Although Theresa May insists that she is not complacent about the election result, the Conservatives do feel confident enough to hold press conferences even when they have nothing much to say. Today the lobby trooped 20 minutes east on the Jubilee line to Canary Wharf to hear Theresa May and Philip Hammond repeat yesterday’s Conservative attack lines about Labour’s manifesto sums not adding up.
Aside from coming out with the usual buzzwords (stable, strong etc), May did reveal that the Conservative manifesto — which will launch tomorrow — will cite the five great challenges facing the UK over the next five years and say how a Tory government would respond. But they stopped short of shedding any light on what the answers would be — let alone what policies they would plump for.
Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman consider whether Hammond is headed for the 11 Downing Street exit door:
This meant that when it was the turn of hacks to ask questions, with nothing new to ask about, conversation soon turned to reports of frosty relations between No 10 and No 11. Given that it was the first time May and Hammond had appeared together in the election campaign, several journalists asked whether the pair were still a tight team following briefing wars over the past few months. The Chancellor dismissed the reports as ‘media tittle tattle’.
However, it was telling that while the Prime Minister did have some praise for her colleague, she dodged a question from the BBC asking whether Hammond would still have a place in No 11 if the Tories win the election. May said she was focussing on June 8, not what happens after. But given that rumours have been swirling that Hammond could face the axe if May wins by a landslide, it would have been easy for her to set the record straight had she wished.
Now today’s news is the ‘rift’ between the pair — the Conservatives have successfully changed the subject from Labour’s dodgy sums to the Tories’ internal troubles. All in a bad day’s work.
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