carefully created and choreographed
by their party leaders.
The Prime Minister began his "canteen campaign" taking the high speed rail link to Kent, he greeted surprised shoppers in Morrisons, a couple of them wishing him good luck and one even pledging his support for Mr Brown. He then talked to Morrison's employees in a the canteen, about a range of issues, none of them political, although the workers told the press after they were surprisingly impressed by Mr Brown's charm. He then drove on to Gillingham where he visited the home of two Labour supporters and chatted over tea and cakes.
David Cameron began the day in front of County Hall on the banks of the Thames, surrounded by workers from Central Office and ethnic minority Tory candidates. He decided to arrogantly launch his campaign even before the Prime Minister had formally announced the start of the election. In his speech he said the election, should be about “people power”: “We know that politicians should be accountable to people, answerable to people, and not the other way round . . . We need to make people feel proud again of that building over there.” “I want to tell you what I am fighting this election for — it is the people I call the Great Ignored: they may be black or white. They may be rich or poor. They may live in the town or the country.”
From London, Mr Cameron skipped by train to Birmingham, where he visited the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, highlighting his promise to put the NHS at the forefront of his campaign.He finished the first day of the campaign with an evening rally in Leeds at which he insisted Labour’s national insurance rise would wreck the economic recovery.
Nick Clegg launched his campaign on a street in Westminster with his "political wife" Vince Cable. He declared "Today is the beginning of the end for Gordon Brown". Mr Clegg then moved on to the three way marginal seat in Watford, he addressed students at a church hall saying “This country, Britain, has now had Labour and Conservative governments for 65 years just doing the same old thing,”, he went on to outline his key pledges “No tax on the first £10,000 you earn,” and recall of MPs shown to be corrupt. “That’s the change you can trust,” he said, reaching his finale. “That’s the change that works for you.”
