labour noted that staffordshire police's budget for vehicle replacement had been cut by £1m which meant that the force could not update its motorway patrol cars although they had done 250,000 miles and were on their second engines. david icke visited on 11 march to assist the green party campaign, prompting an attack on the party by the liberal democrats who claimed their solution for every problem was to set up a committee. on 12 march the conservative campaign had to explain that invitations to join the campaign had been sent by the candidate's minder gerald howarth to nearly every conservative mp but had not yet been delivered to former defence secretary michael heseltine, who was unofficially known to be keen to challenge thatcher's leadership. charles prior was reported to look 'flustered' but insisted that heseltine would be a tremendous asset if he came to the constituency. heseltine arrived on 14 march, drawing a far greater number of conservative activists than had campaigned with cecil parkinson three nights previously.