All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
The Conservatives have sent out a campaign email from David Cameron this evening promoting their key manifesto pledges. You’d expect that: now’s the time to galvanise activists’ support. But there is one line in there that jars: ‘Everyone earning the Minimum Wage lifted out of income tax altogether.’ This isn’t true. Cameron was quite careful
Lo, the official Green Party manifesto was released, and the animals they did rejoice. Or did they? The British Association for Shooting and Conservation, for one, have already come out and said that the party’s policies ‘will cause chaos in the countryside’. ‘Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they’, I hear you say. But despite their
Security is the watchword of this Tory election campaign. But today the Tories put just as much of an emphasis on national security as economic security. The message was, to put it crudely: it is a dangerous world out there with threats at home and abroad, so who do you want on that wall—Cameron or Miliband?
In a View from 22 podcast special, Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman discuss the implications of the Conservative manifesto, which was announced today. You can read the full manifesto here and Isabel’s snap reaction here. Will Tory promises on issues such as childcare, housing and income tax be enough to convince voters that they are
When Charlotte Edwards collected her CBE today from the Queen for services to cricket, the acclaimed sportswoman and current captain of the England women’s cricket team, got slightly more than she bargained for. Her Majesty used the meeting as an opportunity to let her feelings be known on the appropriate length of cricket matches for all-female
About six years ago, when the Lib Dems were planning the 2010 election campaign, a lot of time went into the schedule of the daily morning press conference. A venue was booked, breakfast was ordered and a topic was picked for each event that we would wishfully imagine would dominate coverage (‘let’s make April 18th
The BBC appeared to have put an end to their Jeremy Clarkson woes when they made the decision not to renew his contract following a ‘fracas’ between the Top Gear presenter and a show producer. Despite this, the Clarkson saga continues to cast a shadow on the corporation. The presenter’s untimely departure has meant that the producers
Lord Ashcroft has released his latest round of polling, looking at ten competitive Tory-Labour seats. In all of the constituencies, Ashcroft has reported swings to Labour, ranging from 0.5 per cent to seven per cent. At present, five of the seats are set to remain with the Conservatives: Cleethorpes, Dover, Dudley South, Harlow and North East
Hearing David Cameron’s many references to the ‘good life’ may puzzle younger voters who did not grow up with Richard Briers and Penelope Keith’s sitcom of the same name. The Prime Minister has a fond memory of popular culture of the 1970s: he recently announced his decision not to stand for a third term by quoting a Shreddies
Last week, the Greens released ‘Change the Tune’, a party political broadcast on YouTube. It features actors playing Cameron, Clegg, Miliband and Farage all singing in harmony. All four men are indistinguishable from one another. Ukip and the Lib Dems are the same, went the message. Only the Greens are different. Met with wild adulation from Green supporters and
David Cameron has just presented a smart Conservative manifesto with a solid speech. He didn’t quite have as much fire in his belly as Ed Miliband did yesterday, but what he did have was a clear sense of purpose, articulated well within the speech and the document. The document opens by telling any voters who might be reading
Ukip held a campaign rally in a strip club yesterday evening. Well, that’s not entirely fair — it was an ‘entertainment centre’, as party officials were keen to point out, which had a gentlemen’s club on the top floor. The Circus Tavern hosted what was most likely the biggest in Thurrock’s history, featuring Nigel Farage and
‘The dream of a property-owning democracy is alive,’ David Cameron will say today as he launches the Conservative manifesto, promising to extend the right to buy to all 1.3 million housing association tenants. Why, then, if he wants to promote a property-owning democracy is he also proposing to raise allowances for inheritance tax, allowing people
Earlier this year Lynton Crosby was accused of recycling a ten-year-old ‘attack ad’ the Liberal Party used in the 2004 Australian elections, to criticise Ed Miliband in the general election. At the time the advert was used in Australia, the Tory election strategist was helping to run the Liberal Party’s election campaign. Now it appears Crosby may have been
David Cameron will take to the stage in an hour to launch the Conservatives’ 2015 manifesto. Before he does, a short video will roll to introduce the themes of the document. We can bring you a teaser of that video now — watch above. The message in the short clip is based on how the
‘The economy has entered deflation,’ announces the BBC news presenter, as if this was a kind of recession. Au contraire. Shopping bills are shrinking, and this is unalloyed good news. The cost of living has been a problem in recent years, but now petrol prices are plunging and the cost of goods (i.e., shopping) is now 2.1 per
Today, it’s the Conservative Party’s turn to release its manifesto. Labour pushed out its own document ‘Britain can do better’ yesterday, so it’s Tories’ turn to try and better it. As with Labour’s manifesto, the big announcement has already been briefed out and has made the front pages of most newspapers: extending right to buy. To
Just a few weeks ago, David Cameron had not decided whether to extend right-to-buy to a further 1.3 million families in housing association homes. The idea, from Iain Duncan Smith, was relatively new and carried risks. As all radical policies do – but you can see why Cameron would be worried about this one. Imagine
Tomorrow’s Tory manifesto will contain the boldest policy proposal of this campaign so far. The party will promise to extend the right to buy to 1.3 million families living in housing association properties. This policy has the potential to create a new group of homeowners and to start the reversal of the decline in home
Nick Clegg produced Lib Dem red lines for any coalition with either Labour or the Tories in an interview with Evan Davis this evening. Clegg said that he wouldn’t go into Coalition with the Tories if they insisted on making £12 billion of cuts to welfare in the next two years. But he said that
‘Hell, yes, I am proud of this,’ said Nick Clegg in the first of the BBC’s leaders interviews, broadcast at 7.30pm this evening. He’s lucky to get such a slot to list his achievements: the Lib Dems are vying with the Greens for fifth place right now. And he performed pretty well, in my opinion, coming across
As regular readers will be aware, Mr S has tracked the growing hostility toward the press at Labour Party events. Today’s manifesto launch was no different. The Labour leader took the extraordinary step of pre-butting jeers and boos from audience members toward journalists, by asking them to hear the media out: ‘Now, we’re going to
As Jim Murphy tries to turn back the SNP surge, he has been arguing that a Labour government wouldn’t result in endless austerity. He has repeatedly cited the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ finding that Labour couldn’t meet its deficit reduction target with no cuts at all after 2015-16. Now, Ed Balls and Ed Miliband have
Ed Miliband’s manifesto can be boiled down to the simple act of shaking his fist at the wealthy. Yes, the super-rich can be annoying – but they are also super-taxpayers. Those at the top should shoulder their fair share, Miliband said today. But he didn’t give any figures: if he did, his argument would collapse. The best-paid 1 per
The Guardian declared last Friday was ‘the day the polls turned’ — but they have turned again, it seems. ICM has released a new poll today, which puts the Conservatives six points ahead. This pushes the Tories way past the margin of error to 39 per cent, while are Labour on 33 and the Liberal Democrats jump
This morning Lord Ashcroft wrote a blog post for ConservativeHome detailing information regarding his upcoming biography of David Cameron, Call me Dave. Ashcroft, who is known to have a lukewarm relationship with the Prime Minister, said that the book will be published in the autumn, after the election. He went on to claim that Cameron’s official biography,
Labour has launched its election manifesto in Manchester today, entitled ‘Britain can be better’. The document (pdf here) includes some new policies and others already announced. Here are ten key things you need to know, just in case you don’t have time to read all 86 pages: 1. Reducing deficit every year — but for
‘Do you mind not splitting your infinitives then. Dear me’, said Alastair Campbell to a Tory candidate on Twitter last night. After chastising Beth Prescott, who is standing against Yvette Cooper in Normanton, Campbell was given an earful: .@campbellclaret I’m a young, Northern, former apprentice trying to make a positive difference&best you can do is
Labour’s manifesto is the most daring move of this campaign so far. The party has decided to try and address one of its biggest weaknesses on page 1 of the document. The decision to make Labour’s fiscal locks, its attempt to show that it is fiscally credible, the major story of the manifesto is a
Ed Miliband gave a good, forceful, well-received speech at Labour’s manifesto launch this morning. It couldn’t have been anything else, given how close we are to polling day. There were some very well-delivered moments, particularly when it came to zero hours contracts and non-doms. The peroration was particularly energetic, with the Labour leader saying: ‘Over
After Mr S broke the news last month that staff at the Express offices who were concerned about redundancy were to be offered a pep talk from Tom Bower on how to deal with their proprietor Richard Desmond, the offer was revoked as Bower was refused permission to enter the building. Happily, Express staff fearing the axe will now have a
At Coffee House, we occasionally criticise George Osborne for stretching the truth when describing the deficit — but when it comes to hoodwinking broadcasters and deceiving voters, Ed Balls is the master. Three times on the radio today he lied about Labour’s plans, saying that he intends to have the national debt falling. He has no such plans:
The third week of the campaign is going to be all about manifestos. Today, it’s Labour’s turn to launch its plan — while the Tories, Liberal Democrats, Ukip and Greens will take their turns in the coming days. But instead of the traditional strategy for government, folks in Westminster are describing the documents as ‘the opening
Labour’s manifesto launch today sees the party seeking to confound expectations. Even though the party would prefer to fight a comfortable election campaign on the NHS, the fact remains that no party has won when behind in the polls on both the ratings of its leader and on the economy. And so the first page