The shadow defence secretary, Liam Fox, has warned that a hung parliament would "kill the economic recovery". He told Today presenter James Naughtie that, while the Liberal Democrats' leader Nick Clegg should be taken seriously, "if people want change, if they want to see Gordon Brown out of Number Ten... then the way to do that is to vote Conservative".

The Business Secretary Lord Mandelson agreed that Mr Clegg had to be taken seriously, adding "he has entered the fray, and appealed to a lot of people who feel that Labour's had a good innings, it's time for someone else's turn, but who've looked at Mr Cameron and the Tories and frankly balked at the prospect of them becoming the government".

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