Fear not, help is at hand. Simon Jenkins in The Times today:

How to vote in next week’s general election is easy. If you want a Labour government, vote Liberal Democrat. If you want a Conservative government, vote Labour. If you want a Liberal Democrat government, vote Tory. Recite that every morning for a week.

The first maxim is no longer at issue. When a Labour traditionalist such as Brian Sedgemore calls it a day on Tony Blair and tells the Left to vote for Charles Kennedy, the earth moves a little. This is no wishy-washy social democrat or wild and woolly leftwinger. Mr Sedgemore is real Labour. To him Mr Blair’s party, or at least his Government, is no longer the movement he spent 27 years defending in Parliament and the country. This may be a token of his naivety, but he represents more than the bloody-minded tendency. He stands in Labour’s liberal mainstream.

Mr Sedgemore must have watched with despair as Mr Kennedy’s Liberal Democrats disappeared behind the fog of new Labour and emerged to its left. His core concerns, free higher education, a unified NHS, opposition to the war and a defence of civil liberty, are no longer Labour but Liberal Democrat causes. We could add support for more direct taxes, national and local, drug law reform and opposition to ID cards. For all Mr Kennedy’s vacillating in recent years, the Liberal Democrats are now the standard-bearers of left-wing integrity, a concept abandoned by Mr Blair. Mr Sedgemore is making the right move. Although a Liberal Democrat vote matters only in a small number of seats, a large popular vote will at least boost the party’s morale for next time.

If on the other hand you want a continuation of the present Conservative Government, vote Blair. Former Tories have been doing so for eight years. They should not shackle their hero Mr Blair by voting Conservative and thus running the risk of a hung Parliament. In such a Parliament the Liberal Democrats or the Labour Left could veto Mr Blair’s right-wing programme. This would endanger such policies as no higher taxes on incomes and lower ones on motoring and drinking. It would jeopardise more selective schools, more private hospitals, more prisons, a national police force and no change in the drugs laws.

Under Mr Blair conservatives have cheered as workfare has been introduced, welfare scroungers tackled and the incapacity racket threatened. Judges have been ordered to heel, more than even under Michael Howard’s time at the Home Office. Civil liberties have been eroded and liberal lawyers enraged, delighting the wildest Colonel Blimp. High-spending local councils have been capped. Mr Blair has even revived middle-class subsidies to house-buyers and freed land for property speculators.

The Prime Minister goes into this election a true Thatcherite. He has mimicked the lady’s buccaneering approach to foreign policy, with no fewer than four wars, in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Iraq. Under Mr Blair there seems no chance of Britain entering the euro. He is praying that French voters next month rescue him from a referendum on the dreaded European constitution. His biographers maintain that the original new Labour project was purely tactical, to avoid any policies that risked the party’s “electability”. What began as a tactic graduated to a strategy. It has now become a conviction.

The tactic worked. Former Tories voted Labour in droves in 1997 and again in 2001. John Major’s 1992 14 million vote vaporised down to 9.6 million in 1997. The Labour Party as such is now little more than a rump of Blair loyalists and career beneficiaries, an election machine for its leader. It is in reality the Blair party. Businessmen who have done well under this Government, not trade unionists or workers, wrote in support to The Financial Times this week. The party is more akin to Lloyd George’s Liberals after the Great War, a group holding the leader’s patronage coupon. Like Lloyd George, Mr Blair leads what might be called a “coalition of the Right”.

It is enticing to wonder whether we are about to see the strange death of Labour Britain, even in the party’s hour of triumph. British parties are clubs, not movements. Those that become prisoners of their leader have usually gone down to division and defeat. This applied not just to Lloyd George’s Liberals but also to the Tories under Churchill and again under Margaret Thatcher. The club does not long tolerate the cult of the individual. It loses its way in splits and choosing ill-judged successors. It develops an immune reaction to its own survival instinct.

By positioning Labour to the right of centre, Mr Blair moved onto territory that one day the Tories must reconquer. He assured himself a decade of ascendancy, but left a vacuum behind him. By keeping Gordon Brown on a leash he retained a sort of link to the party mainstream. But Mr Brown’s ambition has become a personality cult of its own. He is no healer of the party splits that are already emerging. The next Parliament will be dominated by the clash of these titans. Labour voters may get alienated and follow Mr Sedgemore, especially if the Liberal Democrats can replace Mr Kennedy with a more plausible leader. The SDP may well prove to have been no more than a realignment too soon.

Meanwhile those who want to see the Liberal Democrats a force in the land have only one option in all but existing Liberal Democrat seats. They must vote Tory and secure a hung Parliament. In 90 per cent of the most vulnerable Labour-held marginals, a Tory, not a Liberal Democrat, lies in second place. Even if this were reversed, a Liberal Democrat majority in the Commons is inconceivable. So in the overwhelming majority of Labour marginals Liberal Democrats must vote to send more Tories to the House of Commons. As Mr Sedgemore said yesterday, there is no realistic danger of Mr Howard going to Downing Street but there might be an outside chance of a stalemate.

Only in a hung Parliament will Mr Kennedy enjoy real power. That power will increase the closer that the total of Tory MPs gets to the Labour one. If so, the Liberal Democrats will have theoretical power to decide who should form a government and for how long. They will be able to demand policies for which they have campaigned at the election. They will have the option of joining a coalition on their own terms and be responsible for its success. Mr Kennedy might even become a Cabinet minister.

From being useless bystanders in the game of national politics, a dustbin for discontents, Liberal Democrats would become real players. Crucially they will be in a position to ally themselves with left-wingers on Labour’s back benches, forcing Mr Blair and Mr Brown back to the left. On current poll performance, a hung Parliament is the only way that the liberal ideology abandoned by Labour and Tories alike might revive in British politics.

I repeat, this requires Liberal Democrats to help to put enough Tories into the Commons to make their own party’s weight effective. Britain does not have direct election for its leader and voters cannot behave as if it did. Parties do not hold open primaries, as in the United States. If they did, Mr Blair would today be challenged not by Mr Howard and Mr Kennedy, but probably by Michael Portillo and Sir Menzies Campbell, a more exhilarating contest by far. But this is fantasy politics. In reality the only way to influence policy now will be through exploiting the leverage of party blocs in the House of Commons.

Mr Sedgemore claims to want Mr Blair’s nasal blood on his fist. So do a remarkable number of people on the Left, though not enough to make an impact in the polls. But if Mr Sedgemore means what he says, the blood must be real. He must demand tactical voting to give the Left negotiating strength in the new Parliament. He must do more than leave Labour and kiss hands with Mr Kennedy. He must vote for Mr Howard. All else is not serious. It is waffle.

Here's a nifty idea for anybody wishing to enter our £500 'four letter word' competition:

The Backing Blair van did a tour of Labour/marginal constituencies in (and to) the east of London yesterday. For reasons of sensitivity, in areas with a primarily Muslim population, we did not use the "A vote for Tony Blair protects you from the terrorist threat..." voice-over soundtrack (as described here) but music alone. But the reactions in these areas were still the strongest we've seen so far.



We also used some new music on this run. As well as the now-standard 'Things Can Only Get Better' and the rocked-up version of the 'Imperial March', we included the theme music from 'Sesame Street' and 'The Muppet Show'.

There may be one final run for the truck next weekend. A few more donations will make this a certainty.

Cast you mind back to 2003, the 22nd July to be precise. David Kelly's body had been found in the Oxfordshire countryside, and Tony Blair was flying out to Hong Kong. When questioned by journalists on the flight who asked Why did you authorise the naming of David Kelly?, Blair responded with his typical denial, saying That is completely untrue.

In fact Blair continued for the next two years to deny that he had authorised the naming of David Kelly, instead claiming that the MoD merely confirmed his name once it was already known.

Then comes Newsnight with Jeremy Paxman interviewing Tony Blair. When asked Do you accept any responsibility at all for the death of Dr David Kelly, Blair replied

[His death] was a terrible, terrible thing to have happened. I don't believe we had any option but to disclose his name, because I think had we failed to do so, that would have been seen as attempting to conceal something from the committee that was looking into this at the time.

There you have it, a classic example of the problem faced by the habitual liar, eventually the truth will come out. Blair lied to the media, Dr Kelly's family and the Hutton Inquiry (which more than ever can be seen for the whitewash it was).

Perhaps it's time to rework the old adage, instead of lies, damn lies and statistics a more appropriate version might be lies, damn lies and Tony Blair's pronouncements.

Voting for Labour while Blair still leads the Party seems to me to be no different to being involved in an abusive relationship. After a while people seem to act as if they deserve to be lied to, that it is justifiable treatment for some fault of theirs. Well that isn't the case, unless you let Labour win with a significant majority on the 5th May. But it doesn't have to be that way, you can break the habit and, just possibly, return a modicum of honesty, dignity and accountability to the office of Prime Minister. All it takes is a vote against New Labour for as long as Blair remains in charge.

£500 IN CASH AND PRIZES UP FOR GRABS!

At a public 'meet the candidates' event in Guildford (Surrey) this week, the 'impartial' organisers tried to keep a certain subject off the agenda, and even lied when confronted about it (claiming that no questions had been submitted when at least half-a-dozen had). We feel that this is an increasingly common problem in the campaigning environment and in the media. And we've had enough of it.

Backing Blair is announcing a special competition with over £500 in cash and prizes for people who actually get off their arse and take the word to the streets. Literally. You may enter by distributing our posters and/or stickers (and documenting your adventures), or you may choose to simply take one word and get it in front of as many eyeballs as possible.

That word is:

IRAQ

We want this word to appear on walls, in windows, on roads and on vehicles. We want it to appear near homes, shops and polling stations. We want to make sure that nobody can turn away from what is, for many people, the single most important issue of this election.

Some quick ideas:
- Write 'Iraq' on walls and pavements with chalk
- Mow the word 'Iraq' into the side of a hill
- Get some A4/label sheets from your local stationery supplier and make some stickers
- Print 'Iraq' onto A4 sheets 4-8 times, cut the sheets into squares, and then do a mini-pamphlet drop in your street
- Do the same thing, except print and cut into rectangles, and slip a few hundred 'bookmarks' into place at your local public library
- Write 'Iraq' across the boobs of the Page 3 girl in your local pub's copy of The Sun
- Use a business card machine to make 50 'Iraq' cards and leave them in random locations
- Write 'Iraq' in the dust on the back of a lorry
- Whenever you pass a candidate being filmed, yell 'Iraq'
- Go down to the beach and carve 'Iraq' into the sand again and again and again
- Erect a little memorial-site on the side of the motorway and label it 'Iraq'
- Call your local talkback show and when they put you on air, abandon your phoney question, say 'Iraq!' and then hang up
- Go around town writing 'QARI' everywhere, and let people work it out for themselves
- And, finally, you might want to share this special message for candidates with your friends and neighbours:



Put. This. Word. Everywhere.

Take photos and/or document what you've done. You can send the results to us by email (via photos@backingblair.co.uk - just previews are fine if you have large files and/or a lot of them) or put them up on your own weblog. You will need to be able to prove that it's you behind it all to claim your prize(s), after all.

Entries will be judged on legality, ingenuity, impact and reach.

All UK citizens are eligible to enter. Prizes are as follows:

1st Prize - £250 cash and a giant 3x6 metre 'No Alternative' poster (the ultimate campaign souvenir from our Backing Blair truck)

2nd Prize - £100 cash and a 'No Alternative' t-shirt

3rd Prize - £50 cash and a case of chardonnay

Entries close at midnight on Thursday the 5th of May, but we need you to start now. As in right now. Start thinking and get moving. Good luck to you all.

Iraq.

Iraq.

Iraq. Iraq. Iraq.

Oh, or our posters and/or stickers.

But preferably the single word 'Iraq'.

Iraq. Iraq. Iraq.

Word.

For weeks now tactical voting campaigners have been bombarded from every direction with the faintly ludicrous accusation that if you vote LibDem on the 5th May, you'll wake up to a Tory government the day after. This New Labour mantra has come from former MPs such as Tom Watson and Peter Hain, and from the left-wing media in the shape of the Guardian and such journalists as Poly Toynbee. We've been told to put down the chardonnay, close the websites and get behind the Labour Party, lest Michael Howard become the next resident of No. 10 Downing St.

In spite of all these comments, sites such as BackingBlair.co.uk, Strategic Voter and So Who Do We Vote For Now have continued to push tactical voting as the only realistic means of delivery a meaningful rebuke to Tony Blair for Iraq and other excesses.

Today we have a change of tune. Over at the Guardian the message is no longer Vote LibDem, Get Tory, but instead Vote Blair, Get Brown.

There are two reasons to distrust this new message. Firstly consider Tony Blair. Given all the dissembling over WMDs, the sheer scale of his betrayal of our trust, taking this into account, what guarantee do we have that he will indeed stand down? None. And when will he stand down? Possibly ometime in the next 5 years, but it all comes down to trust, a commodity which Blair is sadly lacking. Now possibly, just possibly, if Blair were to publish a binding statement in all the national newspapers, on television and radio, comfirming that he will stand down as Prime Minister and Labour Party Leader on such-and-such a day, then I might believe it.

Which brings us to the second point. If it really is a case of Vote Blair, Get Brown then let the election be conducted on that basis. Let Tony Blair stand aside now and give Gordon Brown the opportunity of becoming Prime Minister as a consequence of the democratic process, rather than through some dodgy deal done behind closed doors.

At the end of the day, the motivation behind both messages is the same, get off your backsides and vote Labour. If they can't scare you with the thought of a Conservative victory, then they'll try to bribe you with Gordon Brown instead. And if you're feeling tempted by the new tune, remember the broken manifesto promises and think of this, you might have to endure another 5 years of Blair before he stands down. Because, given the failure of the PLP to remove him, given the inability of the Labour Party Conference to unseat their leader, given Gordon Brown's lack of action in spite of his frustrations, the only way you can guarantee Blair's removal is through your vote.

Even though New Labour is incapable of changing its message, BackingBlair.co.uk can. Our original strategy was to vote for the candidate from the party most likely to defeat Labour. Quite a simple strategy, and one that has had us branded both Tory sympathisers, champagne socialists and old Trots.

We're already relaxing our stance, and updates to the constituency pages will show the following lucky Labour candidates receiving our support:

Candidate	Constituency
=========	============
Mike Wood	Batley & Spen
Kate Hoey	Vauxhall
Rt Hon Clare Short	Birmingham, Ladywood
Mark Fisher	Stoke on Trent Central
Glenda Jackson	Hampstead & Highgate
Kelvin Hopkins	Luton North
Diane Abbott	Hackney North & Stoke Newington
Robert Wareing	Liverpool, West Derby
Lynne Jones	Birmingham, Selly Oak
Alan Simpson	Nottingham South
Jeremy Corbyn	Islington North
John McDonnell	Hayes & Harlington
Robert Marshall-Andrews	Medway

Now you may be asking why we're prepared to relax our position and give our support to these candidates. The message we want to send to Tony Blair is that we find the direction his policies have taken to be opposed to all that Labour used to stand for. So we looked at some of the worse policies, including Iraq, ID Cards, Anti-Terror Laws, Trial Without Jury, Top-up Fees and House of Lords Reform, and identified the relevant Parliamentary divisions and the Government line on those divisions. We then matched the record of each and every Labour MP against an ideal Labour MP and picked out those MPs who disagreed with the Government on more than 75% of the 71 divisions (for a list of division, see the Backing Blair Dream MP at The Public Whip). What we ended up with was a - depressingly short - list of Labour MPs who put their beliefs before Party policy on key issues.

But we can do better than just supporting 13 anti-Blairite Labour candidates. We're also updating our advice to give support to LibDem candidates who have a significantly good chance of taking seats from the Tories:

Target	Constituency	2001 Maj	Sitting MP
======	=================	===========	==============
1	Taunton	235 0.4%
2	Orpington	269 0.5%
3	Surrey South West	861 1.7%
6	Dorset West	1,414 2.9%	Oliver Letwin
7	Haltemprice & Howden	1,903 4.3%	David Davis
8	Isle of Wight	2,826 4.5%
9	Eastbourne	2,154 4.8%
10	Wells	2,796 5.4%
13	Westmoreland & Lonsdale	3,147 6.6%	Tim Collins
14	Totnes	3,597 7.3%
15	Wiltshire North	3,878 7.3%
16	Maidenhead	3,284 7.6%	Theresa May
17	Dorset North	3,797 7.9%
20	New Forest East	3,829 9.1%
22	Bournemouth East	3,434 9.6%
23	Harborough	5,252 11.3%
25	Folkestone & Hythe	5,907 12.9%	Michael Howard

And there's more. Four constituencies will be updated to reflect our support for the LibDems as third placed party in 2001. In these constituencies the LibDems have a chance to overtake the Conservatives and beat the Labour candidate:

Constituency	2001 Maj
=================	===========
Leeds North West	6,363 15.0%
Dumfries, Clydesdale	6,560 15.1%
Falmouth & Camborne	7,079 15.1%
Colne Valley	7,273 15.5%

And we haven't finished yet. There are some constituencies where the LibDems are under pressure from the Tories. Our advice is being updated to emphasise the need to get out and support the LibDems (and a couple of SNP MPs as well, marked ****) in these seats:

Constituency	2001 Maj
=================	===========
Cheadle	33 0.1%
Weston-super-Mare	338 0.7%
Norfolk North	483 0.9%
Dorset Mid & Poole North	384 0.9%
Guildford	538 1.1%
Somerton & Frome	668 1.3%
Angus	532 1.5% ****
Brecon & Radnorshire	751 2.0%
Devon West & Torridge	1,194 2.1%
Hereford	968 2.2%
Ludlow	1,630 3.8%
Newbury	2,415 4.8%
Romsey	2,370 4.9%
Teignbridge	3,011 5.1%
Devon North	2,984 6.1%
Eastleigh	3,058 6.4%
Moray	2,374 6.5% ****
Southport	3,007 7.3%
Yeovil	3,928 8.2%
Argyll & Bute	3,832 9.2%

And if that wasn't enough, here are four constituencies where Labour are pressing hard, and we're asking voters to get out and give extra support to the party that currently holds the seat:

Constituency	2001 Maj	Held by
=================	===========	==============
Basingstoke	880 1.8%	Conservative
Brent East	1,118 5.3%	LibDem
Leicester South	1,654 5.6%	LibDem
Wyre Forest	17,630 35.9%	Independant

(Though Wyre Forest looks safe, it is probably one of the most volatile constituencies around.)

So there you have it. Some people listen, some people are prepared to be flexible, to be realistic, to accept change. It's just a shame that political parties and some elements of the media aren't.

Watch Newsnight tonight (or perhaps tomorrow night) to see a report on political weblogs and their role in this election. The report features everybody's favourite self-publicist.

UPDATE - The item got shunted because of the new Pope, and they certainly weren't going to use it last night (i.e. right after interviewing Blair). It may be on tonight (21st April), but - as with missing persons - as each day goes by, hope dwindles.

Our fourth video is now live. Please share it with someone who cares.. Or, even better, share it with someone who doesn't.

OK, we're ready to go for the very first Backing Blair competition. This one is a special treat for anybody who lives or works in London.

Somehow, hundreds and hundreds of very special Backing Blair tart-cards have appeared in London's phone boxes.

All you have to do for a chance to win one these digital cameras is find one, take a picture, and then send it to us! We're giving away one camera at random and one for the first image correctly submitted via Flickr.

We won't show you what they look like (identifying them is half the fun) but 'backingblair.co.uk' does appear in fine print on the front of each card.

Instructions:

- Take a picture of what you suspect to be one of our special tart-cards.
- Prepare an email ready to send to photos@backingblair.co.uk
- Attach your photo (JPEGs only)
- Use the *subject* of the email to name your image
- Use the *body* of the email to include your email address - so we know who it's from - and details of where you found the card (along with any other - short - comments that you'd like to add).



Any entries sent in this way will appear at the following page if you want to keep track of developments:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/backingblair/

Hint: You may want to focus your search on the following areas:
- Camden and Kentish Town
- Soho
- Waterloo & Embankment,
- Westminster & Victoria
- Angel, Euston, Kings Cross & Farringdon
- Brixton
- Shepherd's Bush

Get out there and get out there quickly:
1) They won't last long... especially in Soho
2) The first correct entry is guaranteed a prize (the second we will give to a randomly drawn entry)

Deadline for entries is 5pm, Friday 15th April.

(But if you miss out, don't sweat it... there are *plenty* of tart-cards left and there's another competition on the way shortly.)

Good luck!

UPDATE (11am Thursday 14th): It would appear that our tart-cards are being removed with some efficiency, so we've uploaded a range of images taken when we placed the cards, so you can see what they look like if you're not quick enough to catch them in action. Further day and night drops are planned for today and tomorrow, so the two digital cameras (still up for grabs) are there to be won. Keep an eye out.

The Meetup.com website is down, but tonight's London meeting is ON (at the usual location). We start at 7pm, but if you make it there before 8pm, you'll still be able to join the fun.

We're going on a top-secret mission, yes we are...

The Observer's lead story today:

With the mood among voters still highly volatile, cabinet minister Peter Hain launched a fierce attack on self-indulgent 'dinner party critics' among the liberal middle classes who are tempted to use the ballot box to punish Blair. He said that by doing so, they would only hurt the poorest, who were dependent on a Labour victory.

The leader had 'got the message' about their displeasure, Hain said, arguing that those who still disagreed over Iraq or civil liberties should reopen the arguments after the election.

I nearly choked on my focaccia when I read that.

I tell you what, Peter, here's the deal.

If you're really that worried about the poor, you and your colleagues can really make sure your leader has got the message. Replace Bliar with whomever you choose before the election, and we'll withdraw from the field. Otherwise, we'll see you in the marginals and there's everything to play for. Just don't try and pretend it's anyone's fault but your own...

The following are links to coverage of Backing Blair in the mainstream media:

The Tactics of Tactical Voting - BBC Election 2005 Website - 8th April
Digital politicking will put the snap into 2005 election - Digital Bulletin - 8th April
Interview on The World At One on BBC Radio 4 (220Kb MP3) - 7th April
And the winners are ... the tactical voters - The Scotsman - 5th April
Featured on the The Daily Politics show on BBC Two - 4th April
Duncan Smith is right, Tories must embrace the web - The Telegraph Online - 8th March
Back to front Online Web watch - Guardian - 24th February

It would appear that many, very many Labour candidates see Tony Blair as a liability. They have been given the choice of two different leaflets, only one of which includes a message from Tony Blair along with his photograph. The full article is subscription only, but some key quotes below:

Mr Blair has been seen as a major electoral asset since becoming Labour leader in 1994 - and his picture featured on most leaflets at the 1997 and 2001 elections. However, soundings among Labour MPs suggest a majority of them will choose not to have Mr Blair on their leaflets, after voters lost trust in him over Iraq.

One MP said: "I don't think the party will find many takers. Many of us are opting for the other leaflet. I'll be using a picture of a red rose but not him. Even the most loyal MP knows he is a liability."

If most Labour MPs know that Blair is a liability, then why did they choose to stick with him as leader in spite of the opportunities they have had to unseat him. So when (or possibly if) you get a leaflet pushed through your letter box exhorting you to Vote Labour, then check for the mention of Tony Blair. If you find none, then ask someone from your Constituency Labour Party why Blair is missing from the leaflet and why, if Blair is such a liability, Labour did nothing about him.

The Backing Blair truck had a successful run in and around London yesterday, and we met up with (and gained) some supporters along the way.

There's a full report of the event (and more pictures) at Bloggerheads.

Plans for the next outing are being discussed.



UPDATE - first video footage available here. It's wmv format for now, compressed in consideration of non-broadband persons (filesize is 289Kb).

This morning Tony Blair went to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament. The formal dissolution will take place on Monday 11th April, with the General Election being held on 5th May 2005.

The Backing Blair truck will be on London's streets Tuesday April 5.

Thank you to everybody who made donations that made this possible.

Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you!

****************************************
URGENT: We're OK for still photography, but we're *still* looking for someone with a digital video camera to capture the moment at Westminster. Get in touch if you can help.

UPDATE - We're now covered for a digital video camera - but do feel free to come along and capture a few frames for yourself.
****************************************

There will definitely be a second outing for the truck after this - but it may not be in London. If you're in London on the day and want to catch us in action, we will be hitting the following locations at the following times:

11:00am - GREENWICH

We'll begin by seeing if there's any room for us in the (no doubt very busy) coach station adjacent to the Millennium Dome:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=539238&Y=179690&A=Y&Z=1

Journalists: If you want something that passes for a brief photo-call, this is where it's going to happen. But if you're feeling lazy; don't sweat it. We plan to come and see you anyway...

12:00pm - CANARY WHARF

We'll probably do a few laps of Canary Wharf before moving on to the News International building (we probably won't get past some security cordons - please see updated map links):
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=537059&Y=180339&A=Y&Z=1
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=534217&Y=180677&A=Y&Z=1

1:00pm - REGENT STREET & TRAFALGAR SQUARE

You can expect us to do a few laps here, in an effort to catch the lunchtime crowd:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=530014&Y=180430&A=Y&Z=1

2:00pm - WESTMINSTER

Round and round the garden, like a teddy bear... we'll also do a few drive-bys of Downing St, Abingdon Green (where reporters stand to do their to-camera pieces from outside Parliament) and - if possible - Old Queen St (home to Labour HQ):
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=530123&Y=179602&A=Y&Z=1

From here, we plan to go free-wheeling all over town (we hope to drive past the BBC and through Camden at the very least), but we will definitely finish at...

7:00pm - WATERLOO

Just in time to show off our truck to everybody who turns up on time for the next Backing Blair meeting:
http://ukelection.meetup.com/1/events/4368061/