Tories are setting up a "war unit" to target Sussex's marginal general election seats.

The party has placed at least three Labour MPs on a hit list of 164 constituencies.

Managers are establishing a Target Seats Unit, backed by regional call centres, to pour resources into the crucial constituencies and raise the profile of local candidates.

The party is also setting up a network of regional Press officers to lead the publicity blitz on their behalf.

Officially, Conservative Central Office will not comment on the exact location of the target seats.

But the list has been drawn up on the size of the sitting MPs' majorities, along with specific local issues.

Insiders said Hove MP and junior defence minister Ivor Caplin, whose majority was 3,171 in the 2001 election, was in the firing line.

Hastings and Rye MP Michael Foster, who is defending a majority of 4,308, and Brighton Kemptown's Des Turner - who won the last poll with 4,922 votes to spare - are also high on the list of vulnerable seats.

A Conservative Campaigning Board, chaired by Lord Moynihan, will advise the Target Seats Unit to make sure local activists have the resources, support and technology to run a "first-class campaign".

A resource centre will provide advice on campaigning techniques, information on opponents and literature to support local campaigns.

Tory co-chairman Liam Fox said: "These developments will ensure the party is ready to take the fight to Labour when the next election comes.

"We will be increasing the pressure at every level."

Of the 659 seats in Parliament, the Conservatives hold 166.

A party needs 330 seats to form a majority.

Winning 164 seats would give a Conservative government a majority of one.

In addition to the 164 target seats in England and Wales, the Scottish Conservatives have their own target seats.