In the Express on Sunday she writes that when people “compare the records of Blair and Major, Blair comes across better”. She predicts “a bloodbath in the Tory party” after 1 May.With just four days to go, Mr Major was under pressure to make a last- ditch visit to Brussels campaign to stress his opposition to Euro-federalism.The proposal, which caused a new row within the Conservatives’ already rocky election machine, is opposed by Mr Rifkind, and other pro-Europeans.Contenders to succeed Mr Major began making their presence felt, with John Redwood calling for a change in campaign themes to highlight education, and indications that Michael Portillo, Secretary of State for Defence, might refuse to serve in a Shadow Cabinet if Mr Major tried to remain leader in opposition.With mounting evidence of division in the Tory high command over which issues to highlight in the final days of the campaign, two sources confirmed that the idea of a visit to Brussels by Mr Major had been canvassed by Eurosceptic colleagues, thought to include Lord Cranbourne, a close ally of Mr Major. Just three days are possibilities: tomorrow, when justice and home affairs are discussed in the European Union capital, and Tuesday and Wednesday, when foreign ministers meet in Luxembourg to debate the forthcoming inter-governmental conference. One source at Central Office said that the notion had been considered but discarded. Another said last week it was “not impossible” that the Prime Minister would visit the Continent before the general election.Ironically, Labour considered a visit by Tony Blair to Brussels to illustrate his opposition to the integrationist agenda sketched out last week by Jacques Santer, Commission president. That was ruled out because Labour wanted a change of subject.The unity of the Tory campaign was under mounting strain as John Redwood, who challenged Mr Major two years ago, called on Conservative Central Office to switch tactics and highlight Conservative proposals for schools.If Mr Major is defeated, Mr Redwood is expected to announce early his intention to challenge for the Conservative leadership.Michael Howard, the Home Secretary, was said to have a campaign team on standby. Other potential contenders include the Chancellor, Kenneth Clarke; the Deputy Prime Minister, Michael Heseltine; the Secretary of State for Wales, William Hague and the Health Secretary, Stephen Dorrell.Labour stepped up pressure on the Tories yesterday, producing the Conservatives’ 200- page manifesto briefing document for party candidates.

But the Conservatives dismissed opposition claims that this illustrated a pounds 10bn “black hole” in their finances, adding that the paper – distributed to 2,000 party workers – was prepared “on the same basis as our other exercise and is entirely consistent”.With four days to avert disaster there is evidence from inside Conservative Central Office of tension over the aggressive tactic adopted by the Tories when they accused Mr Blair of lying over pensions. Daniel Finkelstein, head of the Conservative Research Department, was said to be critical of the “slanging match” tone of the late campaigning.Many Conservative MPs are convinced that the battle has been lost; one veteran of four elections said last week that a good result would be a Labour majority of 50 and that the Conservatives could be in a minority of as many as 150 seats.Lord Holme, Liberal Democrat campaign manager, said: “It looks from all our evidence around the country as though the Conservatives are demoralised, finding it hard even to distribute leaflets and canvass, and heading for an historic defeat.”MORI’s latest IoS/Sunday Mirror poll would give Labour a majority of 261 overall – not seen as realistic by any of the parties or by Robert Worcester, the chairman of MORI.. Two of the world’s shrewdest businessmen hedged their bets last night over whose side to be on as the final countdown to the general election began. Rupert Murdoch was backing both horses through his Sunday newspapers, with the News of the World declaring “We back Blair” and the Sunday Times supporting the Tories “warts and all”. Meanwhile, Richard Branson shared a very public Virgin train ride with Tony Blair but stopped short of a full endorsement of new Labour – pausing to praise Tory privatisation of the railways.
The News of the World, which has backed the Conservatives in the last three general elections, today carries a strongly-worded front page editorial attacking John Major’s “weakness” which had “bred nationwide contempt for a man who is simply incapable of being Prime Minister”.Following in the wake of its stablemate, The Sun, it exhorts its readers to “remember the fiasco of Mad Cow Disease, the shabby dealings over Gulf War Syndrome, the inhumanity of the Child Support Agency, the rise in violent crime, the mismanagement in the prisons.”Peter Mandelson, Labour’s election campaign manager, was clearly delighted “This is a tremendous boost for us,” he said. “It comes at the end of a long campaign when all the issues have been thoroughly debated and the paper has been able to listen to its readers.

It means all the more for that.”In stark contrast, today’s Sunday Times leader says the “only glimmer of hope” for Britain “is that if Mr Major were to win against the odds this time, he would have the chance to even scores and crush the factionalism that has dogged him”. It concludes: “Only the Tories, warts and all, offer the prospect of lasting improvement.”Meanwhile, if Richard Branson’s photo-opportunity with the Labour leader yesterday, when they shared a train ride from London’s Euston station, raised hopes that he would declare himself for Mr Blair, the Virgin chief executive baulked at the final fence – and then sat firmly on it. He refused to reveal how he would vote, saying: “Business people should stay business people as much as possible.”. The mysterious decline of many of Britain’s farmland birds, such as the skylark and the partridge, is laid at the door of pesticides and agricultural practices in an explosive new report. The five-year study, prepared by the Government’s wildlife advisory bodies, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and other organisations, is likely to be the British equivalent of Silent Spring, Rachel Carson’s devastating indictment of the effect of pesticides on wildlife in the United States, which was published in 1962 and effectively launched the modern environmental movement.
The UK report will blame insecticides and intensive farming practices for the alarming drop in population of many familiar birds in the last 25 years, such as the tree sparrow (down by 89 per cent), the grey partridge (82 per cent), the turtle dove (77), the bullfinch (76), the song thrush (73), the lapwing (62), the skylark (58) and the blackbird (42).In the wake of Silent Spring, DDT and other chlorine-based insecticides found to be killing birds directly were withdrawn.An RSPB spokesman, Chris Harbard, said: “We now believe modern pesticides and farming methods affect the decline in songbird numbers by destroying the food they rely on and their breeding sites.