Tony Blair on the front cover
of the 2001 manifesto.
Labour is offering a classic non-denial denial of today's Evening Standard story that the prime minister is for the first time being dropped from the front cover of the forthcoming manifesto.
Mr Blair's youthful – and then less youthful – face was all over the front page of both the 1997 and the 2001 election brochures.
However, as Michael Howard observed yesterday at PMQs, Labour MPs appear not so keen to have him on their personal election leaflets this time around, and now it would appear the PM has also been dropped from the nationwide manifesto.
Here are the Labour spokesman's quotes: "The theory that the prime minister is being hidden away has been rather demolished by the fact that his face was all over a Labour election poster being launched today.
"No journalist has actually seen a copy of the manifesto.
"What the public will be interested in is the contents, which will begin on page one, line one with Tony Blair's preface setting out our forward vision for the country.
"The prime minister does feature prominently in the manifesto."
All will be revealed next week, when Labour launch the real thing.
