HMS Invincible, pride of the Falklands, is broken up in knacker's yard

As senior Naval officers back First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope's criticisms of the ability of the Navy to fight in Libya, Commander John Muxworthy, who sailed to the Falklands with the Royal Navy Task Force, looks at the ignominious end of a symbol of the once-mighty British fleet.

The image is a poignant symbol of Britain’s rapid decline as a maritime power. With her metallic carcass exposed, the once mighty aircraft carrier HMS Invincible languishes in a Turkish port, being broken up for scrap.

The ship was once the pride of the Royal Navy, a hero of the Falklands War and a veteran of other conflicts from Iraq to Yugoslavia.

But now, as Britain’s naval heritage is obliterated by an irresponsible Coalition Government, she faces an utterly degrading end.

HMS Invincible sits in the Port of Aliaga, Turkey, earlier this year, waiting to be scrapped and recycled

Unseemly death of a courageous veteran: Like a tired but noble beast brought down by jackals, HMS Invincible's carcass is picked clean in a Turkish scrapyard

What makes the image all the more shaming is how it reflects the profound concerns of First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, who said this week that Britain’s defences will be at risk if the war in Libya drags on, because our naval fleet can operate there for only another 90 days before it has to make serious cuts in firepower elsewhere.

Once Invincible’s 22,000-ton hull has been stripped of all valuable material, she will be melted down by the Turkish firm of Leyal into thousands of one-metre long blocks of steel, which will be recycled and used for building reinforcement, bridge cables, and more mundane objects such as office furniture.

HMS Invincible, launched in 1977, may have been coming to the end of her life, though with a refit she could have stayed in service for years to come.

But her demise is part of a wider pattern of brutal defence cuts that have left Britain dangerously vulnerable.

When I joined the Navy in 1960, we had 12 aircraft carriers, along with 30 cruisers and 150 frigates and destroyers.

Today, we have just 19 frigates, no major warships, and a single aircraft carrier, Illustrious, which can carry only helicopters and has no deck for fixed wing-aircraft

Moreover, all 60 Harriers have been withdrawn from naval service, which means that Britain, once the greatest sea power in the world and a pioneer of naval aviation — and still an island nation needing a navy to keep its food and fuel coming in times of conflict — has little real capability in its Fleet Air Arm.

The Government boasts it has ordered two new aircraft carriers, but neither will come into service before 2020, and it is almost certain that one will immediately be mothballed to save money. So, for almost a decade, Britain will be without an effective carrier, just at a time when other powers such as China, Brazil and Russia are launching a new generation of such vessels.

David Cameron is fond of claiming that a government’s first duty is national self-defence but the Coalition has hardly lived up to that rhetoric. In the Navy alone, 5,000 jobs are to go — meaning that personnel will fall below 30,000 for the first time in centuries.

Never in our history has there been a British government with less understanding of our defence needs.

Part of the problem is none of today’s senior politicians has served in the forces — unlike, for example, the Labour government in the Seventies with Jim Callaghan, Denis Healey and Roy Jenkins, who served in World War II.

The result is the chasm between the lofty pretensions of Britain’s foreign policy and the reality of the disastrous impact of defence cuts, as exemplified by the overstretch in Libya and Afghanistan.

Given the ongoing destruction of the Navy, it is simply not credible that we could mount a Falklands campaign today, as pointed out by Task Force commander Admiral Sandy Woodward in the Mail yesterday.

Our operation in 1982 involved about 100 vessels, two-thirds of them naval craft, the rest support vessels like the liner Canberra, converted into a troopship, in which I served as a liaison officer. We have nothing like those resources today.

Aboard Canberra I remember feeling a tremendous sense of comfort from the knowledge that Invincible was at the head of the Task Force.

Weighing 22,000 tons, with a runway 560ft long, a top speed of 28 knots and carrying nine Hawker Harriers and 12 Sea King helicopters — one of them flown by Prince Andrew — the Invincible was a formidable asset.

Without her, the Task Force would have struggled to provide an effective response to the Argentine invasion, not least because our troops would have been deprived of air cover.

Built by the famous engineering giant of Vickers at its Barrow-on-Furness yards, she could cope with any conditions, no matter how wild the seas or how aggressive the Argentine attacks.

The great irony of Invincible’s triumph in the South Atlantic was that, shortly before the Argentine invasion, the government had been negotiating to sell her to Australia for about £175  million, regarding her as surplus to naval requirements.

But that idea was immediately put on hold once the plans for the Task Force were put together, and she went on to play her pivotal role in the recapture of the islands.

After the war, she gave another two decades of magnificent service — helping to enforce the no-fly zone in southern Iraq during the late Nineties and serving in Nato’s operations in the Balkans in 1999.

Based in the Adriatic, she enabled Harriers to carry out air strikes against Serbia, as well as rescuing Kosovan refugees. It was not until 2005 that she was decommissioned.

With her demise, we have lost another part of Britain’s glorious naval tradition. Our greatest naval hero, Lord Nelson, would be weeping at what has happened to his beloved Royal Navy, with centuries of excellence being ripped apart in a Turkish scrapyard.

 An ignominious end: Workers take a break amid debris from the broken-down HMS Invincible in the Port of Aliaga in Turkey

 Battle: Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, Chief of the Naval Staff and First Sea Lord, said cuts to naval forces has left British defences at risk

End of the journey: HMS Invincible enters the naval dockyard in Plymouth for the last time in 2005

British Embassy Attack in Yemen

Foreign Secretary William Hague has condemned the "shameful" rocket attack on a convoy carrying the deputy British ambassador to Yemen.

Fionna Gibb escaped unhurt from the blast in the capital Sana'a, which injured one of her colleagues.

It is the second time in six months that British officials have been targeted in the country.

Tim Torlot, the then British ambassador to Yemen, was unharmed when a suicide bomber wearing a school uniform detonated an explosives belt in April.

Rocket fired at British embassy vehicle in Yemen

A rocket attack in the Yemeni capital Sanaa today targeted a vehicle carrying the deputy chief of the British mission in Yemen and a gunman opened fire at an Austrian-owned oil and gas firm, killing a Frenchman.

The shootings could be one of a number of high profile al Qaeda attacks targeting Yemen’s government, which earlier this year declared war on the group’s Yemeni arm after it claimed a failed attack on a US-bound airliner in December.

A police vehicle is seen at the scene of a rocket attack that targeted a vehicle carrying the deputy chief of the British mission in Sanaa October 6, 2010.





Britain’s Foreign Office in London confirmed there had been an attack involving a British embassy vehicle in Sanaa and said one British embassy staff member in the vehicle suffered a minor injury.

“The vehicle was on its way to the British Embassy, with five Embassy staff on board,” a Foreign Office spokesman said.

“One member of staff suffered minor injuries and is undergoing treatment, all others were unhurt. We are informing their families at the moment.

A security source in Yemen said three Yemeni bystanders were wounded. Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh later met the British ambassador to discuss the incident.

The Frenchman died in a shooting incident inside the compound of oil and gas group OMV, France’s Foreign Ministry confirmed. A security source said a guard had opened fire, and government forces subsequently disarmed the gunman.

A spokeswoman for Vienna-based OMV, which has operated in Yemen since 2003, said the situation was now under control.

An al Qaeda suicide bomber attacked the British ambassador’s convoy in April, killing himself and injuring three others.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said it was behind that attack, accusing the British envoy of leading a war on Muslims in the peninsula on Britain’s behalf.

Oil-exporter Yemen is beset by problems. It faces rising al Qaeda militancy and a surge in violence in its secessionist leaning south.

Yemen also has a shaky truce with northern Shi’ite rebels, reached in February to end a civil war that has raged on and off since 2004 and drew in neighbouring Saudi Arabia last year after rebels seized some Saudi land.

More than 40 per cent of its 23 million people live on less than $2 (RM6.19) a day, and concerns about instability and widespread corruption have crimped growth and made unemployment worse.

Yemen’s Western allies and neighbouring Saudi Arabia have long feared a resurgent al Qaeda wing could take advantage of rising insecurity and weak central control to use Yemen as a base for destabilising attacks in the region and beyond.

The United States has been helping Sanaa out in the crackdown, fearing its campaign against al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan had prompted the group’s hub to shift to Yemen.

Al Qaeda and the Yemeni government have clashed for many years, but the group’s operations have typically focused on Western targets.

An al Qaeda attack on the US embassy in Sanaa in 2008 killed 16 people, including six attackers.

UK, France to share aircraft carriers

Britain and France are getting ready to unveil plans to share aircraft carriers amid pressure on the British military to cut costs, the Times newspaper reported today.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicholas Sarkozy were expected to announce the proposal at a November summit, the Times said, quoting an unidentified British naval source for its information.

No immediate comment was available from British officials on the report.

Earlier this month, a Defence Ministry source told Reuters that Britain might cancel one or both of its planned new aircraft carriers to cut costs, though there were no plans to scale back the country’s nuclear deterrent.

The proposal involving France would make it easier for Britain to scrap or downgrade one of the two replacement carriers under construction, the Times said.

The newspaper said the proposal would ensure that one of three ships — one French and two British — would always patrol the seas.

“Using each other’s carriers would require decisions to be made at the strategic level so that national aims on any given operation would be the same,” the naval source was quoted as saying.

The Defence Ministry is conducting a sweeping review of Britain’s future military needs and ways to provide capability more cheaply.

Awesome courage of the D-Day piper who the Nazis thought was mad

Under the fire of Nazi guns and wading through a sea turning crimson with the blood of fallen colleagues, Bill Millin struggled towards the Normandy sands.

Waist deep in water, he led the commandos of the 1st Special Service Brigade on to the beach as they fought to their deaths on the most famous day of World War II.

Amid the clatter of battle and dreadful cries of the injured, Millin only just caught the five words that turned him into a hero. 'Give us "Highland Laddie" man!' shouted Lord Lovat, the charismatic Chief of Clan Fraser and Brigadier of the 2,500 commandos, who was determined to put some backbone into his invading forces.


Piper Bill Millin played again on the Normandy beaches to celebrate the the 35th anniversary of the D-Day Landings

Bill Millin in 1944: The playing of the pipes lifted the spirits of hard-pressed British troops, and dumbfounded the German defenders

Obediently, 21-year-old Millin, Lovatt's personal piper, put the mouthpiece of his bagpipes to his lips, ignored the carnage and thundering crash of gunfire - and played as he had never played before.

It was 8.40 on June 6 1944, the morning of D-day. In the largest amphibious assault ever mounted, 150,000 troops from Britain, America and Canada were landing along a 60-mile stretch of the Normandy coastline.

D-day was the turning point in the Allies' battle against Hitler. And the name of Bill Millin, who died this week aged 88, is intrinsically linked with the events of that early summer's day. He is a reminder of the bravery and sacrifice of ordinary soldiers as they fought to protect this nation from the Nazis. He will live for ever in the annals of history.
The French awarded him their Croix d'Honneur and plan to erect a statue to him close to the beach where he marched ashore - the most eastern of the beaches picked by the Allies for the invasion.

The long stretch of sand where his haunting music stirred his fellow soldiers into battle near the French town of Ouistreham was codenamed Sword, while the other four beaches to the west were Omaha, Gold, Utah and Juno.

By the time Millin landed, it had already been a tumultuous journey across the Channel. 'I had my pipes with me as we set off from England the night before,' he explained later. 'I had been playing to the troops waiting to board the landing craft as we went along the Hamble river, and then I put them back in the box.

'Lord Lovat said: "You better get them out again because you can play us out of the Solent and into the Channel. You will be in the leading craft with me." '

He stood at the front of the landing craft piping The Road To The Isles. When the commandos were just off the Isle of Wight, they met thousands of other boats and ships carrying troops. 'They heard the pipes, and they were throwing their hats in the air and cheering,' he remembered.

He only stopped playing because the waves had become choppy and he was losing his balance. 'After we left the Solent and were out in the Channel, the hatches on the landing craft were put down and we were very cramped.

There were some people playing cards, but most were violently sick, including myself. The next morning I pushed open the hatch and looked out at a grey dawn. The wind was blowing and freezing

'Then after another half an hour people were starting to get gear together, their rucksacks on and were making towards the front of the craft. We could see the mist of the French shoreline and the neat bungalows along the seafront.'
Bill continued: 'Everyone was checking their kit, and putting their kit on. I didn't think of being shot, how many Germans there were or anything other than the smell of seasickness on me. We all got up on deck and we stood in the freezing wind watching the shoreline. Then the order came to get ashore and I was very pleased.'

Lord Lovat, 32, jumped into the water first. Because Lovat was over 6ft tall, Bill waited to see what depth it was before going in. He said: 'My kilt floated to the surface and the shock of the freezing cold water knocked all feelings of sickness from me.'

Within seconds the commandos were being struck down by German mortar shells and machine-gun fire. One commando was killed as Lovat got into the sea, his body floating up by Bill as he made for the shore.

Yet Lovat asked Bill to play again. He nearly refused. 'Well, when I looked round - the noise and people lying about on the ground, the shouting and the smoke, the crump of mortars,' he said later, 'I said to myself: "Well, you must be joking, surely."

But Lovat insisted, and Bill said: 'Well, what tune would you like, Sir?'

'How about Highland Laddie and The Road To The Isles?' said Lovat, telling him to walk up and down the beach as he played.

Bill could see soldiers lying face down in the water as he played. 'Troops to my left were trying to dig in just off the beach,' he recalled. 'Yet when they heard the pipes, some of them stopped what they were doing and waved their arms, cheering.'

Lovat's commandos were heavily machine-gunned and mortared, but had a vital objective and pressed on. They had orders to link up with the British 6th Airborne division and keep secure a strategically vital bridge over the Caen Canal three miles down a road full of German snipers beyond Sword beach.

The airborne division had captured the bridge in the early hours that day in an assault later immortalised in the classic film The Longest Day, in which the part of Millin was played by Pipe Major Leslie de Laspee, the official piper to the Queen Mother. The 180-strong company airborne division, led by Major John Howard, swooped at dawn in gliders.

The crossing was later renamed Pegasus Bridge, after the flying horse shoulder emblem worn by British airborne forces.

The attack took the Germans completely by surprise and stopped them from swarming over the bridge and towards Sword beach.

It also allowed the invading soldiers to push across the bridge and make their way through France.

Throughout that morning, the airborne division had to repel repeated counter-attacks at Pegasus, which was surrounded by Panzer divisions. And by early afternoon, the jaded British troops were urgently needing help from Lovat and his commandos.

Suddenly, at 1 pm, there was the sound of bagpipes. With Bill Millin playing Lovat's favourite tune Blue Bonnets Over The Border, the commandos marched into view. despite heavy German fire, as the red berets of the airborne division and the green berets of the commandos mingled there was a lightening of spirits.

Major Howard approached Lovat. Holding out his hand, he said: 'We are very pleased to see you, old boy.' Lovat responded: 'Yes, and sorry we are twoanda-half minutes late.'

The commandos went over the bridge to confront the Germans - with Bill Millin playing his pipes as brave as a lion leading the way.

'not once did I think I was going to die,' said Bill afterwards. 'I was too busy playing. We had been attacked by snipers once we left Sword Beach, particularly from cornfields on the right of the road. 'At one point I glanced round, stopped playing and everyone was face down on the road. even Lovat was on one knee. Then the next thing this sniper comes scrambling down from a tree and Lovat and our group dash forward.

'We could see this sniper's head bobbing about in the cornfield. Lovat shot at him and he fell. Lovat sent two men into the cornfield to see what had happened, and they brought back the dead body.'

reMArkABLY, the only weapon Bill carried that long day was a Scottish dirk in his sock. He survived unscathed The Germans put a hole in his bagpipes with shrapnel. So he just pulled a spare set out of his rucksack.

The great mystery is why the Germans didn't gun him down. He couldn't have been more conspicuous in full Highland dress and with blaring bagpipes.

Pipers were banned in conflict zones after World War I because so many died. Lovat's orders for Bill to play on d-day breached all Army rules.

It would take Bill more than 40 years to find out why he survived. He said: 'I met a German commander at a dday reunion and asked why they hadn't shot me.

'The commander just tapped his head and said "We thought you were a 'Dummkopf ', or off your head. Why waste bullets on a Dummkopf?" '

Winston Churchill's 'Few' speech marks Battle of Britain's 70th anniversary

Churchill's daughter Lady Soames was among hundreds of people to mark the 70th Anniversary

Under a slate grey sky, the words of Winston Churchill rang defiantly around Westminster: 'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.'

It may be 70 years old, but the resounding call to arms during the Battle of Britain still stiffened the sinew bringing pride and not a few tears yesterday.

Churchill's famous address was delivered by actor Robert Hardy at 3.52pm - exactly the time they were originally spoken in Parliament by the wartime Prime Minister on August 20, 1940.









The ceremony was followed by a fly-past from a Spitfire and Hurricane fighter over Whitehall. Pictured here are the aircraft which took part in the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight celebrations in 2008

A Spitfire and Hurricane from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight pass by the London Eye during a flypast today

Forces sweetheart: Dame Vera Lynn mingled with veterans during the 70th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of Britain today

UK police hold two over MI6 parcel bomb

A general view of the MI6 headquarters in London

British police questioned two men yesterday after a parcel bomb was sent to the headquarters of the MI6 foreign intelligence service and another was intercepted at a postal sorting office.

“The Metropolitan Police Service is investigating two suspect packages addressed to premises in central London,” a Scotland Yard spokesman said, declining to give details of the devices.





He said the parcels were found Wednesday and Thursday. Two suspects, aged 52 and 21, were arrested in North Wales the next day and brought to London, where a magistrate granted warrants Saturday for further detention and questioning.

Located on the bank of the River Thames, the fortress-like headquarters of MI6 — more formally known as the Secret Intelligence Service — suffered superficial damage in a rocket attack by dissident Irish republicans in 2000.

Hundreds of British troops launch Operation Black Prince in fresh surge to clear Taliban

Talking tactics: Troops conducting final planning preparations for Operation TOR SHEZADA (Black Prince)

British troops launched a massive push against Taliban insurgents yesterday.

In the biggest offensive of the summer, hundreds set out by land and air on Operation Tor Shezada - Black Prince - before dawn.

Led by 1st Battalion, The Duke Of Lancaster's Regiment, the operation aims to seize the rebel-held town of Saidabad in Nad-e Ali district in southern Helmand Province.






The operation will see British forces along with their Afghan partners clearing insurgents from Sayedebad to the south of Nad e Ali in Helmand Province

ISAF troops meet local children in the Nad e Ali area during Operation Black Prince in central Helmand, Afghanistan

It is a continuation of Operation Moshtarak which involved 15,000 Nato and Afghan troops earlier this year.

As many as 180 insurgents are believed to be holed up in the town, making bombs and launching attacks on allied troops.
Although smaller than previous operations in this area, the push aims to exile the fighters and restore government rule.

But the area is littered with IED roadside bombs which have killed and maimed dozens of soldiers. The number of British military personnel killed on operations in Afghanistan since 2001 stands at 325.

Operation Tor Shezada is only possible because extra British forces have been brought in to Afghanistan.
Last night Lieutenant Colonel James Carr-Smith, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: 'During the early hours, the joint Isaf and Afghan Operation Tor Shezada launched successfully.

'Commanders on the ground say it is progressing according to plan.'

Among the first troops to go in was the Brigade Reconnaissance Force, a small elite unit which dropped behind enemy lines under cover of darkness.

The operation will see British forces working alongside the Afghan army.

Lt Col Carr-Smith said: 'Our intent is to further dislocate insurgents and deny them a base from which to attack.

'In time, the operation will enable the Afghan government to begin development projects in the area.'
Sayedebad sits between Nad-e Ali and Marjah in central Helmand, with a small community of around 6,000 Afghans, mostly from Pashtun Ishaqzai and Hazara backgrounds.

The Trikh Zabur canal runs to the south of the area, with a crossing point which allows movement between Nad-e Ali and Marjah.

Improved security around this important crossing point will increase freedom of movement for locals.

Lieutenant Colonel Fraser Lawrence, commander of the 1st Battalion, Duke of Lancaster's Regiment Battlegroup, troops will try to 'steal' Saidabad but are 'prepared to fight for it'.

He added: 'We have scored major successes in the north and centre of the district, driving out the insurgents from the major.

'Now we need to make sure that security is extended to every resident of Nad-e Ali.'

■ July was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in the nine-year Afghan war.

The deaths of three soldiers in two separate bomb blasts yesterday took the month's total to 63, three more than in June. The total of U.S. dead in Afghanistan is 1,976.

Britain General Election 2010: voters go to the polls in tightest election in decades

elford and Wrekin Council employees prepare the Iron Bridge Toll House in Shropshire as a polling station for the Parliamentary and Local Election

Millions of people across Britain will today go to the polls in the most tightly-contested General Election in a generation.

A string of eve-of-election opinion polls gave David Cameron's Conservatives a clear lead over Labour and the Liberal Democrats, but suggested that the Tories will not reach the level of support they need to claim an overall majority in the House of Commons.

With around 50,000 polling stations opening at 7am today, there was more uncertainty about who would eventually emerge as Prime Minister than in any election since 1992 and a real expectation of a hung Parliament for the first time since 1974.

On Wednesday night David Cameron urged the public not to allow fear to “triumph over hope” as he sought an outright victory with a final appeal to millions of undecided voters.

The Tory leader completed a gruelling 36-hour campaigning drive across the country with a pledge that he could make Britain better.



In a final rally in Bristol he told supporters: “In this election, don’t let fear triumph over hope. A Conservative government can get our economy moving again, can tackle our social problems, can make politics accountable.”

Meanwhile Gordon Brown returned to Scotland, where he rounded off his campaign at a rally in Dumfries with a plea to wavering voters: "At this moment of risk to our economy, at this moment of decision for our country, I ask you to come home to Labour."

And Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg addressed a crowd of hundreds of people on the steps of Sheffield City Hall, with an appeal for voters to "aim higher, don't settle for second best".

The final newspaper polls of the campaign all put the Conservatives in the lead with support ranging between 35 per cent and 37 per cent.

The other two parties were vying for second place, with Labour apparently edging slightly ahead on 28 per cent-29 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 26-28 per cent.

On an even swing, the figures would make the Tories the largest party, with between 268 and 294 seats in the House of Commons, but leave them well short of the 326 MPs Mr Cameron needs to lead a majority administration.

The polls suggest Labour could emerge with around 248-274 MPs, with the Liberal Democrats holding the balance of power on 77-82 seats.

The most up-to-date Guardian/ICM poll shows the Conservatives with an eight-point lead over Labour, just short of what they need for an overall majority.

The survey put the Conservatives on 36 per cent, Labour on 28 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 26 per cent.

But much will depend on performance in individual constituencies, particularly the 100 or so Labour/Conservative marginals which hold the key to tonight's result and where the fiercest battles have been fought.

Strategists believe that an unusually large number of voters will only make their minds up when they get into the polling booths, adding an additional layer of uncertainty to the result.

If the Lib Dems suffer from a classic last-minute "third party squeeze", with voters gravitating to the two larger parties, it could even have the effect of handing the balance of power to the Welsh and Scottish nationalists or the Northern Irish parties.

The Democratic Unionist Party last night claimed they were being courted by Mr Brown ahead of a possible hung Parliament, releasing a letter in which the Labour leader promised to maintain the size of the block grant from Westminster to Northern Ireland if he remains in 10 Downing Street.

The national newspapers did their bit to boost the chances of their preferred candidates.

The Sun hailed Mr Cameron as "Our Only Hope" in a front-page echoing the famous campaign posters of Barack Obama, while the Daily Mirror painted a less flattering picture, asking "Prime Minister? Really?" alongside a picture of the Tory leader and a CV featuring his Eton education and support for foxhunting and listing his real-life experience as "None".

Mr Cameron and wife Samantha will cast their votes early today in his constituency of Witney in Oxfordshire, while Mr Brown and Sarah will go to the polling station in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.

Mr Clegg will be accompanied by wife Miriam Gonzalez Durantez to the polls in Sheffield Hallam, but she will not be able to vote for her husband as she is a Spanish citizen.

As well as the 650 MPs of the new Parliament, voters are also electing councillors in 166 local authorities across England – including London boroughs – and mayors in Hackney, Lewisham, Newham and Watford.

Election 2010: Tories to target Labour heartlands

The Conservatives hope to build on their opinion poll lead

The Conservatives are to step up campaigning in seats where Labour are defending healthy majorities, in the wake of the Lib Dem poll surge.

Tory strategists have identified a number of seats where they believe support for Labour is ebbing away.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has said first-past-the-post votes made "no sense at all" in a three-party system.

Lord Mandelson has warned Labour voters in Labour/Tory marginals: "Vote Nick, get Dave and George".

Labour will focus campaigning on its plans for the NHS on Monday, while the Lib Dems are highlighting their plans for a pay rise for junior ranks in the armed forces.

BBC political correspondent Ben Wright said the surge in the polls for the Lib Dems, in the wake of TV prime ministerial debates, had upset both the Tories' and Labour's election strategies.



Third runway

The Tories had hoped to take a swathe of seats from the Lib Dems in south-west England, thought to be needed if they were to get an overall majority.

Now they hope to take seats which have traditionally returned Labour MPs but where they believe the rise in Lib Dem support - at Labour's expense - could make a Conservative win possible. They will start to target those constituencies over the next few days.

The Conservatives are also targeting Lib Dem voters, posting about 500,000 pieces of campaign literature in marginal seats.

Mr Cameron said: "Today I want to speak directly to the people who have idealism and progressive ideals hardwired into their DNA. Everyone who is desperate for real change.

"Whether you've been a Lib Dem voter or a Labour voter or a Green voter - if you care about the environment, if you want action to improve your quality of life, if you care about civil liberties, if you want people power, you need the clean break that a Conservative government can give you."

'Eco-charlatans'

It marks the start of an offensive on two fronts for the Conservatives, as they aim to extend their lead in the opinion polls.

While four polls in Sunday newspapers suggested the party has a clear lead, they still pointed to a hung parliament - with the Conservatives short of an overall majority.

At a press conference in Edinburgh on Monday, Lib Dem leader Mr Clegg faced more questions about his comments on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday - in which he said it would be "preposterous" for Labour to come third in the popular vote, but remain in 10 Downing Street.

He said he had been "pointing out what I think is the obvious, which is we have an irrational and unfair democratic system" which he said was "going well past its sell-by date".

Asked if he would support Labour, if it won the most seats but came third in terms of number of votes, Mr Clegg said "no" and criticised the convention that if there is no clear winner, the current PM has the first right to seek to govern.

But he repeated his belief that if a party won the most seats and the most votes but was short of an overall majority, it had the right to seek to reach out to other parties first.

Mr Clegg said the way in which politicians would "speak to each other" after the election depended on the result and the "priorities that each of the parties sets out".

On whether changing the voting system would be a pre-requisite for Lib Dem support in a coalition, he said electoral reform was "an absolute precondition for renewal in this country".

He will set out his party's plans to boost the pay of junior soldiers as part of their plans for Armed Forces reform - increasing the pay of an Army private by up to £6,000 a year, to bring it into line with the salary of a police constable.

He said Labour had "failed" on the environment, the Conservatives "align themselves with climate change deniers" in Europe and that the next government would be the last that is able to stop "dangerous" climate change.

The Green Party responded to Mr Clegg's assertion that they "cannot make a difference in Westminster" by calling his party the "biggest eco-charlatans on this part of the planet".

As Labour switch their focus to the NHS in England, with hints they will spell out their vision in even more detail than the manifesto, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson rallied party supporters in an e-mail.

Saying they were "in the fight for our political lives", he reminded them that a third of the electorate remained undecided.

"In his interviews, Nick Clegg has been making clear his hostility to Labour and his preference to side with the Tories in a coalition if this arises," he said.

"Or, in other words, vote Nick and get Dave and George," a reference to the Conservative leader and his shadow chancellor George Osborne.

British politics-Leaders square up for second debate-Questions over Lib Dem leader's funding before TV debate

Nick Clegg


David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg

The leaders of the three major parties will go head-to-head in the second live televised debate of the General Election campaign.

The debate in Bristol is expected to see Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg come under pressure from his two rivals, after his widely-praised performance in last week's broadcast gave his party a boost of up to 12 points in the polls, transforming the election into a real three-horse race.

Labour's Gordon Brown and Conservative leader David Cameron will seek to highlight Lib Dem policies on the Trident nuclear deterrent and the European Union, which they believe will prove unattractive to voters.






But in a 90-minute debate on Sky News focused on foreign affairs, Mr Clegg is likely to respond by reminding voters that his party opposed the Iraq War, which both Tories and Labour supported.

Domestic affairs and the economy are also certain to feature among the questions from the studio audience, on a day when crucial borrowing figures will indicate whether the Government is on track to meet its Budget forecasts.

Polls suggest that the "Clegg bounce" was still having an impact a week after last Thursday's debate, with Lib Dems continuing to pip Labour for second place. A ComRes survey for ITV and The Independent put Conservatives ahead on 35% to the Lib Dems' 27% and Labour's 25%, while a YouGov poll for The Sun had the Tories on 33%, Lib Dems 31% and Labour 27%.

There were signs of Tory-supporting newspapers putting the Lib Dem leader under intense scrutiny ahead of the debate.

The Daily Telegraph reported that regular payments from three Lib Dem donors were paid directly into Mr Clegg's private bank account before he became leader. A party spokesman said that the gifts went towards funding staff for his parliamentary office and were "properly made and declared".

Mr Cameron insisted he was "aiming for outright victory", but left open the door for co-operation with the Liberal Democrats if they held the balance of power.

"We are trying to win the election, we are trying to win outright," he said. "If it falls short of that we have to behave responsibly, make sure that we have a working government of this country and things get done."

The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, was accused of irregular funding arrangements Thursday as party leaders geared up for the second pre-election TV debate.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Clegg, whose strong showing in last week's first televised clash boosted his party's support, received a series of payments from party donors directly into his private bank account.

Three donors paid up to 250 pounds a month before he became party leader in 2007, said the rightwing daily.

The paper reported the payments were made by three businessmen, citing personal bank statements submitted in 2006 by Clegg to back up his expense claims.

A Liberal Democrat spokesman accepted the payments had been made but denied any impropriety.

"The donations were properly made and declared and were used to fund part of the salary of an additional member of Nick Clegg's parliamentary staff," said a party spokesman.

But the former head of a watchdog that monitors lawmakers' conduct told the Telegraph the arrangements appeared "irregular."

"Given that he's been very holier than thou about these things, it would seem he has some explaining to do to his party and the electorate," said Alistair Graham, ex-chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.

"It would now make sense for someone independent to check these accounts."

Lawmakers are still struggling to repair their tarnished reputations after last year's expenses scandal, which revealed lawmakers had claimed public money to pay everything from adult films to tennis court repairs.

The centrist Liberal Democrats have traditionally been the third-largest party in politics, consistently lagging far behind the ruling Labour Party and the main opposition Conservatives in opinion polls.

But Clegg's strong performance in last week's first US-style televised pre-poll clash saw his party, which has never held power, surge into second, and sometimes first place in a series of polls.

He will be hoping to repeat the performance in the second debate Thursday, which focuses on foreign policy.

Brown's betrayal: Defence cuts 'cost lives of soldiers' in Iraq, claim top brass

Brirish lives were lost in Iraq and Afghanistan because Gordon Brown denied the Armed Forces vital equipment, two former military chiefs have claimed.

The Prime Minister will today face questions over damaging claims that he 'betrayed' UK troops by chopping £1billion from the defence budget at the height of the Iraq war.

Speaking on the eve of the Premier's appearance at the Chilcot Inquiry into the war, Sir Graeme Lamb, former head of the SAS, and General Lord Guthrie, a former chief of the defence staff, both spoke out on Mr Brown's record as Chancellor.
Sir Graeme, who advises General Stanley McChrystal, commander of the U.S. military in Afghanistan, said British troops were deprived of equipment that could have saved lives.

He blamed senior politicians and civil servants for undermining our military strength.

He warned the Armed Forces were 'pretty much doomed on our current course and thinking' and would become the 'dumpster of irrelevancy' unless given proper equipment.

'The future is bloody grim either way,' he said, adding that the Armed Forces were clearly in decline and increasingly seen as irrelevant by the public and politicians.
Sir Graeme told the Daily Telegraph that until recently Afghanistan had been ' stumbling toward failure'.

General Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank, who led the Armed Forces from 1997 to 2001, told the Times that budget shortages had cost lives. 'Not fully funding the Army in the way they had asked ... undoubtedly cost the lives of soldiers,' he said.

'He [Mr Brown] should be asked why he was so unsympathetic towards defence and so sympathetic to other departments.'

The Prime Minister will give his first account of his role in the deeply unpopular Iraq conflict today.

Some of his Cabinet colleagues expect him to offer some gesture of contrition over deaths of servicemen and women.

Others are furious that the Prime Minister agreed to face the inquiry at all in the weeks before the election, fearing it is reminding wavering voters of Labour's most controversial decision.

The Prime Minister is expected to be pressed on private discussions with Cabinet colleagues in the build-up to the conflict, his decisions on funding as Chancellor and his withdrawal of troops as Prime Minister.

The Tories and the LibDems said it was right that Mr Brown is being called to account before the election.

He pointed to evidence from Sir Kevin Tebbit, the former top civil servant at the Ministry of Defence, that he had been forced to run a 'crisis budget' after Mr implemented a 'complete guillotine' on funding in September

The then Chancellor was also present at meetings with MoD officials when the budget for 2004 was 2003. reached.

Mr Clegg said minutes and notes relevant to these decisions should be declassified by the Government and made public before Mr Brown's appearance.

He added: 'Today is the day that Gordon Brown wished would never come: The myth that this was solely Tony Blair's war is about to fall apart.'

Last year, the Government took the unprecedented step of vetoing the release of Cabinet minutes under freedom of information laws that were expected to reveal Mr Brown's private support for military action.

Alastair Campbell, the former No 10 communications director, has told the inquiry that Mr Brown was one of the inner circle of key ministers consulted by Mr Blair in the run-up to the invasion.
HELICOPTER NUMBERS CUT BY HALF

The number of helicopters available to British troops will have halved by the end of the decade, it was revealed last night.

Ministry of Defence figures show there will be 303 in the fleet by 2020, compared with 634 a month before the Iraq War began in March 2003.

Military commanders have warned that a shortage of 'rotary-wing' aircraft can mean that service personnel are forced to move around the battlefield by road - leaving them vulnerable to bombs.

Tory MP Bernard Jenkin, a member of the Defence Select Committee, has uncovered Parliamentary answers which show the Government plans to cut the fleet drastically over the next ten years.

In February 2003 the MoD had 634 helicopters, but by July 2008 this has been reduced to 522 helicopters.

Despite claims by Gordon Brown that military chiefs had enough helicopters, and the announcement in December that Britain was buying another 22 troop-carrying Chinooks, this month the number of choppers stood at 492.

And the fleet will total just 303 by the end of the decade, according to official figures.

Mr Jenkin said: 'Helicopters are vital in the effort to improve battlefield mobility and reduce casualties and we need more not less of them, but Gordon Brown still doesn't seem to understand this.

'This goes back to his 2004 decision to cut the helicopter budget by £1.4billion at a time when we were already involved in two wars.'

The MoD said: 'While overall numbers have reduced, the capability of our helicopter fleet has in fact increased. Better aircraft have allowed increases in both the numbers of battlefield support helicopters available on operations and the flying hours they can provide.'



'Penny-pinching': Gordon Brown on a visit to Iraq in December 2008

Sacrifice: Private Adam Morris, 19, was killed in Basra in 2006 when his Snatch Land Rover struck a roadside bomb

Prince William to help Queen daily works as Queen is 83 years old.Sign William will succeed father to be King.

Burden: The Queen, now aged 83, is said to need relief from some duties

Censored: The blacked-out words in the Treasury note say 'But as Sir Michael¿s letter sets out, the Princes will increasingly incur expenditure when undertaking engagements on behalf of The Queen'

Kate was spotted at a Christmas carol concert in London last week.Prince William girlfriend.

Princess in waiting: Will William soon get engaged to girlfriend Kate Middleton?

Ominous sign: William in his RAF flying uniform, wants to 'make a difference'

1985: William (front centre) at Trooping of the Colour with his mother Diana

Proud: The Queen and William as she inspects Sandhurst graduates in 2006

Trooping the Colour: William with the Queen and other royals in June

Sidelined? The move will fuel rumours that the Queen believes William, rather than her son Charles, represents the best long-term interests of the monarchy

The Queen is to hand over a substantial part of her public duties to Prince William to help him prepare for the day when he becomes King, according to a confidential document obtained by The Mail on Sunday.

Secret papers reveal that plans to ease the strain on the 83-year-old monarch and her 88-year-old husband, Prince Philip, are at an advanced stage.

The disclosures come despite months of denials from the Palace that the Queen was planning to step back from her official work in favour of her 27-year-old grandson.

The information is contained in a briefing note written by Chancellor Alistair Darling’s Treasury officials about new financial arrangements for Prince Charles and his sons.

Key paragraphs, disclosing the reason for the changes, are blacked out.

But this newspaper has obtained an uncensored version of the document which confirms that the Queen is grooming William as a ‘Shadow King’.

One blacked-out line states that ‘the Princes [William and Harry] will increasingly incur expenditure when undertaking engagements on behalf of The Queen’.

Another censored section, stressing the key role for William, says that ‘from next year, it is expected that HRH The Prince William will spend a significant part of his time on official engagements . . . we need to put the necessary provisions in place in anticipation of that’.

The leak will add to speculation that the Queen believes William, rather than Charles, represents the best long-term interests of the monarchy, and will raise new questions about the timing of William’s long-anticipated engagement to his girlfriend Kate Middleton.

The breach of secrecy caused alarm at the Palace last night, with a senior Royal source expressing concern that the private details had been leaked in ‘unredacted’ - the official term for uncensored - form.

The reaction reflects the extreme sensitivity over the issue of the Queen’s future in public life - and how to promote Prince William without undermining the monarch or Prince Charles.

It is bound to lead to new speculation that when the Queen dies, the monarchy could skip a generation, with the Crown bypassing Charles and being handed straight to William, although Royal sources strongly discount this option.

The Treasury document was prepared for Mr Darling in the run-up to April’s Budget.

The announcement that he was granting Charles tax relief worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, by allowing him to deduct his sons’ official expenses from his tax return, was slipped out on Budget Day in a separate ministerial note and was picked up by newspapers only several days later.

The tax perk funds an office at St James’s Palace, with six members of staff, which for the past few months has been organising the affairs of Princes William and Harry. Previously, the Princes had been represented by Charles’s staff.

The briefing note, released following a Freedom of Information request, contained a third blacked-out section which showed that the entire operation to transfer duties to William was orchestrated by the Queen and Prince Charles.

It shows that the approach to the Government was made by Sir Michael Peat, Charles’s private secretary, who is also a confidant of the Queen.

Between 1996 and 2002, when he took up his position with Charles, Sir Michael was Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer to the Queen.

The redacted section states: ‘Sir Michael Peat, The Prince of Wales’ Principal Private Secretary, has written to Dave Hartnett [Permanent Secretary at HM Revenue & Customs] asking HMRC to consider amending the MoU [ Memorandum of Understanding] to recognise this expenditure [on the Princes’ office].’

The previous MoU on Royal Taxation had been agreed in 1993.

Charles currently receives £16million a year from the Duchy of Cornwall estate, which was established in 1337 to provide an income for the heir to the throne.

The disclosure comes amid growing speculation about the Queen and Prince Philip’s continued ability to carry out their punishing schedule.

Last year, she performed 400 official engagements, including two overseas tours.

Onlookers said she appeared more frail than usual during last month’s State Opening of Parliament and at the Commonwealth summit in Trinidad a week later, the couple’s only foreign trip this year.

In February, she cancelled a State visit to the Middle East because she and the Duke ‘had too much on their plate’ - the first time an overseas visit had been abandoned on workload grounds.
Significantly, William will undertake his first official overseas tour in January when he represents the Queen in New Zealand and Australia. He is also expected to attend the World Cup in South Africa.

Publicly, the Palace has denied any plans for the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to scale down their responsibilities, always insisting that the pair are in ‘robust’ health - although Royal sources have let it be known that theQueen would like other family members to bear much of the burden of her duties during the Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

Enquiries direct to the Duke about his fitness have been met with a curt: ‘Do I look bloody ill?’

Last night a spokesman for Republic, which campaigns for an elected Head of State, accused Buckingham Palace and the Government of mounting a cover-up.

‘We have been misled,’ the spokesman said. ‘This shows that planning is well under way to prepare for the next succession.

'Here we have proof that the Palace is preparing William to take over the Queen’s duties.

‘The Palace operates in secrecy, doing deals behind the back of the British people to ensure a smooth transition to the next King.

‘In addition, we discover that at a time of recession, Charles is secretly lobbying for an exclusive tax break worth hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.

'The fact the Treasury attempted to cover up this lobbying shows they knew it would be scandalous if made public.’

A spokesman for St James’s Palace said: ‘Both Prince William and Prince Harry have gradually increased the number of engagements they carry out in support of the Queen, although their focus remains on their full-time careers in the Armed Services.

‘The Royal Household and HMRC agreed to update the Memorandum of Understanding for the first time in many years to reflect changes in the Royal Family. The previous Memorandum still included the Princess of Wales and not Prince William or Prince Harry.

‘The new MoU merely streamlined the bureaucratic arrangements concerning Prince William’s and Prince Harry’s official lives.

‘The new MoU made no difference to the amount of tax paid by the Prince’s Household.’

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