Howard offers 'choice' in first broadcast

Last updated at 16:33 11 April 2005


It is a buzzword of this election, but it is "choice" of political party not school or hospital that frames the Tories' first televised appeal tomorrow.

Conservative leader Michael Howard will use an election broadcast to woo "Britain's forgotten majority".

The three-and-a-half minute film features a cast of voters - pictured at work and play - explaining why they have "chosen" to back the Tories.

A woman on a beach says it is because she wants "a sensible approach to immigration", a young man playing football in the park "to invest more in public services" and a man behind a market stall because he wants "lower tax and value for money".

Mr Howard then tells the cameras: "I will speak up for Britain's forgotten majority - the people who work hard, play by the rules and take responsibility for themselves and their families.

"Those values are the values of the British people. I chose the Conservative Party so that I could champion them and give back a little of what Britain has given to me.

"The choice is yours".

Party co-chairman Liam Fox said that none of the

people in the film were actors but some were party activists and their friends and others had been identified as suitable during canvassing.

Most were not shown doing their real jobs -

although a woman who demanded cleaner hospitals was a doctor - and some of the comments were scripted, he said.

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