Tony Blair last night insisted that he had not lied as the Tories continued to focus their election campaign on his character.

Mr Blair accused the Conservatives of shying away from the issues to attack him personally.

His comments came as Tory leader Michael Howard continued to insist the Prime Minister's integrity was a key issue in the fight for votes on May 5.

He said: "The message I think people should send to Mr Blair is: 'We have had enough of your broken promises, we have had enough of your talk, we have had enough of you'."

"Mr Blair doesn't like being held accountable, but I think it is very important he should be held accountable.

"I think that is what General Elections should be about."

Speaking in Edinburgh, he said: "May 5 is your chance to tell Mr Blair where to get off."

Asked whether he had ever lied to the public, Mr Howard replied: "I am not aware of any occasion when I have deliberately or knowingly misled people, and that is the charge I make against Mr Blair."

During a Sky News interview Mr Blair said: "I have never told a lie. No. I don't intend to go telling lies to people. I did not lie over Iraq.

"In the end, you can play the ball or play the man, and if they play the man that is probably because they don't dare play the ball."

Speaking on ITV, Mr Blair said voters would have a valid reason to reject him if they thought he had misled them over the Iraq war.

"You have got to make up your minds about this. If you believe that I stood up there and told a whole lot of lies then that is a reason for not voting for me," he said.

"But I actually took the decision on the evidence I had and I took it honestly, believing it was the right thing for the country to do."

The Prime Minister added: "I took that decision bona fide, in good faith, doing what I thought was right. I still think it was, although I totally understand why people disagree with me. Sometimes in politics there are decisions that people will powerfully disagree with whichever you do.

"And when you are sitting in my seat, you've got to take that decision.

"I'm not going to sit here and plead: 'Oh trust me'. I'm not going to do that. In the end, you are going to have to make up your minds about me as a person."

The bitter personal row took place as Mr Blair sought to bring the campaign focus back on to education, as did the Liberal Democrats.

In his speech on education in Bolton, Mr Blair said the Tories had an "inept" economic plan and had campaigned on immigration "in a profoundly unpleasant way".

He said: "Finally, when that fails, they turn to personal attacks on me."

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said the Tories had "concluded they are losing this election", causing them to mount "the most negative form of personalised campaign". Last night, the Conservatives unveiled their latest poster campaign, accusing Mr Blair of having lied about the war in Iraq and being prepared to lie to win the election.

Mr Howard said he supported the war against Iraq, but said: "You could have gone to war and told the truth. That is what Mr Blair didn't do."