As Corbyn’s policies appeal, May won’t risk sitting back...
DEAR Father Christmas…
This year I would like a bike, some colouring pencils and a train set.
As I’ve been very good, I’d like you to scrap university tuition fees and nationalise the railways as well...
“A 10- year- old’s letter to Santa Claus” was how one Labour candidate reportedly described the party’s leaked manifesto.
Jeremy Corbyn also faced accusations of wanting to drag the UK back to the 1970s.
The digs rolled in and on the face of it, it looked like another disastrous day at the office for the veteran left-winger.
After all, manifestos are meant to be announced to great fanfare, but someone decided to steal Mr Corbyn’s thunder.
Things got worse when later the car he was travelling in drove over a cameraman’s foot.
The run of events added powerful fuel to Theresa May’s claims of chaos.
And yet, the manifesto – the official version of which has now been approved and is expected to be published next week – dominated the news. From morning to night, it topped the bulletins – everyone was talking about it.
Moreover, it contained a series of policies likely to be popular with voters, although costings for many were conspicuously absent.
One survey conducted in the hours after the leak, found significant support for rail nationalisation, building more homes and raising taxes on high earners.
Abolishing tuition fees will also go down well, especially with young people – who Mr Corbyn needs to turn out if he is to eat into Mrs May’s formidable poll lead.
That said, the leak did reinforce the image of a party divided.
Were moderates, keen to discredit a leader they want to see long gone, behind it? Or was it Corbyn supporters hoping to get the draft through undiluted?
Of course once the document is in the public domain, it is harder to change, so perhaps the aim was to force hands. Mr Corbyn did say, however, after the meeting to sign off the final version, that it had been “amended”. So come the formal launch, the big questions will be, what did they take out or add in, as well as how will Labour pay for it?
Mrs May will be all too aware of the crowd-pleasing nature of parts of her opponent’s offering.
And wary of being complacent, she will be eager to put in a strong performance in the coming days and through to June 8 – particularly as last week wasn’t her best.
Clearly the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) decision not to bring criminal charges in relation to the Conservative 2015 battle bus was a big boost. You could almost hear the phews.
It confirmed there was no basis to prove any candidate or agent had deliberately acted dishonestly.
But – despite Mrs May’s insistence the legal authorities had confirmed local spending had been “properly reported” and “properly declared” – the CPS statement also said there was “evidence to suggest the returns may have been inaccurate”. Hardly a glowing report card.
Remember too, that while Mr Corbyn is unlikely to come close to challenging the Tory leader, to emerge victorious she needs not just to win – but to win big. Maybe she’ll try some crowd pleasing of her own.