The Tory manifesto is set to be launched tomorrow morning in the East Midlands. According to sources familiar with the document it is long and swollen – more akin to an Onward-style think tank report than a leaner, punchier policy programme. More importantly – it says nothing particularly new…
Guido hears from various sources that there is nothing new on immigration and the Rwanda plan is sitting in the manifesto as already set up. There is no new position on the ECHR. Tory MPs were hoping for something to offer on the doorstep to counter Reform. There is also no major tax cut offer including on inheritance tax and business rates. Only Sunak’s extra 2p off NI, which failed to move the polls, will be replicated a third time. This all excludes the possibility that there is more to come in a draft seen by only very few top advisers…
There is talk among MPs of a rebellion if the manifesto does not offer a convincing enough offer. A major row is brewing over what some see as the last possible chance for an uptick in Tory chances…
In Henry Mance’s piece today for the FT, lunching with Nigel Farage:
“Splendido!” Farage says, when the drinks arrive; I suppose it’s a step to European reconciliation. We clink glasses, and he lights the first of two back-to-back Benson & Hedges. A few minutes later, we’re back downstairs. “Are you drinking? Good.” He orders a glass of Sauvignon blanc for each of us — not a bottle, “because it’s Lent” — followed by a bottle of claret, to have with our meal. They say Farage drinks less than he used to. They say a lot of things.”