'Left out' Gordon goes on the stump

Gordon Brown will today try to dispel claims that he is being "cut out" of Labour's election campaign when he stages his own whistle-stop tour of marginal seats.

Some MPs believe Mr Brown has been deliberately left out of the past week's "meet the people" campaign that has seen Tony Blair on TV virtually every day.

In a conscious decision to make the Prime Minister the main focus of the campaign for a third term, Mr Blair spent five out of the last seven days in the media spotlight.

The Chancellor, who is set to make a speech on globalisation in the next few days, will spend today in Staffordshire, supporting six Labour MPs. Mr Brown was replaced as Labour's election campaign chief by Alan Milburn last year.