Labour: Blair looks to old friend for new direction

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former press chief, is back at the prime minister's side playing a leading role in running Labour's general election campaign.

Best-known for his robust handling of the media, the former tabloid journalist quit as the prime minster's communications director in 2003.

He left soon after the Iraq war and in the wake of a row with the BBC over allegations that Downing Street "sexed up" an intelligence dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

The Hutton inquiry cleared Mr Campbell of any wrongdoing. His decision to go, before the inquiry reported its findings, deprived Mr Blair of his closest ally and an effective operator. But he had become too much a part of the news himself, despite opting for a more behind-the-scenes role.

Mr Campbell, the partner of Fiona Millar, a former adviser to Cherie Blair, the prime minister's wife, read modern languages at Cambridge.

Before entering journalism, he made money by writing pornographic stories for the men's magazine Forum. By the age of 29, he had become news editor of a paper called Sunday Today.

But the publication ran into difficulties early on and that experience contritubuted to a nervous breakdown.

Mr Campbell emerged from the breakdown a stronger, more driven character. He gave up alcohol and continued to build his media career, becoming poltical editor of the Daily Mirror.

It was while in this job that he became close to Labour's leading politicians, working with Neil Kinnock, the party's former leader, before resigning to become Mr Blair's spokesman when he was opposition leader.

He was one of the architects of Labour's landslide election victory in 1997 and went on to set up a formidable news operation in Whitehall that sought to control the news agenda.

By Christopher Adams, Political Correspondent

Conservatives: Australian import makes his mark

Lynton Crosby must be good: Labour has called for him to be sent back home to Australia.

The man running Michael Howard's election campaign has developed a fearsome reputation since he was appointed in October.

It's easy to see why. In 2001, while the Tory leader was just a backbench MP, Mr Crosby helped Mr Howard's Australian namesake to an unexpected victory at the ballot box.

Tough tactics on immigration were widely credited with handing John Howard the election. Now, Mr Crosby is trying to do the same for the British Conservative leader.

The 48-year-old Mr Crosby has been variously described as a "genius" and a "force for good" by senior Tories. His uncompromising messages on asylum, immigration, illegal gypsy camps, crime and MRSA have helped the Conservatives give Tony Blair a run for his money.

The youngest of three children, Mr Crosby grew up in the cereal farming community of Kadina in South Australia. After a degree at Adelaide University he stood for the Liberals, the Australian equivalent of the Tory party, in Queensland in 1982.

Having lost, he switched from frontline politics to become a backroom boy, rising to become the party's state secretary.

The Australian Mr Howard has said: "There's no better political strategist in Australia."

But it is not just strategy expertise that the British Mr Howard has come to appreciate in Mr Crosby.

He has also brought a discipline to the Tory ranks that, until the row over Howard Flight's remarks on taxation and spending, has made them look more professional than at any time since the demise of John Major's administration.

That is perhaps why Labour has personally attacked Mr Crosby and his business partner and fellow Australian Mark Textor, who flies into Britain from time to time to lend a hand to the Tory party campaign.

Labour has accused Mr Textor of being a "leading exponent" of "push polling" - the practice of telephoning voters on the pretext of conducting an opinion poll and then making damaging claims about a rival candidate.

And Mr Blair clearly had the Australians in mind when he warned Labour MPs and peers to expect a "nasty, rightwing" campaign from the Tories.

By Cathy Newman, Chief Political Correspondent

Liberal Democrats: Kennedy’s secret weapon

The Liberal Democrats may not have Labour's campaign war chest or the Conservatives' sophisticated data base of target voters, but they have a secret weapon in Lord Rennard.

Little known outside Westminster and Lib Dem circles, Charles Kennedy's chief strategist has an enviable record in notching up by-election breakthroughs for his party. His grasp of local psephology and ability to marshall enthusiastic party activists will be indispensable to the Lib Dem campaign.

The Lib Dems are enjoying their strongest poll ratings during an election campaign since the mid-1980s. In the low 20s in terms of share of the vote, they are 7-8 points above where they were in the 2001 election.

The third party now faces an unprecedented opportunity to reach the mid-20s in share of the vote and make advances against Labour in its northern heartlands while defending and taking seats from the Conservatives in the south.

For the next three weeks Chris Rennard will masterminding Mr Kennedy's campaign to turn disillusionment with Labour and dissatisfaction with Michael Howard's Conservatives into gains for the Lib Dems.

Lord Rennard will seek to make the most of Mr Kennedy's laid back human image and a populist agenda of opposition to the Iraq war, tax rises on the rich and scrapping university tuition fees.

The 44-year old Liverpudlian has spent most of his professional life working for his party, first as an election agent on Merseyside, and the past 15 years at the Lib Dems' Cowley Street headquarters, a stone's throw from parliament.

He is an avid exponent of "pavement politics" - campaigning on local issues and personalities - and believes the Lib Dems' style will play well with voters disenchanted with Westminster politics.

But Lord Rennard also knows that to make the crucial general election breakthrough - beyond the gains of 15-20 MPs that senior MPs privately predict - the Lib Dems have to break through the credibility barrier. Too many voters do not regard them as a serious option for government.

By Ben Hall, Political Correspondent