Will win a fourth term, says Brown

Cameron says he is fighting for “every vote''

In an intensely emotional appeal to disillusioned Labour voters, Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday beseeched them to “come home'' as the party faced certain defeat in Thursday's general election.

Looking exhausted and desperate, with Labour continuing to trail the Tories in opinion polls, Mr. Brown accused “newspapers, newspaper proprietors, a few television pundits and a few businessmen'' of trying to pre-empt the outcome of the election and said the voters whom he described as “the boss'' had not yet spoken.

Even as the Tories, hoping to form the next government, were already said to be “measuring up the curtains for No 10'', Mr. Brown rubbished the talk of a “Conservative moment''.

“This is not a Conservative moment,” he declared and said Labour remained “determined'' to win a fourth term.

“I'm a fighter, I don't give up. I'm fighting for Britain's future…I'm fighting because I believe in what I'm doing,” he said. As electioneering entered the last phase, leaders of the three main parties were in a last push to mobilise a record number of undecided voters who hold the key to outcome. In what was dubbed a “gimmick'' by critics, Tory leader David Cameron campaigned overnight saying he was fighting for “every vote''.

“I don't want to take anything for granted, it's a very important election, it's a close election and I'm fighting for every vote right down to the wire,” he said as polls suggested that the Tories were likely to emerge as the single largest party in a hung Parliament.

The Liberal Democrats, riding a wave of popularity on the back of their leader Nick Clegg's assured performance in the leaders' television debates, claimed they alone offered “real change''.

“If David Cameron or Gordon Brown gets into Number 10, nothing, nothing will really change at all... We cannot let that happen,” he said as confusion continued to prevail about his party's post-election strategy with the leadership divided over whether to help the Tories or Labour to form a minority government.