Vote out 'liar' Blair - Conservatives

Tony Blair's main rival accused him yesterday of lying over the Iraq war, seeking to damage the Prime Minister over an issue that could prove the weakest link in his campaign for re-election on May 5.

Polls put the centre-left Labour party on course for an unprecedented third term but point to the first real electoral contest since 1992. The impact of Iraq remains a big unknown.

Conservative leader Michael Howard, who backed the conflict, urged voters to pass judgment on Mr Blair's integrity while the third-placed Liberal Democrats prepared to put Iraq at the heart of their campaign to capitalise on their opposition to the war.

"He has told lies to win elections. On the one thing on which he has taken a stand in the eight years he has been Prime Minister, which is taking us to war, he didn't even tell the truth on that," Mr Howard told BBC Television.

The charge - Mr Howard's most vicious attack yet on Mr Blair's honesty - overshadowed the prime minister's efforts to flag up his commitment to international aid on World Poverty Day.

Iraq has barely featured in the race so far with the Conservatives hamstrung by their support for the conflict. Mr Blair's opponents now appear determined to change that dynamic.

With polls showing the Conservatives have failed to make inroads on voters' main priorities like health and education, Mr Howard sought to turn the poll into a referendum on Mr Blair.

The election was the public's last chance to "make a judgment on Mr Blair's character", Mr Howard said, adding the prime minister had made many "broken promises" including on tax.

Most Britons opposed the war before it began and the failure to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has eroded trust in Mr Blair, whose sky-high popularity ratings helped Labour storm to victory in 1997 and again in 2001.

Polls show Iraq is not high on the agenda for most British voters but Labour fears anger over the war may prompt many supporters to stay at home or back the Liberal Democrats.

Two separate polls gave Labour a lead of between four points and six points over the Conservatives. Britain's electoral map, which concentrates constituencies in Labour's urban strongholds, means the Conservatives must win a larger share of the vote than Labour to take power.

But Labour's huge parliamentary majority is at risk. A smaller Labour majority could hamper Mr Blair's legislative plans and turn him into a lame duck leader, analysts say, especially since he has said he will not serve a fourth term.

Mr Howard's attack came as a fresh row erupted over the legal advice behind the decision to wage war on Iraq. The rightwing Mail on Sunday newspaper claimed it had new information that proved Mr Blair had misled Britain over the legal position.

The paper said the government's top lawyer Attorney General Lord Goldsmith had spelled out in March 2003 six reasons why Mr Blair might be in breach of international law if he went to war without a second United Nations resolution. But the paper did not publish any direct quotes from Lord Goldsmith's document and the government dismissed the report as unfounded.

"Our view is the war was legal then, it remains legal now," Labour's Baroness Amos told Sky News.