Even Britain’s mainstream news channels, like the BBC and Channel 4, are now heavily criticising the Conservatives Party’s record on migration, showing that almost no one still believes the party’s renewed promises on this and other issues.
So it is no surprise, then, that even the more right-wing press responded negatively to the launch yesterday, on June 11th, of the latest Tory manifesto. The hefty document, whose 80 pages are clearly not intended to be read by the busy working public, claims to contain a “clear plan” made up of “bold action” which will bring about a “secure future.” But journalist Patrick O’Flynn described it in The Spectator as “thin gruel,” and the latest cartoon in The Times brutally mocked it as containing “flakey” pledges “freshly made up for you.”
The Conservatives have promised again, just as they have in all other recent manifestos, to “control immigration and stop illegal migration.” They have had 14 years to do something about Britain’s uncontrolled borders and have—by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s own admission—failed spectacularly.
The document also repeats pledges on support for renters and on tax reductions more broadly which featured in its past manifestos but were not followed through.
The problem for Sunak, then, is that however much he promises ahead of the July 4th election, “a furious nation simply isn’t listening.” That is according to Isabel Oakeshott (wife of Reform UK chairman Richard Tice) who wrote in The Daily Telegraph:
After 14 years of broken promises, nothing the prime minister and his party says feels credible any more. Time and again, the Conservatives have demonstrated they simply cannot be trusted.
On tax and immigration, they have not only failed to deliver on promises made in successive election manifestos, but done the exact opposite, raising both to historic levels. Under the circumstances, the arrogance of asking voters for another chance is breathtaking.
Even the Tories don’t believe in their manifesto, according to journalist Henry Hill in UnHerd. Hill claims that government insiders told him the creation of the manifesto was “a very cynical process” of thinking up “eye-catching initiatives designed to create dividing lines with Labour.” Perhaps that explains why Tory aides were reportedly forced to disassemble chairs at the manifesto launch event “as not enough supporters show[ed] up.”
The stale response to the Tory manifesto has given Reform UK leader Nigel Farage much to be jovial about. He told voters: “Don’t believe a single word of it.”
It also served as a good backdrop for the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the economically left-leaning and culturally traditional party, which yesterday launched its first manifesto in 37 years. Leader William Clouston says this document, titled “Homecoming,” is “grounded in the realms which unite us—family, neighbourhood and nation.”
A restoration is required and is offered here. A constant theme of SDP thinking is that most of our difficulties have cultural roots—indifference, complacency and lack of confidence. In truth, if nothing can be done about cultural causes then nothing can be done about anything else.
Labour is now due to release its manifesto on Thursday. Its leader, Keir Starmer, caused some confusion following the launch of the Conservative manifesto on Tuesday, describing it as a “Jeremy Corbyn-style” document. Footage then soon reemerged online of him describing Corbyn’s 2019 manifesto as being about “decency and dignity.”
It would appear then that Starmer is more fond of the Conservatives’ ‘final electoral lifeline’ than the Conservatives themselves.
