Hung parliament would be "catastophic", warns Ken Clarke

He's warned against a hung parliament before but in tonight's Evening Standard Ken Clarke issues his strongest warning yet:

“Markets are very fragile. Once people stop shorting (betting against) the euro they are quite ready to short sterling. Bond markets could easily go up again, with the result that UK interest rates are driven up. The electorate will bring upon themselves the consequences of financial panic if they produce a hung parliament or a Labour minority government. It would be catastrophic.”

All well and good but sometime soon - if the polls stay close - the Tories need to put a number on the cost of an indecisive General Election day result.

Tim Montgomerie