Heseltine tells Conservative party faithful to 'hold nerve'

The Conservative party should "hold its nerve" and remain focused on its economic message, according to Lord Heseltine, as the heads of 5,000 small businesses signed a letter backing the party.

Lord Heseltine, the party grandee who fought 10 election campaigns before stepping down as an MP in 1997, said he was convinced that the UK recovery had come early enough to persuade voters to back the party on election day.

He backed the party's focus on its economic record and urged colleagues to stick to the script.

David Cameron and the Conservatives received a boost from British business on Sunday night when the bosses of 5,000 small companies signed a letter backing the party leader and warning that Labour would pose a risk to the economic recovery, the Telegraph reported.

The letter, organised by Baroness Brady, the party's small business ambassador, said the "Conservative-led government has been genuinely committed to making sure Britain is open for business".

"We've been helped by their steps to lower taxes, reduce red tape, simplify employment law and get the banks lending," it continued. "We would like to see David Cameron and [Chancellor] George Osborne given the chance to finish what they have started."

The signatories' businesses employ nearly 100,000 people. Baroness Brady, star of The Apprentice TV show, has been encouraging people to sign the letter on the Conservative party website.

However, the initiative suffered negative publicity on Monday when one software company on the list, Aurum Solutions, said its sales director had not signed the letter and asked for its name to be removed from the list of signatories.

There were also jitters in the Tory campaign over the weekend, prompted by criticisms from two party donors who questioned Mr Cameron's leadership and tone during the election battle.

Both Peter Hall, an investment manager, and entrepreneur Hugh Osmond said they would back Boris Johnson, the London mayor, as an alternative leader, while Mr Hall accused the prime minister of conducting his campaign with a "curious lack of energy and belief".

Addressing voters in Yeovil on Sunday, Mr Cameron appeared to admit his message lacked panache. "If you want more political excitement, go to Greece," he said.

"I'm focused on something real . . . more jobs more homes, more business, more childcare, more security in retirement. I make no apologies for focusing hard on that."

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"Labour think it's government that creates jobs," Mr Cameron will say. "We know it's the people who take risks, start out on their own . . . We are the party of the grafters and the roofers and the retailers and the plumbers."?

Lord Heseltine - the former deputy prime minister who acted as a regional growth adviser to Mr Cameron in the last government - appeared to endorse the current campaign strategy, as he appealed for calm in the ranks.

"My view of all elections is that they are won or lost on the concept of change," he told the Financial Times. "If people are dissatisfied and they want change, the opposition has a line of attack. But if people are satisfied and contented - and this is an economic phenomenon - the government holds on."

He added that the economic recovery was convincing enough to persuade voters to give the Conservatives a second term.

<>"In the 1997 election [won by Labour in a landslide] the economy was beginning to show encouraging signs but the recovery hadn't come early enough to percolate through to the electorate and I think this time it has come sufficiently early. It has come in time, in my view."

Business leaders told the FT last week they were frustrated by what they saw as the negative tactics of the Conservative campaign and the barrage of spending promises that cast doubt on the party's fiscal record. Some Tories have also suggested that the campaign has not been uplifting enough.

Responding to those concerns, Lord Heseltine said he was squarely behind the strategy of Lynton Crosby, the party's election chief. "I can't quibble with anything Lynton Crosby has said because that is analysis with which I agree and, I have to say, it is true and the party must hold its nerve," he said.

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