Good Friday morning. There are 15 days left of this leadership race. It’s now been 43 days since the battle to replace Boris began.

Today’s announcement:

• Before you start rioting, claiming Guido’s now told you in three consecutive campaign updates that Liz won’t be putting out any more policies, you can all calm down.
• Liz does have an announcement out today, although thankfully it’s just a re-emphasis of previous policies framed around tonight’s big hustings in Manchester, entitled “Liz Truss sets out vision for North West”.
• It mentions all the classics: levelling up, growing the economy, cutting taxes and delivering freedom.
• Liz reiterates her promises of Northern Powerhouse Rail, new Investment Zones and more vocational training, in the form of ‘Voxbridge’ – two brand new vocational institutions in the North of England.
• The press release comes alongside a renewed voice of support from Jake Berry, who promises Liz will tackle regional inequality “in a Conservative way”.

Under fire:

• Tonight Liz Truss is under fire from the left over a story by Tom Newton Dunn – clearly not over his war of words with Liz at the Darlington hustings – that she co-authored a report in 2009 that, among other things, called for:
  • A 10% cut to doctors’ pay
  • GP appointment charging
  • Axing the Royal Navy’s two then-new aircraft carriers
• Truss’s campaign says “co-authoring a document does not mean someone supports every proposal put forward”.
• Cue Damian McBride digging up proof that she “led promotion of the report in The Spectator and Conservative Home”.
• Angela Rayner says the report “shows [Liz’s] true colours. She is out of touch and out of step with the public.”
• Spare a thought for The i’s Paul Waugh, who revealed all of this back in January this year to no avail. Guido will let Paul and Tom fight this one out…

In other news:

• Top Truss supporter James Cleverly proved the voice of the people yesterday when he told LBC he’d be “very, very happy” if this groundhog day contest could be “wrapped up quicker”.
• Another poll gave Liz a 32-point lead.
• Guido’s resumed MP backer list shows Liz continuing to hold a fresh lead over Rishi, with Truss on 152 backers, Sunak on 126 and 77 MPs undeclared.

Today’s new policy:

• Today Rishi pledges to, brace yourself, “restore NHS dentistry” and improve the nation’s teeth
• Rishi’s five-point plan, which Guido expects all co-conspirators to brush up on, is as follows:
  • Shift the focus to early years prevention with a pilot on dental professionals visiting schools for check ups.
  • Ring-fence NHS dentistry funding.
  • Reform contracts to keep NHS dentists in the NHS, and free up time for dentists on the frontline so they can focus on their day jobs.
• Yes, it’s a three-point plan divided up later in the press release into five separate points. You can sink your teeth into further details here.
• A brave policy offering from a confessed coke addict with seven fillings.

In other news:

• Rishi continues to make a hash of his McDonald’s experience, after Guido first caught him faking a pose for his Instagram story, then pointing out his supposedly favourite order – the famous breakfast wrap – hasn’t even been on the menu since March 2020. #WrapGate is not yet trending, try as we might…
• Last night Team Rishi announced a far more important policy than his dentistry flimflam: that McDonald’s should #BringBackTheWrap.

#BringBackTheWrap https://t.co/K4yTWts6vF

— Ready 4 Rishi (@Ready4Rishi) August 18, 2022

• Rishi has an op-ed in The Telegraph directed at farmers, writing “We must protect our best agricultural land from solar farms”

Bookies Odds (Previous in Brackets):

• Liz Truss 1/50 (1/16)
• Rishi Sunak 10/1 (13/2)