Wearing an open-neck shirt and with sleeves rolled up, Tory leader David Cameron tried hard to tone down his “posh boy'' image as he launched his election campaign barely hours after Prime Minister Gordon Brown underlined his own “ordinary middle class'' background in a swipe at his rival's upper middle class privileged upbringing.
Kicking off the Labour Party's bid for a fourth term, Mr. Brown said: “I come from an ordinary family in an ordinary town...I've never forgotten where I come, or the values — hard work, duty, fairness, telling the truth — my parents instilled in me.''
And, as if to labour the point further, he travelled standard class for his first election meeting in Kent.
Accompanied by his wife Sarah and followed by television cameras, Mr. Brown visited a supermarket canteen and had tea with — well, ordinary voters. Mr. Cameron , meanwhile, likened Mr. Brown and his government to “rust'' describing the election as a “rust versus steel'' contest.
This was meant to be a retort to Labour's barb dismissing him as “plastic'' while portraying Mr. Brown as “granite''.
Barely 24 hours into the month-long campaign and the gloves were already off on Wednesday as the two main parties sought to draw first blood in what is set to be the most bitterly fought election since 1992 when Labour suffered a shock defeat after leading the Tories in the opinion polls right up to the polling day.
A repeat of 1992 would be a blow to the Tories who, despite predictions of a hung Parliament, are several points ahead of Labour.
In a sign of the Tories' desperation, an ill-tempered Mr. Cameron launched a bitter personal attack against Mr. Brown in the Prime Minister's last Question Hour in the Commons on Wednesday accusing him of wrecking the economy.
