TONY Blair and Gordon Brown made a final pitch for voters to swing behind Labour when the pair visited Kent on Bank Holiday Monday.

The visit was designed to highlight what the party regards as the danger of the Conservatives winning key marginal seats in areas like Kent if dissenting Labour voters switch to the Liberal Democrats.

With just days before polling, the three main parties have been focusing their attention on the consequences of protest voting.

Mr Blair, who with Mr Brown, met party activists in Gillingham for a barbecue, warned: "The Liberal Democrats may be closer to us in values but they are incapable of facing up to the means required to meet the ends."

Meanwhile, Mr Brown urged voters "not to let Michael Howard in by the front door, the back door, the side door or any door".

He added: "In marginal constituency after marginal constituency we will say that the only guarantee of not getting a Conservative government is that people vote for Labour, for economic stability, for the health service and for schools and against the risk that other parties would entail."

Before joining families at the barbecue in Twydall’s Holy Trinity Church Hall, he and Mr Brown they toured the Riverside County Park and met a number of walkers enjoying the Bank Holiday sunshine.

Meanwhile, Tory party leader Michael Howard used an election rally in London to set out eight priorities for the early days of a Conservative government, including taking a stand on crime and school discipline.

"It's not about talking, it's about doing. It's not out promising, it's about delivering. People have had enough of spin and smirk. They just want someone who will make things work," he said.