Election Diary

Good Day

Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister's returning spin supremo, hosted his first one-man press briefing of the campaign. Sporting a British Lions wristband, he snapped at Andrew Marr: "Andy, stop drawing me." The doodling BBC political editor replied: "I can draw and listen at the same time."

Bad Day

Tony Blair was accused of "chickening out" after he refused to take questions from a panel of experts in a live radio broadcast. Labour officials said before the programme that, unlike Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy, Mr Blair would only take listeners' questions. At the insistence of Mr Blair's aides, they were ushered from the studio after questioning Mr Howard and Mr Kennedy.

Gaffe of the Day

Derek Twigg, above, a Schools minister, was booed at the National Association of Head Teachers conference when he insisted school league tables were here to stay.

Spin of the Day

It will cost £18,000 when ballot boxes in parts of Na h-Eileanan an Iar (the Western Isles) are collected by helicopter. The Scottish National Party is squeezing Labour's slim majority.

Quote of the Day

"When I have this type of conversation, a chill goes down my spine. We have not won this election yet." - Tony Blair, refusing to speculate on the size of Labour's likely majority.

Great British elections: Feb 1974

The most miserable election of the 20th century, and possibly ever. By the end of 1973 economic and monetary mismanagement, a quadrupling of the oil price and industrial militancy had plunged Britain into crisis. The coal miners were on strike. The energy shortage was so severe that Tory prime minister, Edward Heath, right, declared a state of emergency and put the country on a "three-day week" to conserve fuel. Heath gambled on a cold election which, he hoped, would answer the question "who governs Britain". Unfortunately for Heath the answer was "not you", and Harold Wilson, became prime minister for the third time. Even so, his was a minority administration, and the Tories were actually a little ahead in the popular vote, although they lagged behind Labour in Commons seats. Apart from the impact of the Scottish and Welsh nationalists, the big excitement of the campaign was the resurgence of the Liberal Party under Jeremy Thorpe, which won 19 per cent of the vote. Wilson ran a minority administration until October when he called another election. He gained a narrow overall majority of three seats. Heath was replaced by Margaret Thatcher.

Sean O'Grady