Brown and Cameron at war over Afghanistan

British losses in Afghanistan took centre stage today as David Cameron and Gordon Brown traded blows and flung insults at each other across the dispatch box in their last session of Prime Minister's Questions before the general election on May 6. Their behaviour suggests that the televised leaders' debates are in danger of becoming bitter and personal.

The two men got down and dirty over claims by the Conservative leader that Brown had failed British soldiers by allowing them to go into battle without sufficient helicopters. At one point, Cameron accused Brown of "deception".

Brown hit back by laying the blame on military commanders, saying they had not questioned the need for more helicopters when they went into Afghanistan. However, the exchanges - coming after the Prime Minister read out the names of two more soldiers killed in Helmand province - threaten to make Afghanistan a running sore in the election.

Brown, who was accused of misleading the Chilcot inquiry on Afghanistan over his cuts in defence spending when he was Chancellor, is resisting pressure from the Stop the War Coalition, who have written to Labour MPs calling for a date for the withdrawal of British troops to be announced during the election campaign.

Most MPs who witnessed the clash put it down as a score-draw, but Brown was clearly stung by the strength of Cameron's assault.

The Tory leader also accused Brown of taking £100bn from Britain's pension funds over 13 years and wrecking hopes of economic recovery by the "tax on jobs" with a planned one per cent increase in National Insurance Contributions (NICs) which the Tories have promised to reverse if they win power.

Clearly on the ropes, Brown came back again, warning that the Tory party would cut public services to avoid the NICs increase and put pensioners' concessionary fares at risk. A very angry Cameron fired back: "That is the sort of deception we are going to rebut in this election!"

With Speaker John Bercow calling for calm, the Prime Minister retorted: "It's the same old Tories…" In a sideswipe at Cameron, who once taunted Tony Blair about having been "the future", Brown added: "To think he was the future once…"

Both party leaders left the chamber to cries of "Bye, bye" from their supporters. But despite the hotly contested finale in the Commons, many MPs fear it could be the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, who will be holding the balance of power if the polls prove right and the election results in a hung Parliament.

Brown is making direct overtures to Clegg today with a speech offering twin referendums on electoral reform for the Commons and a directly elected House of Lords. The twin votes in one day – dubbed by Brown's aides 'Democracy Day' - are intended to win Clegg's support to sustain Labour in power in the event of a hung Parliament. Cameron is currently offering no such concessions to the Liberal Democrats over electoral reform.

The Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, has announced that Parliament will be suspended for an extra week - until May 18 -  to enable post-election negotiations on a coalition or minority government to go ahead. There were fears that the markets could panic and stage a run on sterling if, as expected, there is an inconclusive outcome, and the Government is keen to give reassurances that, whatever the result, there will be stability. ·