BARONESS THATCHER, depressed at the prospect of a third Labour victory in a row, left the country yesterday after failing to take part in a general election campaign for the first time in 70 years.

The former Prime Minister flew to Venice for a short holiday with a close friend and declined to make any comment about the conduct of Michael Howard’s campaign.

A close friend of Lady Thatcher, who is 79, said: “She is frustrated that we are not winning.” The friend added that Lady Thatcher had taken the decision herself not to campaign because of her frailty, but said: “She wants to see a Conservative government again. She is frustrated that is not going to happen, despite the Labour Government’s serious shortcomings and all Tony Blair’s lies.”

The virtual admission of defeat from the former Prime Minister’s camp came as the Conservative Party high command prepared to spend £2 million on advertising in the final week of the campaign. Last week the party had £3 million in its account at the Royal Bank of Scotland. Mr Howard authorised the £2 million offensive, which will take the party’s total spending on the 2005 campaign to £16 million.

Lady Thatcher, who attended fundraising events for the Tories before the campaign, will return to Britain before polling day. She has declined all invitations to speak or to go to constituencies to campaign for her friends and supporters.

In the last election she went to her former Finchley constituency; she drew huge crowds in Romford, which the Tories recaptured with a 9 per cent swing; and was mobbed in Northampton South, one of the key marginals.

“She is 80 this year, she knows that she has had her day and that it is for other people to fight the fight,” a friend said.

Lady Thatcher first became actively involved in politics in the 1935 election, stuffing envelopes for her father.

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