Despite reports of a rift between Boris and Crosby, it looks like Boris has accepted Crosby’s advice in at least one respect – the next Tory manifesto is set to be a short one. Despite Boris having a better track record of levity than brevity…

Speaking at a Women2Win fringe event late last night, the PM said

“And if you want any evidence – any further evidence – to our commitment to having a wonderful agenda not just for women but for the entire country, I can tell you that we […] already have a Conservative manifesto for the next election (which will be a short and concise… with no hostages to fortune) being drawn up by two particularly brilliant women”

As Tim Shipman detailed in Fallout, Crosby implored May to release a very short manifesto that only covered Brexit, to ensure the election didn’t get derailed by other more contentious policies – the election guru even suggested May didn’t release a manifesto at all. Nick Timothy, however, overruled him, leading to the disastrous 2017 election campaign. Ironically earlier in his speech, Boris got the room to cheer May – however for her work on Women2Win, not her election tactics…