LUTON, England, July 2 (Reuters) - Badly lagging in the

race to win Britain's election, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak went

hunting for votes among robots and staff in a retail

distribution centre on Tuesday, kicking off his first campaign

stop of the day before 5 a.m. (0400 GMT).

Sunak, who has often looked exhausted as he crossed the

country during a six-week campaign, started the penultimate day

of campaigning before Thursday's vote in a vast Ocado ( OCDGF ) warehouse

in Luton, north of London, watching robots pick items for

delivery.

He then donned a high-vis jacket to help pick salad items at

the warehouse owned by Ocado ( OCDGF ), one of Britain's most successful

technology businesses, before he met staff over a cup of tea.

He later surprised people at a motorway service station when

he joined a queue in McDonald's to buy breakfast for

journalists, before he met staff at a large supermarket.

Sunak, who shocked many in his party and the country

when he called an election several months earlier than expected,

has endured a tough campaign, facing questions from voters and

journalists as to why the country is not in better shape.

He was asked by BBC morning television if he agreed with

the country's leading pollster that he had no chance of winning

the election.

He did not. "I was up at four this morning talking to

workers at a distribution facility," he said. "I'm here talking

to you. I'll be out till the last moment of this campaign

because I think it's a really important choice for the country."

Sunak is due at events throughout Tuesday, including a

rally late in the evening.

His Conservatives, in power for 14 years, have lagged

Keir Starmer's opposition Labour Party by around 20 points for

most of the last year, and in recent weeks Sunak has stepped up

the rhetoric on what he says is the danger posed to the country

by a Labour government.

In contrast, Ed Davey, leader of the centrist Liberal

Democrats, has embarked on a more novel approach to campaigning,

falling into a lake, careering down a water slide and doing a

bungee jump to grab media attention.

Starmer, likely Britain's next prime minister, has

enjoyed a more traditional election campaign, meeting voters at

football grounds, in supermarkets and doctors' surgeries, often

sticking to the same core message.

(Writing by Kate Holton in London, Editing by Kylie MacLellan

and Janet Lawrence)