|
Campaign analysis: Thursday April 14
Daniel Forman's daily diary of the election campaign.
Thursday April 14 10:40am GMT
It was the Liberal Democrats' day in the sun today, as the third party published its own election manifesto.
Unlike Labour's launch, where there was at least some interest in what the Blair-Brown partnership had and had not agreed to, this was a surprise-free zone.
All the policies had been announced - and reannounced - several times before. That left little choice but to compare and contrast the document's size, shape, number of words and number of pictures of the leader, with the Conservative and Labour versions.
Charles Kennedy, of course, is the only one the three main party chiefs with any semblance on personal popularity, which the Lib Dems' are exploiting relentlessly.
Having starred in his party's election broadcast last night, the manifesto was also highly Kennedy-heavy.
Back from his 72-hour paternity leave, he can expect little rest between now and polling day.
But if there is little that is new and - as is widely agreed - few voters will actually read them, what is the point of a manifesto?
Labour, like all parties in government, will not stick to it religiously in office. The political reality is that promises get broken and events take over.
Opposition parties can claim that they provide a blueprint for the civil service on what their legislative and policy priorities will be.
However the Conservative version was so light that this can hardly be the case, while nobody really believes the Lib Dems are going to win this election outright.
It does provide a day in the media spotlight. But, as Labour found out yesterday, other stories can still steal the headlines.
More than anything, manifestos are about trying to win media approval among commentators and leader writers.
Parties try to show they are serious, that they have identified challenges and come up with solutions.
The effectiveness of this is probably overrated, but it is still a rigmarole they all have to go through.
|
