TONY BLAIR last night defiantly insisted: "I have never told a lie" as the Tories continued to target his character in an election campaign onslaught. Mr Blair accused the Conservatives of shying away from the issues and preferring to attack him personally. His comments came as Tory leader Michael Howard continued to insist the Prime Minister's integrity was a key issue in the fight for votes on May 5. "The message I think people should send to Mr Blair is 'we have had enough of your broken promises, we have had enough of your talk, we have had enough of you'," said Mr Howard. "Mr Blair doesn't like being held accountable, but I think it's very important he should be held accountable. "I think that's what general elections should be about." And, speaking in Edinburgh, he told the public: "May 5 is your chance to tell Mr Blair where to get off." Asked whether he had ever lied to the public, Mr Howard replied: "I'm not aware of any occasion when I have deliberately or knowingly misled people and that's the charge I make against Mr Blair." Mr Blair hit back in an interview for Adam Boulton of Sky News: "I have never told a lie. No. I don't intend to go telling lies to people. I did not lie over Iraq." And he added: "In the end you can play the ball or play the man and if they play the man that's probably because they don't dare play the ball." In separate comments to ITV news' Ballot Box Jury programme Mr Blair said voters would have a valid reason to reject him if they thought he had misled them over the Iraq war. "You've got to make up your minds about this. If you believe that I stood up there and told a whole lot of lies then that is a reason for not voting for me," he said.. "But I actually took the decision on the evidence I had and I took it honestly believing it was the right thing for the country to do." The increasingly bitter personal tussle took place as Mr Blair sought to bring the campaign focus back on to education, as did the Liberal Democrats. Mr Howard was last night spelling out his party's plans on law and order. But it was the feud between the Tory and Labour leaders which dominated the day. In his speech in Bolton, Mr Blair said the Tories had an "inept" economic plan and had campaigned on immigration "in a profoundly unpleasant way". He went on: "Finally, when that fails, they turn to personal attacks on me. My response? I will carry on talking about the issues that matter to the hard-working families of this country: the economy, the NHS, our schools, law and order. "I don't care in the least about the Tory attacks on my character. I do care about the future of this country. "I will continue to expose the choice this nation faces on May 5. "I will talk about policy. I will talk about values." Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said the Tories had "concluded they are losing this election", causing them to mount "the most negative form of personalised campaign". Last night, the Conservatives unveiled their latest poster campaign, accusing Mr Blair of being "prepared to lie" to win the election,, just as he had over the Iraq war. And Mr Howard repeated the charge again, saying he supported the war against Iraq but adding: "You could have gone to war and told the truth. That's what Mr Blair didn't do." Mr Kennedy predicted that the Conservative tactics would fail: "They are the losing team in this election." Both Mr Howard and Mr Blair fell foul of bad weather as they flew in their campaign planes back to London, as there were lightning flashes near both aircraft. Meanwhile, Attorney General Lord Goldsmith last night said he stood by his opinion that it was legal for Britain to go to war in Iraq. Lord Goldsmith's comments came after the broadcast by Channel 4 News of details from his confidential advice to Tony Blair on the legality of the war. The extracts showed that the Attorney General warned Mr Blair that it was "unclear" whether the United Nations Security Council resolution 1441 gave authorisation for military action without a further resolution. But Lord Goldsmith insisted that the release of the document "stood up" the Government's case that he had not changed his opinion between giving Mr Blair his private advice on March 7, 2003, and giving a statement to Parliament summarising his views ten days later. Lord Goldsmith said that the document showed how he had gone through the complex arguments over the legality of military action before concluding that, in his judgment, it would be lawful. The statement read: "The document so far from standing up the case of the Government's critics, stands up the case the Government has been making all along. "Contrary to the allegations that have persistently been made, it does not say the war was unlawful but confirms the conclusion I reached was that a sufficient basis for the use of force was established without a second resolution." | 
