for our history is matched only by his ignorance of it
Be bold in Europe - Blair - 29/05/01 Romano Prodi is expected to demand more power for Brussels
Family-friendly Tory tax plans - 29/05/01
Labour woos business - 29/05/01
Labour 'threat' to free NHS - 29/05/01 The most vulnerable will be badly hit by Labour's plans, warn health care experts
Blair: 'This poll matters' - 29/05/01
'Tell us euro cost' - Hague - 29/05/01
All is not lost - Thatcher - 29/05/01
Tax plan fans Europe row - 29/05/01 John Major accused Labour under Tony Blair of "bare-faced deception"
The campaign turns personal - 30/05/01 Labour launched a poster depicting Mr Hague's head with Lady Thatcher's hair, while John Major attacked the Prime Minister's record of "spin and deceit"
Tom Uttley: Eight reasons why Tony Blair has got it in for me - 30/05/01
The character question - 30/05/01 The Tory leader is clever, honest, plucky, determined and says what he thinks. Mr Blair is clever, far from straight and distinctly wobbly under fire. There is a genuine choice to be made here
Blair accused of 'suspect judgment' in Microsoft visit - 30/05/01 Television viewers saw Mr Blair framed by the company's logo and the name of the product, barely 24 hours before its launch
Brown offers tax lure to boost business backing - 30/05/01
Brown sidesteps Tory devaluation challenge - 30/05/01
Blair defends 'key workers' - 30/05/01
Blair faces angry voters - 30/05/01 A mother whose daughter is waiting for a bone marrow transplant challenged Prime Minister Tony Blair to do more to help.. "No, Mr Blair it's just not good enough"
Brown plans a tax on Child Benefit, claim Tories - 31/05/01 Labour's manifesto does not repeat the 1997 commitment to retain "universal" Child Benefit and to uprate it in line with prices
Heads vote to take action - 31/05/01 in protest at the increased workload they blame on Labour's initiatives
Parties war on family matters - 31/05/01
Labour targets voter apathy - 31/05/01
Campbell's pay-off queried - 31/05/01 ...public perception that Labour was receiving an "inappropriate subsidy from the taxpayer"
School and health chiefs attack Blair - 01/06/01 As he promised a "crusade" to improve education and health, teachers and doctors' leaders said he had presided over third world standards that brought shame on the country
Blair let us down, say parents of dying child who had tea at No 10 - 01/06/01
Winning the middle-class vote - 01/06/01 everyone seems to have changed sides, even the candidates
What the parties promise on education - 01/06/01 shortly before the last election, Tony Blair was quoted as saying: "Labour has no plans to introduce tuition fees for higher education." In fact, tuition fees were introduced in England and Wales in 1998 and are now set at £1,050
What the parties promise on health - 01/06/01 Labour froze health spending for two years when it came to power and is now struggling to tackle the on-going crisis in the NHS
Thatcher warning on landslide - 01/06/01 "I applaud strong government, but not overweening government sustained by cronies, ciphers and a personality cult"
Tony Blair is committed to the extinction of Britain - by Margaret Thatcher - 01/06/01 Whether Mr Blair was sincere four years ago I do not know. But if he was, he rapidly changed his mind
GP vote sparks poll row - 01/06/01 they are threatening to quit the service unless they are given improved contracts
Labour poll rating hits low - 01/06/01
Health cover at risk as GPs threaten to quit NHS - 02/06/01
He said that last time - 02/06/01 The message of this year's Labour campaign is almost exactly the same as last time: schools and hospitals are in a terrible state of neglect; vote Labour to save them
Cut burden or we will quit NHS, warn GPs - 02/06/01
Labour is 'running scared' of Humphrys - 02/06/01 by refusing to allow any of its ministers to go on the Today programme
Tactical voting row - 02/06/01
Blair will have big problems if he wins by a landslide, say Labour politicians - 02/06/01
Mixed picture from Sunday polls - 02/06/01
Tories take pop at Blair - 02/06/01
Labour lead cut - 05/06/01
Hague must lose, says Blair - 05/06/01
Blair rattled, says Hague - 05/06/01
Battling Kennedy rattles Labour - 06/06/01
Blair's centre-Left coalition could be split by the euro - 06/06/01
Analysis: You're not safe with Labour - 06/06/01 Except for some improvement at primary level, schools are no better under Labour. The NHS, its pride and joy, is actually worse
Leaders stage final blitz - 06/06/01
Pound hits 15-year low - 06/06/01 A report that Labour will use a landslide general election victory as a platform for launching Britain into the eurozone has prompted a fall in sterling to $1.3920
United Kingdom Election Results
New cabinet: At-a-glance - 08/06/01
Cabinet Reshuffle - 08/06/01 who's who
Cook loses Foreign Office - 08/06/01
Cabinet in his own image - 08/06/01
Blair looks to future - 08/06/01
Blair's team starts work - 09/06/01
Blair stamps seal on power - 10/06/01
Vaz out, Harman in - 11/06/01
The junior ministerial team - 11/06/01
Blair settles some old scores - 11/06/01 Blair has used his post-election reshuffle to pay off a few debts, settle a few scores - and hand ministers and himself a whopping pay rise
Blair sparks pay row - 12/06/01 Tony Blair's decision to award himself a £50,000 pay rise three days after winning an election landslide will be seen by many as a severe misjudgement
Blair under fire over pay - 12/06/01 Even the pro-Blair Mirror newspaper criticised Mr Blair's 40% pay rise
Blair - The Sequel: Judge for yourself - 12/06/01
The Queen's Speech
Queen's Speech: At-a-glance - 20/06/01
General election coverage is a big turn-off for TV viewers - 01/10/01