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On a tiny patch of Mediterranean soil attached to the southernmost tip of Spain, where the pubs serve Boddingtons with ploughman’s lunches and the phone boxes are still red, more than 20,000 residents were yesterday preparing to deliver a punch to Tony Blair’s nose.

Feelings were running high on the streets of Gibraltar, decked with union flags and placards urging its people to vote No in today’s referendum on Anglo-Spanish plans to share sovereignty.

Nobody doubted that Mr Blair’s Labour government was about to receive its greatest defeat at the polls. Spain, the arch-enemy, would also be humiliated. “It is like David against two Goliaths,” said Doug Cumming, a journalist on Gibraltar’s Panorama magazine.

“This is a rock that can never be shattered,” said Bill Cerisola, 74, as he marched down Main Street with a placard bearing a picture of Winston Churchill.

Even pessimists among the No campaigners estimated they would win by more than 90%. The last time a similar poll was held, in 1967, only 44 people voted for an agreement with Spain, while 12,138 voted against.

Local government officials claimed yesterday that campaigning had been clean and fair. But there were no placards, no flags and no signs calling for people to reject the No campaign led by Gibraltar’s chief minister, Peter Caruana, and vote in favour of a co-sovereignty deal with Spain. Those who intend to vote yes have remained, almost to a man, silent. Mr Caruana angrily rejected suggestions that fear had stopped them campaigning.

But those who recall the fall-out from the 1967 referendum and the violent attacks on people proposing a deal with Spain that followed a few months later say it is not difficult to understand that silence.

Joseph Triay, a lawyer who supported a deal with Spain, saw an angry mob attack his home and office and burn his yacht, the Patricia E, a few months after the last referendum. Mr Triay and five others, collectively known as the palomos, or doves, had put their names to a letter calling for a “joint flags” deal with Spain. They were quickly branded traitors and a furious mob took its revenge.

“Many premises belonging to unpopular persons were ransacked, motor cars were damaged, machinery destroyed, a yacht in the marina was burned and innocent bystanders assaulted,” Sir Gerald Lathbury, the then governor, reported afterwards. Sir Gerald had been forced to call in troops armed with pick handles to restore order after an inexperienced local police tried using tear gas but lost control.

The shops of Allied Bakeries, the bus station, the La Bayuca restaurant and Mr Triay’s law firm were all attacked. Windows were smashed, cars and buses were overturned and the Patricia E set adrift in the harbour in flames.

One riot leader, identified as Sergio Gustavino, “was heard saying that the doves ought to be hanged,” according to a later inquiry into the day’s events. Police said a crowd of more than a thousand had egged on a hard core of some 150 people.

The riots led to questions in the Commons. The undersecretary for Commonwealth relations, William Whitlock, said the “deplorable” riot happened because “the tension which exists was exploited by a few hooligans”.

Although everyone in Gibraltar, including Mr Triay, insists that no one would riot today, the memories of 1968 remain deeply embedded in the small, closed community. Many have never forgiven the palomos. Even now, among the old men who gather in John Mackintosh square, they are referred to as traitors.

Mr Triay, who wryly predicted a 101% No vote, said he still thought a deal with Spain was necessary. “My views haven’t changed. They have strengthened,” he said.

This time around, Mr Triay cannot vote. Although he works at his office on the Rock every day and eats lunch at his home here, he drives to a second house in the nearby exclusive Spanish resort of Sotogrande every evening. As a result, he is treated as a non-resident.

Only one man, plumber Manuel Sanchez, has been brave enough to publicly declare himself in favour of a Yes vote.

“There is no other realistic option,” he said. “Circumstances have changed. Labour thinks it is in Britain’s national interest to seek a solution to Spain’s claim.”

But he admitted his position was losing him friends. “It definitely makes you unpopular,” he said. “Many people feel uncomfortable being with me. Some have accused me of treason.”

He claimed that at least 2,000 Gibraltarians thought like him and supported the co-sovereignty deal that the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, has been trying to hammer out with Spain for the past 18 months. They remained silent, however, “due, perhaps, to what happened way back in 1968″.

Rumours were circulating yesterday that many wealthier Gibraltarians, especially the bankers and lawyers with second homes in Sotogrande and business interests in Spain, would vote Yes. In John Mackintosh square, passers-by had little time for them.

“Most people here aren’t rich. Most of us are working class,” said Lesley Benrimoj, 50, who moved here from Britain and was going to vote No. “And the Gibraltarians are more British than the British.”

“Nobody has been going for a Yes vote because it is a dead duck. Everybody is speaking with one voice. That is what London doesn’t understand,” said Ernest Cruz, 74. “We know the Spaniards. We don’t trust them at all.”

“They are selling us down the river,” said Hector Ferro, another pensioner. “Jack Straw was only here for a day and he had to leave quickly.”

Mr Straw, who was jostled and insulted by an angry crowd yelling “Judas!” when he came to consult Gibraltarians five months ago, is identified as public enemy No 1 in the referendum question drawn up by Mr Caruana.

The preamble to that question refers to a July 12 commons statement when Mr Straw said that Britain and Spain had agreed, in principle, that the best solution to the 300-year row over the Rock would be to share sovereignty. It goes on to ask the Rock’s 20,683 voters: “Do you approve of the principle that Britain and Spain should share sovereignty over Gibraltar?”

Mr Caruana insisted that voting would be free and peaceful. “Tomorrow everybody can vote freely. The time, back in the 1960s, when there could be a price to pay for expressing your political opinion, is over,” he said. He accused those who criticised the lack of a Yes campaign of seeking an excuse to ignore the overwhelming opinion of Gibraltarians. “We believe that joint sovereignty is not the way forward,” he said. He accused Mr Straw of allowing Spain, which has refused to drop its claim to full sovereignty over the Rock, to take control of Gibraltar “in salami slices”.

Mr Straw has dubbed the referendum “eccentric”, while his Spanish counterpart, Ana Palacio, has called it “illegal” and “irrelevant”. The result is not binding on the British government, and Mr Straw has said he will call another referendum if a deal with Spain is agreed. That deal will not be put into practice if it is rejected by Gibraltarians.

“We know what the result of the referendum will be but what people in Gibraltar should realise is that there can be no change without their express consent,” Mr Blair told the Commons yesterday when accused by Ian Duncan Smith of planning a “grubby deal” with Spain. Today’s vote should show exactly how difficult it will be for Mr Blair ever to win that consent.

On a tiny patch of Mediterranean soil attached to the southernmost tip of Spain, where the pubs serve Boddingtons with ploughman’s lunches and the phone boxes are still red, more than 20,000 residents were yesterday preparing to deliver a punch to Tony Blair’s nose.

Feelings were running high on the streets of Gibraltar, decked with union flags and placards urging its people to vote No in today’s referendum on Anglo-Spanish plans to share sovereignty.

Nobody doubted that Mr Blair’s Labour government was about to receive its greatest defeat at the polls. Spain, the arch-enemy, would also be humiliated. “It is like David against two Goliaths,” said Doug Cumming, a journalist on Gibraltar’s Panorama magazine.

“This is a rock that can never be shattered,” said Bill Cerisola, 74, as he marched down Main Street with a placard bearing a picture of Winston Churchill.

Even pessimists among the No campaigners estimated they would win by more than 90%. The last time a similar poll was held, in 1967, only 44 people voted for an agreement with Spain, while 12,138 voted against.

Local government officials claimed yesterday that campaigning had been clean and fair. But there were no placards, no flags and no signs calling for people to reject the No campaign led by Gibraltar’s chief minister, Peter Caruana, and vote in favour of a co-sovereignty deal with Spain. Those who intend to vote yes have remained, almost to a man, silent. Mr Caruana angrily rejected suggestions that fear had stopped them campaigning.

But those who recall the fall-out from the 1967 referendum and the violent attacks on people proposing a deal with Spain that followed a few months later say it is not difficult to understand that silence.

Joseph Triay, a lawyer who supported a deal with Spain, saw an angry mob attack his home and office and burn his yacht, the Patricia E, a few months after the last referendum. Mr Triay and five others, collectively known as the palomos, or doves, had put their names to a letter calling for a “joint flags” deal with Spain. They were quickly branded traitors and a furious mob took its revenge.

“Many premises belonging to unpopular persons were ransacked, motor cars were damaged, machinery destroyed, a yacht in the marina was burned and innocent bystanders assaulted,” Sir Gerald Lathbury, the then governor, reported afterwards. Sir Gerald had been forced to call in troops armed with pick handles to restore order after an inexperienced local police tried using tear gas but lost control.

The shops of Allied Bakeries, the bus station, the La Bayuca restaurant and Mr Triay’s law firm were all attacked. Windows were smashed, cars and buses were overturned and the Patricia E set adrift in the harbour in flames.

One riot leader, identified as Sergio Gustavino, “was heard saying that the doves ought to be hanged,” according to a later inquiry into the day’s events. Police said a crowd of more than a thousand had egged on a hard core of some 150 people.

The riots led to questions in the Commons. The undersecretary for Commonwealth relations, William Whitlock, said the “deplorable” riot happened because “the tension which exists was exploited by a few hooligans”.

Although everyone in Gibraltar, including Mr Triay, insists that no one would riot today, the memories of 1968 remain deeply embedded in the small, closed community. Many have never forgiven the palomos. Even now, among the old men who gather in John Mackintosh square, they are referred to as traitors.

Mr Triay, who wryly predicted a 101% No vote, said he still thought a deal with Spain was necessary. “My views haven’t changed. They have strengthened,” he said.

This time around, Mr Triay cannot vote. Although he works at his office on the Rock every day and eats lunch at his home here, he drives to a second house in the nearby exclusive Spanish resort of Sotogrande every evening. As a result, he is treated as a non-resident.

Only one man, plumber Manuel Sanchez, has been brave enough to publicly declare himself in favour of a Yes vote.

“There is no other realistic option,” he said. “Circumstances have changed. Labour thinks it is in Britain’s national interest to seek a solution to Spain’s claim.”

But he admitted his position was losing him friends. “It definitely makes you unpopular,” he said. “Many people feel uncomfortable being with me. Some have accused me of treason.”

He claimed that at least 2,000 Gibraltarians thought like him and supported the co-sovereignty deal that the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, has been trying to hammer out with Spain for the past 18 months. They remained silent, however, “due, perhaps, to what happened way back in 1968″.

Rumours were circulating yesterday that many wealthier Gibraltarians, especially the bankers and lawyers with second homes in Sotogrande and business interests in Spain, would vote Yes. In John Mackintosh square, passers-by had little time for them.

“Most people here aren’t rich. Most of us are working class,” said Lesley Benrimoj, 50, who moved here from Britain and was going to vote No. “And the Gibraltarians are more British than the British.”

“Nobody has been going for a Yes vote because it is a dead duck. Everybody is speaking with one voice. That is what London doesn’t understand,” said Ernest Cruz, 74. “We know the Spaniards. We don’t trust them at all.”

“They are selling us down the river,” said Hector Ferro, another pensioner. “Jack Straw was only here for a day and he had to leave quickly.”

Mr Straw, who was jostled and insulted by an angry crowd yelling “Judas!” when he came to consult Gibraltarians five months ago, is identified as public enemy No 1 in the referendum question drawn up by Mr Caruana.

The preamble to that question refers to a July 12 commons statement when Mr Straw said that Britain and Spain had agreed, in principle, that the best solution to the 300-year row over the Rock would be to share sovereignty. It goes on to ask the Rock’s 20,683 voters: “Do you approve of the principle that Britain and Spain should share sovereignty over Gibraltar?”

Mr Caruana insisted that voting would be free and peaceful. “Tomorrow everybody can vote freely. The time, back in the 1960s, when there could be a price to pay for expressing your political opinion, is over,” he said. He accused those who criticised the lack of a Yes campaign of seeking an excuse to ignore the overwhelming opinion of Gibraltarians. “We believe that joint sovereignty is not the way forward,” he said. He accused Mr Straw of allowing Spain, which has refused to drop its claim to full sovereignty over the Rock, to take control of Gibraltar “in salami slices”.

Mr Straw has dubbed the referendum “eccentric”, while his Spanish counterpart, Ana Palacio, has called it “illegal” and “irrelevant”. The result is not binding on the British government, and Mr Straw has said he will call another referendum if a deal with Spain is agreed. That deal will not be put into practice if it is rejected by Gibraltarians.

“We know what the result of the referendum will be but what people in Gibraltar should realise is that there can be no change without their express consent,” Mr Blair told the Commons yesterday when accused by Ian Duncan Smith of planning a “grubby deal” with Spain. Today’s vote should show exactly how difficult it will be for Mr Blair ever to win that consent.

On a tiny patch of Mediterranean soil attached to the southernmost tip of Spain, where the pubs serve Boddingtons with ploughman’s lunches and the phone boxes are still red, more than 20,000 residents were yesterday preparing to deliver a punch to Tony Blair’s nose.

Feelings were running high on the streets of Gibraltar, decked with union flags and placards urging its people to vote No in today’s referendum on Anglo-Spanish plans to share sovereignty.

Nobody doubted that Mr Blair’s Labour government was about to receive its greatest defeat at the polls. Spain, the arch-enemy, would also be humiliated. “It is like David against two Goliaths,” said Doug Cumming, a journalist on Gibraltar’s Panorama magazine.

“This is a rock that can never be shattered,” said Bill Cerisola, 74, as he marched down Main Street with a placard bearing a picture of Winston Churchill.

Even pessimists among the No campaigners estimated they would win by more than 90%. The last time a similar poll was held, in 1967, only 44 people voted for an agreement with Spain, while 12,138 voted against.

Local government officials claimed yesterday that campaigning had been clean and fair. But there were no placards, no flags and no signs calling for people to reject the No campaign led by Gibraltar’s chief minister, Peter Caruana, and vote in favour of a co-sovereignty deal with Spain. Those who intend to vote yes have remained, almost to a man, silent. Mr Caruana angrily rejected suggestions that fear had stopped them campaigning.

But those who recall the fall-out from the 1967 referendum and the violent attacks on people proposing a deal with Spain that followed a few months later say it is not difficult to understand that silence.

Joseph Triay, a lawyer who supported a deal with Spain, saw an angry mob attack his home and office and burn his yacht, the Patricia E, a few months after the last referendum. Mr Triay and five others, collectively known as the palomos, or doves, had put their names to a letter calling for a “joint flags” deal with Spain. They were quickly branded traitors and a furious mob took its revenge.

“Many premises belonging to unpopular persons were ransacked, motor cars were damaged, machinery destroyed, a yacht in the marina was burned and innocent bystanders assaulted,” Sir Gerald Lathbury, the then governor, reported afterwards. Sir Gerald had been forced to call in troops armed with pick handles to restore order after an inexperienced local police tried using tear gas but lost control.

The shops of Allied Bakeries, the bus station, the La Bayuca restaurant and Mr Triay’s law firm were all attacked. Windows were smashed, cars and buses were overturned and the Patricia E set adrift in the harbour in flames.

One riot leader, identified as Sergio Gustavino, “was heard saying that the doves ought to be hanged,” according to a later inquiry into the day’s events. Police said a crowd of more than a thousand had egged on a hard core of some 150 people.

The riots led to questions in the Commons. The undersecretary for Commonwealth relations, William Whitlock, said the “deplorable” riot happened because “the tension which exists was exploited by a few hooligans”.

Although everyone in Gibraltar, including Mr Triay, insists that no one would riot today, the memories of 1968 remain deeply embedded in the small, closed community. Many have never forgiven the palomos. Even now, among the old men who gather in John Mackintosh square, they are referred to as traitors.

Mr Triay, who wryly predicted a 101% No vote, said he still thought a deal with Spain was necessary. “My views haven’t changed. They have strengthened,” he said.

This time around, Mr Triay cannot vote. Although he works at his office on the Rock every day and eats lunch at his home here, he drives to a second house in the nearby exclusive Spanish resort of Sotogrande every evening. As a result, he is treated as a non-resident.

Only one man, plumber Manuel Sanchez, has been brave enough to publicly declare himself in favour of a Yes vote.

“There is no other realistic option,” he said. “Circumstances have changed. Labour thinks it is in Britain’s national interest to seek a solution to Spain’s claim.”

But he admitted his position was losing him friends. “It definitely makes you unpopular,” he said. “Many people feel uncomfortable being with me. Some have accused me of treason.”

He claimed that at least 2,000 Gibraltarians thought like him and supported the co-sovereignty deal that the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, has been trying to hammer out with Spain for the past 18 months. They remained silent, however, “due, perhaps, to what happened way back in 1968″.

Rumours were circulating yesterday that many wealthier Gibraltarians, especially the bankers and lawyers with second homes in Sotogrande and business interests in Spain, would vote Yes. In John Mackintosh square, passers-by had little time for them.

“Most people here aren’t rich. Most of us are working class,” said Lesley Benrimoj, 50, who moved here from Britain and was going to vote No. “And the Gibraltarians are more British than the British.”

“Nobody has been going for a Yes vote because it is a dead duck. Everybody is speaking with one voice. That is what London doesn’t understand,” said Ernest Cruz, 74. “We know the Spaniards. We don’t trust them at all.”

“They are selling us down the river,” said Hector Ferro, another pensioner. “Jack Straw was only here for a day and he had to leave quickly.”

Mr Straw, who was jostled and insulted by an angry crowd yelling “Judas!” when he came to consult Gibraltarians five months ago, is identified as public enemy No 1 in the referendum question drawn up by Mr Caruana.

The preamble to that question refers to a July 12 commons statement when Mr Straw said that Britain and Spain had agreed, in principle, that the best solution to the 300-year row over the Rock would be to share sovereignty. It goes on to ask the Rock’s 20,683 voters: “Do you approve of the principle that Britain and Spain should share sovereignty over Gibraltar?”

Mr Caruana insisted that voting would be free and peaceful. “Tomorrow everybody can vote freely. The time, back in the 1960s, when there could be a price to pay for expressing your political opinion, is over,” he said. He accused those who criticised the lack of a Yes campaign of seeking an excuse to ignore the overwhelming opinion of Gibraltarians. “We believe that joint sovereignty is not the way forward,” he said. He accused Mr Straw of allowing Spain, which has refused to drop its claim to full sovereignty over the Rock, to take control of Gibraltar “in salami slices”.

Mr Straw has dubbed the referendum “eccentric”, while his Spanish counterpart, Ana Palacio, has called it “illegal” and “irrelevant”. The result is not binding on the British government, and Mr Straw has said he will call another referendum if a deal with Spain is agreed. That deal will not be put into practice if it is rejected by Gibraltarians.

“We know what the result of the referendum will be but what people in Gibraltar should realise is that there can be no change without their express consent,” Mr Blair told the Commons yesterday when accused by Ian Duncan Smith of planning a “grubby deal” with Spain. Today’s vote should show exactly how difficult it will be for Mr Blair ever to win that consent.

On a tiny patch of Mediterranean soil attached to the southernmost tip of Spain, where the pubs serve Boddingtons with ploughman’s lunches and the phone boxes are still red, more than 20,000 residents were yesterday preparing to deliver a punch to Tony Blair’s nose.

Feelings were running high on the streets of Gibraltar, decked with union flags and placards urging its people to vote No in today’s referendum on Anglo-Spanish plans to share sovereignty.

Nobody doubted that Mr Blair’s Labour government was about to receive its greatest defeat at the polls. Spain, the arch-enemy, would also be humiliated. “It is like David against two Goliaths,” said Doug Cumming, a journalist on Gibraltar’s Panorama magazine.

“This is a rock that can never be shattered,” said Bill Cerisola, 74, as he marched down Main Street with a placard bearing a picture of Winston Churchill.

Even pessimists among the No campaigners estimated they would win by more than 90%. The last time a similar poll was held, in 1967, only 44 people voted for an agreement with Spain, while 12,138 voted against.

Local government officials claimed yesterday that campaigning had been clean and fair. But there were no placards, no flags and no signs calling for people to reject the No campaign led by Gibraltar’s chief minister, Peter Caruana, and vote in favour of a co-sovereignty deal with Spain. Those who intend to vote yes have remained, almost to a man, silent. Mr Caruana angrily rejected suggestions that fear had stopped them campaigning.

But those who recall the fall-out from the 1967 referendum and the violent attacks on people proposing a deal with Spain that followed a few months later say it is not difficult to understand that silence.

Joseph Triay, a lawyer who supported a deal with Spain, saw an angry mob attack his home and office and burn his yacht, the Patricia E, a few months after the last referendum. Mr Triay and five others, collectively known as the palomos, or doves, had put their names to a letter calling for a “joint flags” deal with Spain. They were quickly branded traitors and a furious mob took its revenge.

“Many premises belonging to unpopular persons were ransacked, motor cars were damaged, machinery destroyed, a yacht in the marina was burned and innocent bystanders assaulted,” Sir Gerald Lathbury, the then governor, reported afterwards. Sir Gerald had been forced to call in troops armed with pick handles to restore order after an inexperienced local police tried using tear gas but lost control.

The shops of Allied Bakeries, the bus station, the La Bayuca restaurant and Mr Triay’s law firm were all attacked. Windows were smashed, cars and buses were overturned and the Patricia E set adrift in the harbour in flames.

One riot leader, identified as Sergio Gustavino, “was heard saying that the doves ought to be hanged,” according to a later inquiry into the day’s events. Police said a crowd of more than a thousand had egged on a hard core of some 150 people.

The riots led to questions in the Commons. The undersecretary for Commonwealth relations, William Whitlock, said the “deplorable” riot happened because “the tension which exists was exploited by a few hooligans”.

Although everyone in Gibraltar, including Mr Triay, insists that no one would riot today, the memories of 1968 remain deeply embedded in the small, closed community. Many have never forgiven the palomos. Even now, among the old men who gather in John Mackintosh square, they are referred to as traitors.

Mr Triay, who wryly predicted a 101% No vote, said he still thought a deal with Spain was necessary. “My views haven’t changed. They have strengthened,” he said.

This time around, Mr Triay cannot vote. Although he works at his office on the Rock every day and eats lunch at his home here, he drives to a second house in the nearby exclusive Spanish resort of Sotogrande every evening. As a result, he is treated as a non-resident.

Only one man, plumber Manuel Sanchez, has been brave enough to publicly declare himself in favour of a Yes vote.

“There is no other realistic option,” he said. “Circumstances have changed. Labour thinks it is in Britain’s national interest to seek a solution to Spain’s claim.”

But he admitted his position was losing him friends. “It definitely makes you unpopular,” he said. “Many people feel uncomfortable being with me. Some have accused me of treason.”

He claimed that at least 2,000 Gibraltarians thought like him and supported the co-sovereignty deal that the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, has been trying to hammer out with Spain for the past 18 months. They remained silent, however, “due, perhaps, to what happened way back in 1968″.

Rumours were circulating yesterday that many wealthier Gibraltarians, especially the bankers and lawyers with second homes in Sotogrande and business interests in Spain, would vote Yes. In John Mackintosh square, passers-by had little time for them.

“Most people here aren’t rich. Most of us are working class,” said Lesley Benrimoj, 50, who moved here from Britain and was going to vote No. “And the Gibraltarians are more British than the British.”

“Nobody has been going for a Yes vote because it is a dead duck. Everybody is speaking with one voice. That is what London doesn’t understand,” said Ernest Cruz, 74. “We know the Spaniards. We don’t trust them at all.”

“They are selling us down the river,” said Hector Ferro, another pensioner. “Jack Straw was only here for a day and he had to leave quickly.”

Mr Straw, who was jostled and insulted by an angry crowd yelling “Judas!” when he came to consult Gibraltarians five months ago, is identified as public enemy No 1 in the referendum question drawn up by Mr Caruana.

The preamble to that question refers to a July 12 commons statement when Mr Straw said that Britain and Spain had agreed, in principle, that the best solution to the 300-year row over the Rock would be to share sovereignty. It goes on to ask the Rock’s 20,683 voters: “Do you approve of the principle that Britain and Spain should share sovereignty over Gibraltar?”

Mr Caruana insisted that voting would be free and peaceful. “Tomorrow everybody can vote freely. The time, back in the 1960s, when there could be a price to pay for expressing your political opinion, is over,” he said. He accused those who criticised the lack of a Yes campaign of seeking an excuse to ignore the overwhelming opinion of Gibraltarians. “We believe that joint sovereignty is not the way forward,” he said. He accused Mr Straw of allowing Spain, which has refused to drop its claim to full sovereignty over the Rock, to take control of Gibraltar “in salami slices”.

Mr Straw has dubbed the referendum “eccentric”, while his Spanish counterpart, Ana Palacio, has called it “illegal” and “irrelevant”. The result is not binding on the British government, and Mr Straw has said he will call another referendum if a deal with Spain is agreed. That deal will not be put into practice if it is rejected by Gibraltarians.

“We know what the result of the referendum will be but what people in Gibraltar should realise is that there can be no change without their express consent,” Mr Blair told the Commons yesterday when accused by Ian Duncan Smith of planning a “grubby deal” with Spain. Today’s vote should show exactly how difficult it will be for Mr Blair ever to win that consent.

On a tiny patch of Mediterranean soil attached to the southernmost tip of Spain, where the pubs serve Boddingtons with ploughman’s lunches and the phone boxes are still red, more than 20,000 residents were yesterday preparing to deliver a punch to Tony Blair’s nose.

Feelings were running high on the streets of Gibraltar, decked with union flags and placards urging its people to vote No in today’s referendum on Anglo-Spanish plans to share sovereignty.

Nobody doubted that Mr Blair’s Labour government was about to receive its greatest defeat at the polls. Spain, the arch-enemy, would also be humiliated. “It is like David against two Goliaths,” said Doug Cumming, a journalist on Gibraltar’s Panorama magazine.

“This is a rock that can never be shattered,” said Bill Cerisola, 74, as he marched down Main Street with a placard bearing a picture of Winston Churchill.

Even pessimists among the No campaigners estimated they would win by more than 90%. The last time a similar poll was held, in 1967, only 44 people voted for an agreement with Spain, while 12,138 voted against.

Local government officials claimed yesterday that campaigning had been clean and fair. But there were no placards, no flags and no signs calling for people to reject the No campaign led by Gibraltar’s chief minister, Peter Caruana, and vote in favour of a co-sovereignty deal with Spain. Those who intend to vote yes have remained, almost to a man, silent. Mr Caruana angrily rejected suggestions that fear had stopped them campaigning.

But those who recall the fall-out from the 1967 referendum and the violent attacks on people proposing a deal with Spain that followed a few months later say it is not difficult to understand that silence.

Joseph Triay, a lawyer who supported a deal with Spain, saw an angry mob attack his home and office and burn his yacht, the Patricia E, a few months after the last referendum. Mr Triay and five others, collectively known as the palomos, or doves, had put their names to a letter calling for a “joint flags” deal with Spain. They were quickly branded traitors and a furious mob took its revenge.

“Many premises belonging to unpopular persons were ransacked, motor cars were damaged, machinery destroyed, a yacht in the marina was burned and innocent bystanders assaulted,” Sir Gerald Lathbury, the then governor, reported afterwards. Sir Gerald had been forced to call in troops armed with pick handles to restore order after an inexperienced local police tried using tear gas but lost control.

The shops of Allied Bakeries, the bus station, the La Bayuca restaurant and Mr Triay’s law firm were all attacked. Windows were smashed, cars and buses were overturned and the Patricia E set adrift in the harbour in flames.

One riot leader, identified as Sergio Gustavino, “was heard saying that the doves ought to be hanged,” according to a later inquiry into the day’s events. Police said a crowd of more than a thousand had egged on a hard core of some 150 people.

The riots led to questions in the Commons. The undersecretary for Commonwealth relations, William Whitlock, said the “deplorable” riot happened because “the tension which exists was exploited by a few hooligans”.

Although everyone in Gibraltar, including Mr Triay, insists that no one would riot today, the memories of 1968 remain deeply embedded in the small, closed community. Many have never forgiven the palomos. Even now, among the old men who gather in John Mackintosh square, they are referred to as traitors.

Mr Triay, who wryly predicted a 101% No vote, said he still thought a deal with Spain was necessary. “My views haven’t changed. They have strengthened,” he said.

This time around, Mr Triay cannot vote. Although he works at his office on the Rock every day and eats lunch at his home here, he drives to a second house in the nearby exclusive Spanish resort of Sotogrande every evening. As a result, he is treated as a non-resident.

Only one man, plumber Manuel Sanchez, has been brave enough to publicly declare himself in favour of a Yes vote.

“There is no other realistic option,” he said. “Circumstances have changed. Labour thinks it is in Britain’s national interest to seek a solution to Spain’s claim.”

But he admitted his position was losing him friends. “It definitely makes you unpopular,” he said. “Many people feel uncomfortable being with me. Some have accused me of treason.”

He claimed that at least 2,000 Gibraltarians thought like him and supported the co-sovereignty deal that the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, has been trying to hammer out with Spain for the past 18 months. They remained silent, however, “due, perhaps, to what happened way back in 1968″.

Rumours were circulating yesterday that many wealthier Gibraltarians, especially the bankers and lawyers with second homes in Sotogrande and business interests in Spain, would vote Yes. In John Mackintosh square, passers-by had little time for them.

“Most people here aren’t rich. Most of us are working class,” said Lesley Benrimoj, 50, who moved here from Britain and was going to vote No. “And the Gibraltarians are more British than the British.”

“Nobody has been going for a Yes vote because it is a dead duck. Everybody is speaking with one voice. That is what London doesn’t understand,” said Ernest Cruz, 74. “We know the Spaniards. We don’t trust them at all.”

“They are selling us down the river,” said Hector Ferro, another pensioner. “Jack Straw was only here for a day and he had to leave quickly.”

Mr Straw, who was jostled and insulted by an angry crowd yelling “Judas!” when he came to consult Gibraltarians five months ago, is identified as public enemy No 1 in the referendum question drawn up by Mr Caruana.

The preamble to that question refers to a July 12 commons statement when Mr Straw said that Britain and Spain had agreed, in principle, that the best solution to the 300-year row over the Rock would be to share sovereignty. It goes on to ask the Rock’s 20,683 voters: “Do you approve of the principle that Britain and Spain should share sovereignty over Gibraltar?”

Mr Caruana insisted that voting would be free and peaceful. “Tomorrow everybody can vote freely. The time, back in the 1960s, when there could be a price to pay for expressing your political opinion, is over,” he said. He accused those who criticised the lack of a Yes campaign of seeking an excuse to ignore the overwhelming opinion of Gibraltarians. “We believe that joint sovereignty is not the way forward,” he said. He accused Mr Straw of allowing Spain, which has refused to drop its claim to full sovereignty over the Rock, to take control of Gibraltar “in salami slices”.

Mr Straw has dubbed the referendum “eccentric”, while his Spanish counterpart, Ana Palacio, has called it “illegal” and “irrelevant”. The result is not binding on the British government, and Mr Straw has said he will call another referendum if a deal with Spain is agreed. That deal will not be put into practice if it is rejected by Gibraltarians.

“We know what the result of the referendum will be but what people in Gibraltar should realise is that there can be no change without their express consent,” Mr Blair told the Commons yesterday when accused by Ian Duncan Smith of planning a “grubby deal” with Spain. Today’s vote should show exactly how difficult it will be for Mr Blair ever to win that consent.