Howard: I could have ousted Blair on migrants

Michael Howard believes he could have forced Tony Blair's resignation if the Tories had not backed off immigration in the final week of the election campaign, aides claimed today.

The Opposition leader abandoned plans to focus on the subject in the run-up to polling day after criticism the Conservatives were looking like a " oneissue party".

He now thinks a harder message could have delivered 10 extra seats, fatally wounding Mr Blair. Labour held on to Crawley, where the BNP did well, by only 37 votes. "We should have had a final go on immigration," an aide said.

One of the Tories' big donors, Michael Spencer, spoke for many MPs when he said immigration had been overplayed. Mr Spencer, of inter-dealer brokers Icap, said the election result was a "negative vote against Blair rather than a positive vote for the Conservatives".

Similarly, Lord Saatchi blamed policy chief David Cameron and Rachel Whetstone, Mr Howard's key aide, for failing to offer a sufficiently "positive" vision of Britain under the Tories.