MICHAEL HOWARD once had “a very high respect” for Tony Blair, but his contempt for the Prime Minister is as obvious as the language is harsh. The unparliamentary four-letter word “liar” easily passes his lips and it is clear that the conflict between the two men is not just political, it’s personal and it’s visceral.

During a wideranging interview in the Conservatives’ Victoria Street headquarters, Mr Howard was unrepentant about making Mr Blair’s integrity and character central to the campaign because he had “lied” to the British people, and the more that he had come to know Mr Blair the less he had come to respect him.

Sitting in his small campaign war-room next to the fundraising office — “are you raising what we are raising?” is the motivational slogan on the wall — Mr Howard shows that the election has become as emotional as it is professional.

It was he who equated the campaign with a football match this week, noting that his party was 2-0 down at half time, but there the sportsmanship ends. Asked whether he would have a beer with Mr Blair after the match, Mr Howard said no. He could not bring himself to share a post-game friendly moment with the present Prime Minister or with Gordon Brown, who was not a liar but could not be trusted.

The Conservative leader also denied that his campaign was negative and set out the “main philosophical differences” between the two main parties on running public services.

Mr Howard, who became leader only 18 months ago, says he is enjoying the campaign “tremendously”. He has not trained for the election apart from his “weekend table tennis, which is the only form of exercise which I regularly take”.

Our interview came just before the Tories unveiled an unusually hard-hitting poster featuring Mr Blair and saying: “If he’s prepared to lie to take us to war, he’s prepared to lie to win an election.”

Mr Howard denies that he is lowering the level of politics. “What lowers the level of politics is the extent to which politicians don’t speak plainly and tell the truth as they see and the extent to which politicians pussyfoot around in what they do and say. I have given many examples of where I think Tony Blair has not told the truth and I don’t resile from those examples.

“Trust and character are important aspects of this campaign. If Gordon Brown says he can’t believe a word Tony Blair says, why should the British people believe a word he says? When you have someone as Prime Minister who said he had no plans to increase taxes before the 1997 election, and increased them; when he says you should not assume I will increase NI contributions before the 2001 election, and then increase them; when you have a Prime Minister who says we are opposed to top-up fees and have legislated to prevent them, and then introduces them; when you have a Prime Minister who says he will be tough on crime and makes shoplifting the equivalent of a parking offence, I think I am entitled to say character and trust are issues and the Prime Minister has not told us the truth.”

When we point out that Mr Howard got it wrong on the minimum wage and the Tories put up taxes after the 1992 election, and no one called them liars, he has an explanation.

“I made a prediction about the consequence of the minimum wage which turned out to be wrong. That’s different from not telling the truth. You can look at the minutiae of what was said before 1992 about taxes. I think you can argue the toss looking at what they (note they, not we) said; there was an argument they misled people or made a promise they could not keep. I am determined only to make promises I know I can keep.”

Mr Howard knows Mr Blair well. They faced each other across the dispatch box when he was Employment and Home Secretary in the early 1990s and Mr Blair his Labour Shadow. Familiarity has not brought warmer relations: rather, the reverse. This is nothing to do with Mr Blair’s style, but with his honesty. “I think a good deal of the country sees exactly what I see. I think much of the country sees that.”

Referring to their earlier contacts, he says: “In those days I had a very high respect for him. I made an indiscreet statement to Alastair Campbell long before Tony Blair was leader. I thought John Smith was going to be a leader for a long time. I said Labour would never win an election until Tony Blair became its leader. So I got on well with him and had great respect for him. What has led me to change my mind and to lower my opinion are the things I have been talking about.”

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