Prime minister Tony Blair announced a May 5 polling date on Tuesday and then took to the campaign trail, as did his opposition counterparts. But they returned to the House of Commons yesterday for a last pre-election joust at prime minister?s questions. A lively 30 minutes was guaranteed. As the party leaders tend not to face each other in live televised debates, this could be the last time they are face-to-face before polling day. Pope John Paul?s funeral on Friday and the royal wedding of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles a day later will keep election frenzy muted for a few days yet. Blair will attend both ceremonies.

In the meantime, ministers will try and ram outstanding legislation through parliament before it dissolves on Monday. Officials said only about 16 of 28 bills would make it and warned parliamentarians to be prepared for late-night sessions yesterday and today although members facing tight races in their constituencies will be allowed to return to their home patches to start campaigning.

<B>Thwarting law</B>

High profile casualties will include government plans to introduce compulsory identity cards, which it says will help target potential terrorists, and a section of the Serious and Organised Crime Bill outlawing incitement to religious hatred.

Government business manager Peter Hain blamed opposition Conservatives for thwarting law that Muslim leaders say they would welcome. ?They bear full responsibility for blocking it and I am sure the Muslim communities right across Britain will take very careful note of that,? Hain said. Since waging war in Iraq, many Muslims ? traditional Labour supporters ? have turned against Blair. They are now a major target group for all parties. All lost bills could be reintroduced if the ruling Labour Party wins the May 5 election as polls suggest. Blair will clash with Conservative leader Michael Howard and Liberal Democrat Charles Kennedy at 12 p.m.

Their themes are already well aired. Blair says eight years of economic stability will allow him to entrench investment in key public services, and accuses the Conservatives of planning to slash that money. He repeated that message in a handwritten letter to readers of the traditionally Labour supporting Daily Mirror.

In the 5-page note, published in the paper?s yesterday edition, Blair acknowledged ?big disagreements? over Iraq, but urged voters to look at Labour?s economic record. Howard says Blair has broken a litany of promises since taking power in 1997 and has lost the trust of the people. Kennedy, pledging a positive campaign, will emphasise that his was the only major party to oppose war in Iraq.

<B>Mike PEACOCK</B>

<B>TONY BLAIR </B>

For the 51-year-old Blair, the youthful looks and public admiration that swept him to power in 1997 are long gone, the latter washed away by widespread opposition to his decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq. But Blair is determined to win a third successive term ? a first for a Labour leader ? and opinion polls suggest he will succeed. Following medical treatment to regulate his heartbeat last year, Blair said he would not seek a fourth term.

After backing US President George W. Bush over Iraq, and with no evidence of the weapons of mass destruction the two leaders said Saddam Hussein possessed, Blair?s public trust ratings have slumped. It is a far cry from 2001 when he led his party to its second successive landslide election win. At that stage the Scottish-born barrister could do no wrong. Blair became party leader in 1994 after predecessor John Smith died of a heart attack and promptly set about severing its socialist roots and reshaping it to appeal to middle-class England, preserve of the Conservatives who had held power since 1979.

In 1997, he was rewarded with a huge parliamentary majority.

■ <B> MICHAEL HOWARD, CONSERVATIVE PARTY LEADER</B>

Son of Jewish immigrants, Howard, 63, from Romania, is an astute, Cambridge University-educated barrister with a forensic mind who has proved a match for Blair in parliamentary debates. But he is still linked to Conservative governments of the late 1980s and 1990s. Then, he courted controversy as a hardliner and launched the punitive poll tax which sparked nationwide protests and sped the demise of Margaret Thatcher.

Hoping to capitalise on a slump in public trust in Blair, Howard trumpets honesty and honour as key credentials. But he has struggled to shake off being described as having «something of the night about him» by a party colleague during a dispute in 1997. Cartoonists delight in depicting him as Count Dracula. His election campaign got off to a strong start with initiatives to curb immigration and reform public services that put Blair on the back foot.

■ <B>CHARLES KENNEDY, LIBERAL DEMOCRAT LEADER</B>

Kennedy, 45, son of a farmer from Scotland?s remote Highlands, is the country?s most popular mainstream party leader. Opposition to the war in Iraq proved a vote winner and support for his Liberal Democrats surged last year to its highest level since the party was formed in 1988. The ginger-haired Scot was Britain?s youngest politician when he entered parliament in 1983 for the Liberal Democrats? predecessor party. Since taking over as leader in 1999, he has steered it away from previous close ties with Labour.

■ <B>CHANCELLOR GORDON BROWN</B>

Brown, 54, remains the man most likely to succeed Blair as prime minister but the brooding Scot has waited a long time for the top job in politics. Blair and Brown both entered parliament in 1983 and rapidly rose through the ranks of a Labour Party struggling to reinvent itself. Brown was always the senior in the partnership. Labour folklore has it, however, that when party boss John Smith died in 1994, Brown agreed to give Blair a clear run at the leadership on the understanding he would one day take over and in the meantime be given unprecedented control of domestic policy as finance minister. Blair?s allies deny any such deal. Brown?s say it happened and should have been honoured by now. Their tempestuous relationship hit a new low earlier this year when Blair stripped Brown of his traditional role heading election strategy. Rumours are rife that Blair will move him from the Treasury if Labour wins the election comfortably, but most party insiders say that is unlikely as it would at a stroke free the powerful Brown to start actively lobbying against his boss. For eight years as chancellor, Brown has delivered solid economic growth. That remains his party?s strongest card.