Tired Tories call for ‘pizzazz’ in election campaign

Are the Tories having a bad campaign? It certainly doesn’t seem to be as slick and upbeat as some had expected. Many Tories had expected the polls to stay right where they are until polling day, but others had assumed that there would at least be some signs of a public panic about Ed Miliband by now. Instead, normally gloomy Labour types say their leader is becoming less of a problem on the doorstep. That’s damning with faint praise, still, but the Tories had assumed things would be getting worse for Labour now, not better.

The Tories I’ve spoken to over the past couple of days talk of the need to ‘hold our nerve’, which suggests a risk of getting nervous but certainly not outright panic. They understand the argument about the polls not moving until the last minute. But the way the campaign has been conducted has contributed to those nerves.