Labour manifesto: Top secret Clause V meeting will be a pivotal moment in Sir Keir Starmer's election campaign
The meeting will take place on Friday with just one huge item on the agenda: agreeing the manifesto that Sir Keir is expected to present to the country on 13 June.
It's a meeting that's so top secret that those attending - at a secret location - are ordered to surrender their mobile phone and any other electronic devices when they arrive.
They're given numbered copies of the agenda, thick bundles which are then collected from them at the end of the meeting. Security is extremely tight. Nothing is left to chance.
This is one of those general election rituals which seems more and more weird as elections come and go. There can't be anyone who actually believes election manifestos are worth reading except as ammunition for later. Do many voters read them? I don't know, but I wouldn't bet on it.
It's bonkers. If manifestos were seen as important, then voters would not respond to the polls, they would insist on waiting for the manifesto. But they don't because presumably most voters don't care about the manifesto.
Although on second thoughts, Sir Keir is so slippery that his manifesto could be worth a read. Version one could be worth reading anyway.
5 comments:
I saw an interesting point made about Captain Hindsight today. In an interview he was asked whether he'd ever used private medicine. He replied that he never had, and never would, pay for medical treatment. Lawyerly, eh? Because presumably if a BUPA policy comes with a job you can use private medicine without paying for it.
dearieme - the more I see of him the more I think he is working as a professional advocate for a wider social and professional network. Nothing formal, but thoroughly understood and not the Labour party.
I've just been canvassed. A nice youth came to the door to ask if I would help to re-elect Stephen Morgan, our Labour MP.
I said that there was not a chance. He asked me if there were issues relevant to that decision, to which I replied "Immigration immigration, and immigration". He didn't stay to hear me elaborate on it, but politely thanked me and left. There's the little matter of the cross on the bit of paper next month, but that's democracy done and dusted for the next half-decade.
But I expect that the Labour Manifesto is not intended to inform the potential electorate but to set out the doublespeak version (see Nineteen Eighty Four) of party plans. Otherwise the rhetoric of the manifesto might be undermined by party workers explaining things. And that would never do.
Sam - we hardly ever have people come to the door like that. I'm not sure what I'd say, but explaining that my three concerns are "immigration immigration, and immigration" sounds like a good opening to me. If that doesn't work I'll add "oh and Net Zero".
DJ - the doublespeak aspect could be interesting because Starmer is not one to be pinned down. Aspirations are more likely than specifics, although aspirations may be dressed up as specifics. Net Zero is one of those.
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