LABOUR was last night facing the humiliation of not winning any of tomorrow's three mayoral elections in its traditional North-East heartland.

The potential shock comes on the fifth anniversary of Tony Blair's Government taking office in 1997, and the Prime Minister admits in an exclusive interview with his local newspaper, The Northern Echo: "I'm as frustrated as anyone else that change has not been quicker."

Following his second historic landslide victory last June, it was unthinkable that Labour's candidates in the country's first mayoral elections - the new post is itself the brainchild of Mr Blair - would not win in the North-East.

But in Middlesbrough, where turnout could reach a respectable 40 per cent, ex-policeman Ray Mallon's camp is hopeful of winning 65 per cent of the vote and Labour is said to be bracing itself for "a pretty bad result".

In North Tyneside, the Conservative candidate, Chris Morgan, is said to be the front-runner while in Hartlepool, where Labour's vote is apparently "melting away", either the LibDem Arthur Preece or even H'Angus the Monkey is in pole position.

"If we win one, it would be a success," said a Labour source.

Labour Party chairman Charles Clarke yesterday also dampened down expectations saying he would be "pleased" if Labour improved on May 2000, its worst performance in Mr Blair's five years when it won only 29 per cent of the vote.

However, in the elections in Gateshead and South Tyneside, where postal votes are being held, turnout is already 45 per cent - a big improvement on 2000 when both were less than 30 per cent.

Speculation is rife about how the turnout will affect the chances of the three British National Party candidates in Gateshead, and the six in Sunderland which is holding a traditional "walk-in" ballot tomorrow.

The strength of support nationally for the BNP's 68 candidates, particularly in Burnley and Oldham following the success in France of Jean Marie le Pen, is going to be one of the crucial points of the elections.

In his interview with The Northern Echo, Mr Blair said he understood the sense of impatience around the country that progress under New Labour had been slower than expected. But he said: "I think sometimes we can be a bit negative about things. It's important to look at the glass as half full rather than half empty.

"You could list a number of achievements. We've strengthened the economy so we've weathered the economic storm better than any other country in the western world.

"We've got the lowest unemployment for over 30 years and the minimum wage has been introduced for the first time."

He said: "The achievement that I personally feel very, very attached to is the improvement in education."

In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Blair revealed how he had played an old rock 'n' roll number at a party thrown for him by President George Bush on his recent visit to Texas. He also dismissed the view that he had had to counsel caution to the president immediately after the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York.

Mr Blair said: "It was never a question of me having to restrain him. Post September 11, we sat down, worked out a lot of the strategy and came to the same view."

He also talked very tough on crime. "I do think it is important that we get after even low-level crime, because when you start to be indifferent to the vandalism, graffiti, petty theft and the low-order street crime, you end up having a drug dealer in the street," he said.

This chimed with Mr Blair saying in last night's party political broadcast that anti-social behaviour was "the single biggest problem" faced by people throughout society, from nurses abused by patients in hospitals to teachers struggling to maintain classroom discipline.

The Tories dismissed Mr Blair's talk on crime as a "gimmick" designed to obscure Labour's record on violent crime in the run-up to the local elections.

Leader Iain Duncan Smith said: "We don't need gimmicks. What we need is a concerted effort to make sure that those who commit crime are arrested."

Mr Blair was at the first NHS Primary Care Trust conference yesterday where he said he was optimistic about the future of the NHS.

But he said: "The biggest problem we all face is that for us, as people in the Government and for you who are at the sharp end of the service, expectations are not just high, they are on a perpetual escalator. People expect more and more.