Labour's much-awaited manifesto launch saw the prime minister and most of the cabinet onstage together waving little red books bearing the title "Britain for war", sorry, "Britain forward not back".

It was almost as if we were watching some archive footage from a party rally in pre-revolutionary eastern bloc state, or, as Jenny Booth writes in The Times, the morning gathering at an exclusive educational establishment.

Seven school prefects stood at the front, and launched into a well-drilled recital of Labour's achievements. One voice followed another in a monotonous chorus like a dreary presentation at assembly. Nobody smiled, with the exception of a few smirks from Ruth Kelly, the youthful Education Secretary, who looked rather smug at being in the top team.

The launch of Mr Blair's - apparently - final manifesto as party leader immediately reopened arguments about what exactly constitutes a "full term" and what may be the substance of any deal with Gordon Brown.

The chancellor, meanwhile, was continuing the attack over Conservative tax plans, after Tory confusion over whether or tax cuts promised in their own manifesto would actually be implemented immediately.

Michael Howard himself was highlighting how difficult it was to get a good tradesman these days.

Elsewhere, Charles Kennedy, the NHS's latest satisfied customer, is expected back on the campaign trail on Thursday, with the delayed launch of the Lib Dems' manifesto - the only one of the three major parties to have their leader's picture on the cover - relieving Menzies Campbell from encounters with persistent elderly voters.

The party's first election broadcast concentrated on their recent by-election successes and stressed their growing support among disenchanted Labour supporters. Audience figures, from earlier in the week, meanwhile, indicate that the first Tory broadcast drew more viewers than Anthony Minghella's Blair-Brown piece.