and handled .. as if she was some Walworth Road barbie woman", and that her leaflets said nothing about her ideas or Labour policies. After initially implying that Heal was a 'birdbrain', the Conservatives switched to claiming her control by the party was done in order to conceal Labour policies. The Daily Mail sent a reporter armed with a long list of questions to try to get answers from Heal, but her minder Peter Snape determined to stop him. The Conservatives noted that at the 1989 Labour Party conference Heal had supported a motion to cut defence spending by £5 billion. A further Birmingham Post poll on 15 March showed an increased Labour lead with Labour on 50%, the Conservatives on 38%, the Green Party and SDP on 4%, Liberal Democrats on 3% and Independents at 1%, while polls in the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail put the Labour lead at 20% and 25% respectively. Charles Prior responded to poor polls by issuing a warning that a Labour win in the by-election would damage the Pound. Labour leader Neil Kinnock visited the campaign in Lichfield on 16 March, forecasting victory which he said would be a notice to quit for Thatcher. The Guardian reporter Ian Aitken found the Liberal Democrat campaign a 'pale shadow' of those run by its former campaign director Andy Ellis. However the party held off Labour to retain a local council seat in Western Springs ward, part of Rugeley, on 14 March. A poll by Mori for The Times published on 19 March showed that the poll tax was identified by 88% of voters as one of the three most important issues. The only other issues scoring significantly were mortgage and interest rates and the National Health Service, which each had 31%. Voting intentions were Labour 55%, Conservatives 29%, Liberal Democrats 9%, Green Party 3%, SDP 2% and Others 2%. Budget reaction A protest meeting was organised in the constituency by Staffordshire Police Federation on 19 March, to protest at changes to police housing allowances which they accused the Government of having imposed despite an agreement to abide by arbitration; the organisers invited Labour police spokesperson Barry Sheerman. The Budget, two days before polling day, announced help to poll tax rebates and was praised by Charles Prior as "a highly responsible yet imaginative Budget". However Prior's relaxed manner in the last week of the campaign