Tory attack on 'smirking' Blair

The Tories today launch a cinema advertisement lampooning Tony Blair.

The commercial will be shown across the country and is expected to be seen by about one million people.

It features smirking images of the Prime Minister to the song Take that Look Off Your Face, by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The shots echo Michael Howard's words as he launched the Conservative manifesto earlier this week, when he claimed Mr Blair was "already secretly smirking" at the prospect of victory.

In a key image in the film, Mr Blair is seen being patted on the back by President Bush. Tory strategists hope the image will strike a chord with opponents of the Iraq war and former Labour supporters disillusioned by Britain's close relationship with America's Republican regime. A Tory strategist said: "The image makes him look like Bush's poodle."

The film also features the Prime Minister warning of the threat of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction - followed by newspaper headlines stating that no such weapons have been found.

Mr Blair's previous poll soundbites such as "education, education, education" and "24 hours to save the NHS" are contrasted with what Tories say is the hard truth of his time as Prime Minister.

Throughout the film, Mr Blair is repeatedly heard saying "enough of talking" - designed to suggest that he has spent more time talking about taking action than making Britain a better place.

The advert finishes by calling on viewers to "imagine another five years" of Labour rule. An edited version of the film, first shown at the party's spring gathering, will be shown at about 100 cinemas across the country. The finished-product has delighted Mr Howard and is seen as the perfect antidote to the Labour election broadcast by Anthony Minghella portraying Mr Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown as close friends and colleagues.

It was being released after a briefing on Labour's tax-and-spend plans by shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin and shadow chief Treasury secretary George Osbourne.

The attack on the Prime Minister's close relationship with Mr Bush threatens to further undermine the Conservatives' relationship with the Republicans.

Since the Iraq war, Mr Howard has striven to distance himself from Mr Bush after polls showed the US president's unpopularity among Tory supporters. Last year, Mr Bush's aide Karl Rove warned Mr Howard not to undermine the president over the war, making it clear he would not be welcome at the Republican convention. Tory party chairman Liam Fox went instead.