http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000118613908976&rtmo=wei0wKjb&atmo=rrrrrrrq&pg=/et/01/5/3/nfnm03.html

Thursday 3 May 2001

BLAIR TO GIVE PRESS CONFERENCE SAYING FOOT AND MOUTH EPIDEMIC IS UNDER CONTROL!

'Epidemic over, now for election'
By George Jones, Political Editor

TONY BLAIR will effectively fire the starting gun for a June 7 general election by calling a Downing Street press conference today to declare that the Government is winning the battle against foot and mouth.

He will be flanked by Nick Brown, the Agriculture Minister, Jim Scudamore, the chief vet, and Prof David King, the chief scientist, who has been the driving force behind the culling policy.

Mr Blair's decision to front such a high-profile press conference at No 10 was seen as an indication of his confidence that the epidemic - which forced the postponement of the election from May to June - is well under control.

A formal announcement of the election is not expected until next Tuesday or Wednesday. However, the electioneering atmosphere during Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons left no doubt that all parties believe the campaign is already under way.

Mr Blair told MPs that the Government was concentrating on eradicating "the last part of the epidemic". He paid tribute to the Army and Ministry of Agriculture officials for their "heroic" work at a local level and for managing, within two months of the start of the epidemic, to bring the numbers of new cases down to single figures each day.

William Hague poured scorn on Mr Blair's handling of the crisis. The Tory leader claimed that last week the Prime Minister had allowed the "whole of Government policy to be dictated" by the decision to save Phoenix the calf from being slaughtered.

Labour's confidence was boosted by two opinion polls showing it on course for another landslide victory. A Mori poll for the Sun put Labour on 50 per cent, the Tories on 32 and the Liberal Democrats on 13.

An NOP poll commissioned for Channel 4's Powerhouse programme gave Labour a 51 per cent share of the vote with the Tories on 29 and Liberal Democrats 13. If that was the outcome on June 7, Mr Blair would have a Commons majority of 250.

The Conservatives, reeling from leadership rumours and the racism row, hit back with a pre-election poster showing the image of a heavily pregnant Mr Blair. The slogan read, "four years of Labour and he still hasn't delivered".