Spot the difference
Updated on 12 April 2005
Have the Tories changed? This one has - from this to this. Truth and lies on the campaign trail.
The 'After' version of the photograph.
Spot the difference, a Tory candidate posing with Anne Widdecombe, holding placards in support of an asylum seeker and her family threatened with deportation.
One month later, as the Tories go into the election campaign promising tougher controls on immigration, the same photo - but with the asylum seekers and their supporters airbrushed out - the placards also altered to reflect Tory policy. 
Before...
...and after
The case of Verah Kachepa has attracted huge support in the marginal seat of Dorset South - originally from Malawi, Ms Kachepa and her 4 children were arrested by immigration officials last month. The local press got behind their campaign, and the prospective Tory candidate Ed Matts contacted the family to offer his support. The family told us Mr Matts attended several meetings and spoke out on their behalf. All the more bemusing then, that he later appeared to distance himself from the campaign by altering the photo
"To tell you the truth, it's a bit disheartening. Him using the photo wasn't really the right thing, he should have changed the picture. He called this morning to apologise for what had happened. He explained that when he put that picture he was trying to explain what they were going to do with immigration." - Verah Kachepa
Mr Matts has apologised - Anne Widdecome said she had no idea her image would be used in the way in was
"If he'd asked me i'd have said don't do it that way because it's too open to misintrepretation. Do a completely different photograph. Nevertheless that was the way he chose to do it. He's admitted it wasn't the brightest thing to do on earth and he's apologised." - Anne Widdecombe
Labour campaign chiefs, who are believed to have tipped of the press, couldn't beleive their luck. Describing Mr Matt's actions as organised deceit. John Reid has written to Michael Howard, demanding that the candidate be sacked - a call echoed by the Lib Dems.
But Mr Howard - on a visit to Torquay - stood by his man:
"It shouldn't have been done and the candidate concerned has apologised for it, and so he should have done" - Michael Howard, Conservative Party Leader
The Tories have put immigration at the heart of their campaign - it's one of the issues that they are ahead of Labour on, according to the polls. But the head of the Commission for Racial Equality - concerned about racial tensions being stirred - has today warned all parties to not to play the race card. Meanwhile, Verah Kachepa and her family have been told they will have to leave the country in July.
INTERNET LINKS
Ed Matts, Conservative -
Website of Ed Matts, Conservative.
