Lib Dems top online searches

Figures from web monitoring firm Hitwise found that Tony Blair was the most searched for political personality on the Web, ahead of both Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy for the week ending 5th March 2005

The news comes ahead of the expected announcement for the date for the UK general election.

Interest in the Liberal Democrats has grown rapidly over the past two weeks, however, overtaking searches for both of the other parties.

This surge in popularity for the Liberal Democrats has resulted in an increase in traffic to the party's official website, which has increased its position from number 26 to number 11 within the Hitwise Politics category last week.

However, it still lags behind the official websites for the Labour and Conservative parties, which rank at number 9 and number 5 respectively.

Much of the interest in the Liberal Democrats can be attributed to the increased profile of the party in recent weeks, including the party's pre-election conference and the launch of its campaign on 5th March.