Election fever transformed the normally sedate environs of Downing Street today into a riotous hub of activity as the media jostled to get the best shots of the official start of the campaign.

The short, famous street was besieged by an army of photographers, news crews and journalists, all eager to catch Gordon Brown firing the starting gun on the hotly anticipated election.

The huge interest that the general election has roused here and abroad saw more than 200 members of the media penned in behind metal barricades opposite Number 10 and Number 11.

Interviews conducted in Norwegian, French and Japanese could be heard as the international clamour for details of today’s events gathered pace.

Black and blue electronic television cables snaked around discarded paper coffee cups littering the pavement.

And the blaring test calls of a huge loudspeaker for the Prime Minister’s election address interrupted the quiet of the bright, spring morning.

Curtains were occasionally tweaked by Number 10 staff who watched television journalists below having their make-up applied in the street.

The media hubbub attracted a crowd of spectators who gathered at the guarded Downing Street gates to watch the commotion.

But the media chattering and joking died instantly in a chorus of camera clicks as a stern-faced Mr Brown emerged from Number 10 to make the short journey to Buckingham Palace.