Gordon Brown made a final push to win votes in the key marginal seat of West Lancashire on Wednesday (5 May), with a whistle-stop tour of a Skelmersdale shopping centre.
Joined by his wife, Sarah, the Prime Minister arrived at the Concourse shopping mall at around 2pm, and was met by the hundreds of Labour supporters, chanting and cheering.
The visit, which was organised by current West Lancs MP Rosie Cooper, will have provided a welcome morale boost for the Labour leader, who will be hoping loyal voters in the traditional Labour stronghold take to the ballot box on mass, to stave off a recent Tory surge in the North West seat.
Just a small number of Conservative voters were on hand to condemn the Labour premiere, but their chants of "Gordon Out" were drowned out by the huge crowd of Labour supporters.
The PM took time to speak with hundreds of local people, including classes of school children and shopkeepers in a half-hour walk through the 1980's-style shopping centre.
Hand-in-hand with his wife, Mr Brown showed little of the frustration which has dogged his campaign, perhaps lifted by recent polls which suggested David Cameron's lead could be narrowing as the polls approach.
The Labour chief laughed and joked with a recent MBE winner, and told her: "You should be very proud. I am very proud of you, the whole country is very proud of you."
However the social-worker, who did not wish to be identified, said she was still unlikely to vote Labour in the upcoming election.
Mr Brown looked to be in good spirits to the last, and took the time to shake every outstretched hand before being whisked through a fire escape by security staff and into a waiting car, before making the short trip north to Blackpool.
As he left, one voter said: "He was absolutely lovely, I'm thrilled to have met him.
"I wasn't sure if I was going to vote at all to be honest, but now that he's been here to visit I will definitely make the effort to go out and show him my support."
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