Former prime minister Gordon Brown gestures as he delivers a speech during a campaign event in Glasgow yesterday.

London Evening Standard/London

Senior Tory Liam Fox yesterday slapped down two former chancellors who criticised David Cameron ahead of the tightest election in decades.
After Nigel Lawson and Ken Clarke questioned the Tory leader’s election pledges, Fox accused them of treating the intense 2015 battle like an internal “debating society”.
In an exclusive interview with the Standard he demanded the party speak with one voice, claiming it was a Tory’s “duty” to highlight differences with Labour.
Fox’s arrival in the capital to campaign with Tory colleagues was marred last week by stories about Tory peer Lord Lawson rejecting a “flurry” of Conservative election giveaways as either “expensive or unwise”.
It came after earlier this month Clarke warned against “silly” promises and “blank cheques”.
Fox defended George Osborne’s pledge of £8bn to the NHS, calling it “unavoidable”. He said: “The whole Tory party needs to understand that Britain’s future is at stake and we need to speak with one voice, set out what we offer and make very clear what the alternative is.
“This is not a debating society on the finer points of the Conservative internal debate. This is a choice for the country.”
He added: “It’s the duty of all Conservatives in this last week to be very clear that (different parties) have very different visions for our country.”
Going on the attack, Fox said watching Labour leader Ed Miliband “worshipping at the altar of Russell Brand” was “revolting” and warned London’s voters of the “McMiliband nightmare”, which he defined as an SNP-backed Labour government squeezing money from the capital’s taxpayers and burdening future generations with debt.
Fox believes the battle for Britain is between Tory “stability and prosperity” and Labour “high borrowing and high taxes”, a situation he claims is riskier because of Labour’s likely reliance on the Scottish Nationalists. He said: “We know ultimately what socialism means. Thatcher used to say if there’s one thing you can be certain of, it is that they’ll run out of other people’s money.
“Not only will (Labour) run out of the current generation’s money, but they will start overspending for the next generation too. My message to young Londoners in particular is beware the McMiliband nightmare — they will spend your future to buy their political power today.”
Asked if he had heard of self-styled revolutionary Brand, he said: “Sadly. Of the 60 odd million people in Britain he’d probably be one of the last I’d have over for dinner.
“Watching Miliband worshipping at the altar of Russell Brand was probably one of the most revolting sights of this election.”
Turning to the migrant crisis, Fox took a swipe at future leadership potential Boris Johnson after the London mayor called for the SAS to be sent to Libya to tackle Libyan people traffickers.
Former defence secretary Dr Fox, himself a possible leadership candidate, said: “You don’t simply throw the military in with some sort of rhetorical flourish.”