A UK election roundup
Harry Potter backs Lib Dems
Labour and the Lib Dems rolled out their celebrity supporters yesterday in an attempt to sprinkle a little star dust as their campaigns enter the final days.
In Labour’s final election broadcast, aired last night, former EastEnders actor Ross Kemp (right) appealed to viewers to “spend 60 seconds” to protect their jobs and the economy by voting Labour. Kemp also warned against voting Lib Dem: “Be careful. If you get into bed with Nick Clegg you might just wake up with David Cameron.” The video ended with celebrities including comedians Bill Bailey and Jo Brand and actor Prunella Scales backing Labour.
The Lib Dems, meanwhile, announced a list of high-profile backers including actor Colin Firth, scientist Richard Dawkins, satirist Armanda Iannucci, musicians Brian Eno and Beth Orton, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, and human rights activist Bianca Jagger. Prof Dawkins said he was voting Lib Dem “mostly because scrapping the ludicrous ‘first past the post’ system will turn us into a proper democracy whose benefits will long outlast the next parliament”. Colin Firth said as a former Labour voter, he was “appalled by the abandonment of the values” they had advocated.
24-hour Cameron canvassing blitz
Tory leader David Cameron is promising to pull an all-nighter to mark the winding down of his campaign. He is due to embark on a 24-hour canvassing blitz tonight, during which he says he will travel “the whole length and breadth” of the country and meet people who work in the early hours such as bakers, fishermen and florists. Cameron said there was not “one ounce of complacency” in his campaign and he was taking “no vote for granted”.
Leaflet prompts controversy
The Conservative Party said yesterday that it is investigating how a leaflet targeted at Muslims that claimed Labour was complicit in “a whole saga of atrocities” in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine, was distributed carrying the name of a local Tory party agent in Blackburn. Justice secretary Jack Straw is defending his majority of 8,000 against Tory challenger Michael Law-Riding in the Lancashire constituency, which has a large Muslim population. The leaflet, which was printed in English and Gujarati, also predicted that Straw, who prompted controversy in 2006 when he said the wearing of full-face veils by Muslim women made community relations difficult, would be likely to criticise Muslim beards and prayers caps.