Tories say backing off immigration cost 10 seats in British elections

Nicholas Watt:

Michael Howard is kicking himself that he backed away from a big push on immigration in the final days of the election campaign - a decision which Tories believe may have cost them at least 10 extra seats in parliament.

As the Conservatives embark on a fresh round of soul searching, Mr Howard believes he could have finished off Tony Blair because a further 10 Tory MPs would have cut Labour's majority to below 50, dealing a fatal blow to the prime minister.

Mr Howard, who focused strongly on immigration in the early part of his campaign, abandoned plans to return to the charged issue in the final days because he wanted to present an upbeat message of what he would do as prime minister.

But aides believe a harder message could have handed the Tories seats such as Crawley, which Labour retained by 37 votes and where the BNP did well. "We should have had a final go on immigration," one Tory said.

Hopefully, the next leader of the British Conservatives will be wiser.