Shoppers at a Sussex supermarket were surprised when Tony Blair's wife Cherie popped in to have a chat and a cup of tea.

Mrs Blair joined Hove Labour candidate Celia Barlow yesterday to visit the Co-op in Nevill Road, Hove, and promote the importance of Fairtrade in the week leading up to the election.

The barrister, dressed in a smart skirt and jacket, spoke to Co-op employees before sitting down to drink a cup of Fairtrade camomile tea in the caf and chat to customers.

Conservative leader Michael Howard also visited Sussex and was quizzed by pupils at Oriel High School in Crawley.

Asked if he was friends with Mr Blair, he replied: "I don't think I would describe myself as enemies with Tony Blair either but not friends, no. We just have different ideas about how the country should be governed. We have different policies, different policies about the best way forward."

Mr Howard insisted he had not harboured a lifelong ambition to get to No 10.

He said: "Some people start off in politics saying 'I want to be Prime Minister' and it is an ambition they had from quite an early age sometimes.

"I was not like that. I did want to become an MP. Then I just took every job as it came. And 18 months ago the people in my party said they wanted me to become leader."

Cherie, meanwhile, met some of the store's customers.

Michael Tutt, 61, retired, of Keymer Road, Hassocks, said: "We only popped in to do our shopping and we thought we would have a cup of tea before we went home and then we saw Cherie was here. "She was very nice. She shook my hand and I told her her hands were cold."

Amor Jones, 42, of Nevill Avenue, Hove, was having a quiet cup of tea with her seven-week-old baby Clare when Mrs Blair came over to say hello.

When asked by an onlooker if holding the baby made her feel broody, Mrs Blair, a mother-of-four, replied "yes".

Mrs Jones said: "I told Cherie that, as a working mother, I have really enjoyed the benefits I have been given from the Labour Government and I would hate to lose that with a Tory government."

Charlotte Mason, aged eight, who attends Brighton and Hove High School, dashed over to greet Mrs Blair when she saw her pull up outside the Co-op while she was shopping with her mum.

She said: "My mum told me she is Tony Blair's wife and I wanted to meet her so I went up and shook her hand. She asked me what school I went to and how old I was and what year I was in."

Stella West, 42, a community psychiatric nurse, of Erroll Road, Hove, said: "It's good to meet a powerful woman who is a mother as well. She knows what it's like to juggle work and children."

Two pensioners in the caf were not so excited about the celebrity visit, with one commenting: "We were only having a cup of tea, if we knew she was coming we probably wouldn't have come here."

Celia Barlow, who would be the first female MP to represent Brighton or Hove if she were elected, said: "It has been absolutely fantastic going round with Cherie and talking to people. We are both working mothers and I think we can relate to a lot of other women. Cherie really wanted to push the importance of Fairtrade while she was here."