The general election campaign started unofficially this week with both Tony Blair and William Hague going on the offensive.

So I'm being brave enough to predict what will happen locally and nationally.

Thursday May 3 will be election day. It will be four years since Labour was elected, a respectable enough gap, and the day will coincide with local elections. It will give enough time for Budget handouts to have filtered through.

The campaign will be one of such numbing boredom that there will be a surge in foreign holiday bookings as people seek to flee the country.

Blair will avoid repeated calls from his challengers to meet in a televised debate which might have provided the one brief interlude of interest.

Despite all these signs, the BBC will extend its news to one hour each evening but as it now starts at 10pm, few will watch the start and even fewer will be there at the end.

Labour will remain comfortably ahead in the polls throughout the campaign despite a rogue poll which will give encouragement to the Tories and all their supporters in the national Press.

Despite all the sound and fury, Europe will not feature much in the campaign as electors concentrate on matters closer to home.

There will be widespread concern that the Prime Minister wields the enormous political advantage of being able to choose the timing of the election but no one will do anything about it as the winning party will want to keep this privilege.

After all, it was used twice, with great effect, by Thatcher, who called elections after four-year terms.

The turnout will be the lowest at any general election since the war. Many electors, who expected the earth from Labour and felt they did not receive it, will not vote, particularly in safe urban seats.

There will be little enthusiasm to vote for the Tories but they will gain seats through Labour abstentions.

Smaller parties will fare well, especially the Lib Dems and Greens, as some disillusioned electors feel the need to vote for someone even though they may not agree with many of their policies.

Although the Lib Dems will not retain all their seats, they will gain some unexpected new ones as tactical voting against the Tories continues.

After the election in Sussex, there will still be representatives from Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems in Parliament although some of the 15 seats will have changed hands.

There will be at least three close calls before results are known. At least one well-known candidate will be involved in a scandal.

Labour will win the election with a majority of 90 seats, big enough to be comfortable but almost halving the current figure. The result will be just enough to save the skin of Hague.

Blair will continue in office for another two years. At this point he will fulfil the promise he made to Gordon Brown four years ago and quit like Harold Wilson, while he is still ahead.

This will enable him, after six hard years in office, to get a life at an age when he will still be young enough to enjoy it.

With Leo still a youngster, he will be the first politician in recent times to have said he intends to spend more time with his family and mean it.

If all this proves to be political nonsense, I have to remind you my record as a pundit, is, to say the least, variable.

But if it turns out to be largely correct, remember you read it here first.