thetorydiary

"Yes, together we can do anything," the Conservative Manifesto's foreword concludes.

As the Third Marquess of Salisbury used to say.

Or rather, as he didn't.

I mention Robert Cecil for a reason.  This must be the most un-Tory manifesto ever published by the Party.  It would have astounded that bleak, frowning, gloomy-bearded Victorian statesman. It's altogether lacking in the sense of evolutionary caution, of politics as the art of the possible, of the fragility of public affairs, and of the frailty of human endeavour that, not so long ago, coloured the lifeblood of the Conservative Party.

Consider this: "Our ambition is for every adult in the country to be a member of an active neighbourhood group."  Please note: every adult.  How will voters find the time?  After all, they'll be too busy taking over schools, forming co-operatives to run hospitals, organising their own single budgets if ill long-term, sacking MPs in recall ballots, electing police commissioners, voting in local referendums, undertaking national citizenship service, and monitoring government spending on-line to do very much else at all.

This is not so much a Tory manifesto as a Californian manifesto - so much so that it actually boasts a snap of Silicon Valley.  It has Steve Hilton's fingerprints all over it.  If enacted, it will make government under David Cameron an invigorating business.  The state will be smaller.  But it will also be louder.  It won't walk away from civil society, but instead will, in the manifesto's words "agitate for, catalyse and galvanise" for change.  If you doubt it, have a look at the action it pledges against firms that encourage the commercialisation of childhood.  If elected, Cameron will use Number 10 as a bully pulpit.

No-one who actually reads the manifesto and absorbs the detail will be able airily to say afterwards that there's no difference in this election between the main parties.  Sure, most people won't read it.  If they haven't already made up their minds, they'll go to the polls asking if they can bear four more years of Brown, or whether they can really trust Cameron.  Or they'll plump for whoever they think is likely to make a fist of running the economy.  But manifestos are important in other ways.  They reveal much about the approach, temper and tone of the parties that publish them.

This one marries the modernising spirit of Margaret Thatcher to society rather than the economy.   It's partly Hannan and Carswell as well as Cameron and Hilton.  It's transatlantic in its can-do spirit - and is another sign, were one needed, of the Americanisation of British politics.  If its vision is deemed too radical, what does that say about the voters?  Will they want to leap at the chance of transforming their country…or roll over and go back to sleep?

Paul Goodman

12.15pm update: DOWNLOAD THE MANIFESTO HERE

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Following on from last night's preview and this morning's summary of the media previews, the Conservative Party 2010 manifesto is being launched at an event at Battersea Power station at 11am.

I'll be blogging the highlights below (not verbatim).

10.54am David and Samantha Cameron arrive.

11.15am The Shadow Cabinet are party members are assembled...

11.18am Samantha Cameron takes her seat

11.19am William Hague: comes on and says that Battersea Power station is ripe for regeneration - just like our country. He welcomes Cameron to the stage, saying this is the culmination of four and a half years work. He says that the Conservative party was too narrow in its thinking before but has changed under David Cameron. "The party of one nation is back where it belongs." Problems cannot be solved by politicians alone... come and join the government... we are in this together... let's work together to mend the broken society, to mend our broken politics and to restore Britain's reputation... Vote Blue Go Green was never just a slogan... Change comes from strong people, not strong government. And that change cannot come soon enough.

Yesterday evening Tim wrote this first preview of the Conservative Party's manifesto for the general election, which is being published at 11am this morning.

He cited David Cameron's foreword which sought to fire up millions of people into playing a part in the nation's future and highlighted eight of the party's direct invitations to people, which would empower them in a variety of ways.

And it is the notion of giving power to people which leads the previews of the document in most of the papers this morning:

The Guardian: "In a direct invitation to voters to join him in governing Britain, the Tory leader will promise in his election manifesto to offer California-style referendums on any local issue if residents can win the support of 5% of the population. Adopting historic language from the Labour movement about the "collective strength" of society, Cameron will also pledge to let people "be your own boss" as public sector workers are allowed to assume ownership of the services they provide."

The Independent: "The 130-page policy blueprint, billed last night as a "people's manifesto", invites the nation to join Mr Cameron "to form a new kind of government for Britain". It will contrast his aim to devolve power to individuals and communities with what it calls Labour's top-down management style. The manifesto will promise parents that education will be revolutionised by the creation of a "new generation" of free schools run by other schools, charities or private companies."

Daily Telegraph: "He [David Cameron] will allow people to be “your own boss, sack your MP, run your own school, own your own home, veto council tax rises, vote for your police, save your local pub or post office, and see how the government spends your money”... The Tory document will include key tax policies, including a pledge to reverse most of the Government’s planned National Insurance rise — an issue that has dominated the election campaign. It will outline plans for a £150-a-year tax break for four million married couples and include eight benchmarks for economic growth by which the electorate will be able to hold a new Tory administration to account."

Several of the tabloids, however, pay particular attention to the pledges the party is making on crime and immigration:

Daily Mail: "Immigration is 'too high' and will be reduced to levels last seen in the mid-1990s under a Tory election blueprint to restore Britain's 'sense of national purpose'... A key section of the document, seen by the Daily Mail, seeks to address claims that the Conservatives have shied away from the issue of immigration, which polls suggest is second only to the economy among voters' concerns. The manifesto pledges barriers on immigration from countries joining the EU, an annual cap on non-EU migration and a tougher points system to limit access to those with most to offer the British economy."

The Sun: "David Cameron's Tories will lock up anyone convicted of a knife offence - even those caught carrying a blade, he will reveal today. The party would also fast-track the introduction of mobile weapons scanners on streets, trains and buses."

The Financial Times, meanwhile, takes the opportunity to suggest that the party's programme being announced today is rather different from that which it would have put forward had Gordon Brown called an election in 2007:

"A combination of the economic crisis and a squeeze on the Tories' opinion poll lead has tempered the opposition party's modernising aspirations with more pragmatic policies designed to appeal to its traditional base and woo floating voters."

From what we've seen, it looks to me like an optimistic, coherent programme and the emphasis on power to people is one which anyone sceptical about the burgeoning power of the state should welcome.

There will obviously be further coverage of the manifesto launch on ConHome after 11am.

Jonathan Isaby