国际英语新闻：Major British party leaders in last lap of election campaign

Some in Labour still believe they have the slim chance of holding onto enough seats to be able to form a coalition with the third party in British politics, the Liberal Democrats, in a bid to keep the Conservatives out of power.

Under this scenario Brown could lose the election in seats and number of votes cast and still remain prime minister.

Labour was hit by another defection from its stable of newspaper supporters. The Financial Times dumped its support of Labour and threw its weight behind the Conservatives, joining several other national newspapers who have all deserted the ailing ruling party in recent days.

There were signs of disagreements at the top of the Labour party in the face of looming defeat, with three Cabinet members either urging or coming close to urging Labour voters to vote tactically, to support the Lib Dems in places where they stood a better chance of defeating the Conservatives.

Former Labour prime minister Tony Blair entered the controversy, firmly opposing calls for tactical voting. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Blair, who was absent from much of the campaign, said he thought the vote would be a verdict on his time as prime minister as well as on Brown's.