In the latest from the campaign trail we talk to Conservative Minister Lord Parkinson, fresh from a bloody encounter with a dog in Clacton, and to Dr Louise Thompson about the problems facing smaller opposition parties in parliament. Could the Conservatives be about to join them?

Plus, we take our usual time-travelling trip to the the equivalent point in the 1997 General Election campaign, where John Major and Tony Blair engage in a war of cartoon metaphors, and Europe bursts back onto the agenda as the Conservative truce on the Single Currency comes under further strain.

Produced by the Centre for Opposition Studies

Presented by Nigel Fletcher and Sarah Southern

Theme Music by Tom Hector