‘TB, GB from PM 19 April 1997 Last Ten Days 1. In view of the poll movement, we need to be clear in our minds about what we need to achieve in the final stage of the campaign and how we are going to do it. I suggest ‘we need to do the following: keep Tony's figures up, by concentrating on trust and competence blunt the Tories’ attempt to drive us down on the economy - this seems a priority establish our own tough, no-nonsense position on Europe put the Tories on the defensive on schools and NHS deal with Lib Dem advantage on spending commitments 7 raise a credible Tory Sth term thr < ‘Fe-assure on tax remind about Tory sleaze spur our core supporters to vote create media consensus that it’s untenable to have the Tories back because of their chaos 2. This seems a lot to focus on in ten days but we have a variety of press conferences, speeches and interviews. Spin will be at maximum premium, The last ten days could look like this: Monday Europe: ‘TB speech tough and uncompromising in relation to IGC, Social Chapter and Single Currency leading not leaving Europe. Referendum pledge must stick in people’s minds. Hope and Glory PEB in evening. NB: ‘We must have a strong attacking prepared statement from Blunkett or AN Other if Tories go on grammar schools. ‘Tories must be put on defensive whenever they talk about schooling. DB on ITV 500 in evening. ‘Tuesday Tax or Economy: We should attack the Tories on tax and trust, using VAT threat and 22 increases to do so. We must re-assure over our plans, using income tax pledge and windfall tax to do so. ‘TB press club speech should be on Economy. ‘Wednesday Lottery money announcement should be used to demonstrate the difference we can make to education and health spending - dealing, indirectly, with Lib Dem advantage.NB: NB: At the moment, this day is being somewhat under used as there are no TB or GB speeches or interviews (although Gordon is doing election call.) This is a big re-launch, big message day. It is also the day of the TB documentary PEB plus TB on Question Time and the Sunday Times Q&A. We should use the day, with articles, interviews etc to get a strong trust and conviction message up about TB. We should also use the day to grab centre ground support from the Lib Dems. At the moment the grid indicates a health and education attack on the Tories. I think we shoulg mount a very heavy Sth term threat and trail it as such ( while taking any opportunity during the course of the week to inject into every interview and clip references to sell-off of old folks homes, abolish the state pension, privatisation of care and social services, break up of NHS and grammar schools mean secondary modems for everyone else). We may have to wait for the polls to narrow before anyone seriously reports the Sth term threat. TB is on the road but should there be a visit to Tatton in support of Martin Bell to get up Tory corruption.? We need to get in an early spur to our core supporters. The weekend could be used to put up messages about council house sales (possibly on Saturday) and the national minimum wage (business endorsements story in some of the Sunday tabloids). We will have to decide how to use TB on Frost. I think we will be facing pressure on tax and the economy at this stage and I suggest this is the best use of the interview. We need to stay on our pledges and we need to come back to education, Set-piece press conferences and events will be trailing off at this stage and we will need to use outdoor campaigning to get up message clips. However, there will be pressure on TB to deliver stories from ITV 500, Election Call and the Nine O°Clock News appearances. ‘We have to consider how to use the (now tentative) celebrity endorsement of the computers in schools programme. This would be the best day.The basic message is: we will govern as New Labour if elected as New Labour; and, this is the moment that Labour’s core/traditional supporters have been waiting for - at last their vote for Labour will not be wasted. Conclusion On ourselves, our core message must be we're changed, ready, trusted and able to govern again. On the Tories, I am not confident we'll persuade the media to put across a powerful Sth term threat message but I do think a “chaos/unfit to govern/heaven knows what we'll be getfing if they come back” commentary is possible. This equals a final campaign message of “The Tories cannot be trusted to govern. Labour is safe, our policies are in place and we're raring to go”. ALL THIS NEEDS THOROUGH DISCUSSION. ENDS