A MILLIONAIRE businessman who has threatened to set up a gipsy camp in Tony Blair's backyard last night said they could move in within days of a General Election.

Property developer Len Gridley, whose home overlooks a travellers' site at Crays Hill, Essex, says he has bought land in Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency and in Hull, which is represented by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

He told The Northern Echo he had bought two acres of greenfield land in Sedgefield, which he plans to sell to up to 20 travelling families.

Although he refused to state where the land was located, he said it was not far from Mr Blair's home in Trimdon.

Mr Gridley, 45, said that if Labour wins the expected May 5 election, travellers could be on his Sedgefield site "within weeks, if not days".

But he said the move would not be made if travellers living near his Essex home, in breach of planning laws, had moved on by a deadline of May 13, imposed under an eviction order.

He said: "I already have people lined up who are screaming at me on a daily basis to sell the land to them.

"They would not be breaking the law or be doing anything illegal. They would be moving onto the site and do what they have done around my way."

This week, Tory leader Michael Howard said that trespass by travellers would be made a criminal offence and announced measures intended to tackle the problem.

Mr Gridley is campaigning for a change in the law so travellers cannot move onto greenfield sites without planning permission.

Earlier this week, the deselected leader of Durham County Council, Councillor Ken Manton, who represents Sedgefield, said his stance on gipsies could have led to him being removed.

He had refused to back residents' calls for a locked gate on a lane regularly used by travellers, saying gipsies should only be subject to sanctions if they broke the law.