Rupert Murdoch's speech aligning himself with Labour's position on immigration has led to the assumption that The Currant Bun will eventually endorse the government.

A far cry from this, or even this...

Michael Howard, meanwhile, has been standing firm on his position on the immigration issue, denying that senior Tories had put pressure on him to tone done the rhetoric for fear of alienating voters - particularly following the angry reaction of a questioner on live television.


As speculation continues over the structure of any deal on a "transition of power" between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, what is thought to be the site of the original deal between the two, the Granita restaurant in Islington has reopened, after a brief refurbishment, as a Tex-Mex establishment called Desperados...


An NOP poll for The Independent shows that Mr Brown "would lead Labour to a majority of 234".

The paper reports:

NOP's findings call into question a claim often made by the Blair camp - that Mr Brown would have less appeal to non-Labour voters than Mr Blair. Some 36 per cent of Tory supporters trust the Chancellor to keep his promises, while only 7 per cent trust the Prime Minister. Among Liberal Democrats, 50 per cent trust Mr Brown and 8 per cent Mr Blair.

Mr Blair's "trust problem" appears greatest amongst the top AB group, who are three times more likely to believe Mr Brown than him.

The trust issue as it relates to the war in Iraq is what is driving Reg Keys, who lost his son in the conflict, to stand against the prime minister in his Sedgefield constituency, while Martin Samuel writes in The Times that the campaign has become the "Basil Fawlty election", with everyone trying not to mention the war.

He writes:

"As it stands, there is a very real danger that we will re-elect a prime minister who has overseen the most fundamental change in foreign policy since the dissolution of the Empire, without forcing a proper debate of his beliefs. Wherever one stands on the subject of the war, this is unhealthy."