Conservative Manifesto: An Edelman Briefing

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GENERAL ELECTION EDELMAN 18 May 2017

Emily is a former Conservative Special Adviser who served in both the Coalition and 2015 Conservative majority governments. Emily knows a thing or two about securing Tory victories in Labour heartlands, having ran the Conservatives’ 2015 General Election campaign in Wales, securing the best Welsh result for the Party in over thirty years. Emily has held a variety of roles in Conservative Party politics including at Conservative Party Headquarters, in Parliament and in Government. Emily Poole Associate Director

As an Associate Director at Edelman, Emily advises clients on Government policy and Conservative Party engagement.

THE CONSERVATIVE MANIFESTO “Forward, together”; the title of Theresa May’s manifesto, unveiled in Halifax this morning, was positioned not so much as a call to arms, but as the nation’s marching orders, directed by a leader who knows (and wants to make sure everyone else does) that she will remain Prime Minister on June 8th, come what May. It is the certainty of this fact (gifted to the Prime Minister, yet again, by the total absence of a credible opposition) that has buoyed May’s team to take risks. With a Conservative majority all but in the bag, the opportunity to move aggressively onto the offensive (by gleefully abandoning Conservative Party policy of all memorable decades) is worth it, if it allows May’s Tories to create history by ploughing effortlessly through previously impenetrable Labour heartlands. Radical reforms to social care, tax rises, abandoned promises on pensions and restrictions on businesses will all raise eyebrows amongst Conservative “lifers”. But nobody will be able to say that May hasn’t listened to her critics. In fact, she has in this manifesto, almost methodically, taken into account each of the main charges levied against the Conservative record since 2010 and sought to provide an answer to each. That may make some in the Party Membership uncomfortable, but it will undoubtedly make the torture of those Labour MPs who were wriggling uncomfortably in their seats this morning much more unpleasant, especially as they realise that they are about to be dethroned by their own policies. 1 May 2017

It is a nifty political trick that, so far, has blindsided May’s opponents, whose worst criticism of the manifesto pledges, at the time of writing, is that they wrote them first. It must feel encouraging when even the TUC is describing Tory proposals as “promising”. Yet for all the bravado and apparent confidence gushing from CCHQ like water from a broken pipe, don’t be fooled that Camp May is trouble free. Taking such a degree of artistic license with Conservative policy is a risk for the Prime Minister and the manifesto process has been duly divisive. One Cabinet Minister close to the pensions brief explained the tensions over several elements of the triple lock, in particular the decision to keep raising them in line with inflation given this is forecast to sky-rocket before long. Others warn of the perils of abandoning those policies that made the jobs miracle possible in the first place by binding employers with new taxes and restrictions. On Brexit there was unsurprisingly little. The Prime Minister wants the freedom to manoeuvre that is provided by a general mandate of support but she is also keen to defy expectations and be known for something other than being “the Brexit Prime Minister”. Either way, the message from Halifax this morning was clear. This will be no dull election, it will be a bloody battle in which, with victory assured, the Prime Minister’s prize is not merely achieving the Conservative majority that was so coveted just two years ago, but the number of red and bloody heads on sticks can be secured along the way.

Edelman | Southside | 105 Victoria Street | SW1E 6QT London | www.edelmaneditions.com | 020 3047 2177 | @edelmanUK


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