Election '97: QUOTES OF THE DAY

If there's an anti-sleaze candidate in this country, it's me" - John Major, speaking on 'Today'

"With a pounds 26bn deficit this year, his plans are not credible and will be seen for what they are: a desperate set of promises that would never be delivered were the Tories to win the election" - Gordon Brown

"I was fed up at the last election with rattling around the country conferring the Westminster blessing on some unsuspecting lathe operator in the West Midlands" - Paddy Ashdown

"The Prime Minister has called him a big chicken and we all think he's a big chicken and we want him to sign up and do a debate" - Conservative Central Office, which is to send a fluffy yellow chicken to Labour's election manifesto launch

"We are sure we will persuade Worcester Woman, Worcester Man, Worcester Young Person, Worcester Student and Worcester Pensioner to vote for us. They will all see the danger of Labour as poseurs" - Michael Heseltine, in Worcester

"Today's Tory Party is more like a karaoke party. Every minister is singing a different tune on Europe and none of them knows the right words" - Margaret Beckett

"With the Tories' record on tax you wouldn't believe them whether you are middle-class, working-class or whatever other class" - John Prescott