March 10, 1997. Copyright, 1997, UK News. All rights reserved

ELECTION WATCH     N038      314  words

Tory defector Sir George Gardiner said five or six Tory MPs had supported and sympathised with his decision to join Sir James Goldsmith's Referendum Party.

Sir George, who quit the Tories after being de-selected as their candidate in Reigate, Surrey, wrote off his former party's chances of winning the General Election.

Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown has challenged voters to pay 45p a week more in income tax to improve the schooling of Britain's children.
At his partyÕs Spring Conference in Cardiff, Mr Ashdown spelled out the implications of his plan for 1p in the pound on income tax for better education.

Labour leader Tony Blair gets the vote of Oasis star Noel Gallagher, funnyman David Baddiel and former gangster Mad Frankie Fraser, according to a survey of celebritiesÕ voting intentions published by Esquire magazine.
But the survey showed Mr Blair will be hard pushed to convince comedian Bernard Manning that he would make a good Prime Minister.

Paddy Ashdown has launched a campaign to prevent his party being squeezed between Labour and the Tories at the General Election.
He presented the Liberal Democrats as Ôthe radical alternativeÕ to the two bigger parties in a speech to the partyÕs Spring Conference in Cardiff.

Gordon Brown has eased his ÔIron ChancellorÕ stance by pledging that a Labour Government would declare war on poverty.
He told the Scottish Labour Party Conference in Inverness that he believed Middle England would back a crusade to spread prosperity across the UK.

Paddy Ashdown is the party leader most people would trust with their DIY tasks.
The Liberal Democrat leader was considered more trustworthy than Tony Blair and Prime Minister John Major, according to a poll for House Beautiful magazine. 

There are now a maximum of 74 days left before a General Election must be held, including today and election day. The last possible date is May 22.

/ENDS

Sources: UK News