Solid manifesto puts Boris in driving seat

MANIFESTOS rarely win elections but history has shown that they can lose them. Most dramatically, Michael Foot’s 1983 offering for Labour – dubbed the “longest suicide note in history” by the late Gerald Kaufman – condemned the party to a record defeat and ensured that Margaret Thatcher was returned to Downing Street.

It may be that Jeremy Corbyn’s astonishing attempt last week to replicate that 1983 tax-and-spend “redprint” may be his undoing.

But the harsh lesson was also learnt by the Tories more recently, in 2017.

When Theresa May announced that hard-pressed voters would have to sell their homes to pay for social care and that she would end the triple-lock on pensions and cut back on benefits such as the winter fuel allowance it lost her a majority.

In this context, Boris Johnson’s manifesto today appears to not only learn the lesson of 2017 but also embody his sense of positive optimism for Brexit Britain.

We see a man who wants to genuinely tackle the people’s priorities.

He has a vision for the country and a willingness to deal with the greatest domestic issue of the age – Brexit.

What is also clear is that under the Conservatives Britain will continue to be a prosperous nation and make the most of its freedom from the EU.

This stands in stark comparison to the appalling levels of debt that Corbyn and his Marxist allies would inflict on generations of Britons.

It is important that the Tories tackle issues around the cost of living, ensure taxes will not go up, keep a cap on energy prices and continue to reward pensioners for their many years of contributing to this country.

Parents will be happy about the extra childcare, and anybody who has to use the country’s roads will be pleased about the massive programme to tackle potholes.

The measure on potholes, perhaps more than any, sums up why we need Boris in Downing Street to ensure a smooth journey out of Brexit.

The terrible bumps in the road with a Corbyn government, backed by the odious Nicola Sturgeon and her Scottish Nationalist fanatics, would not only crash the economy but break the country up while leaving us stuck in a permanent EU lay-by.

So let’s put Boris behind the wheel, rev up the engine for Brexit Britain and power ahead to prosperity instead.