There is little that is joyful about the Conservatives’ 2017 election manifesto. The dark blue document, containing one photograph, does not paint a country happy and at ease with itself. Instead, it puts forward a downbeat vision of a divided nation that suffers from too much immigration, big businesses running rampant, executive pay out of control and some grave challenges in the years ahead. Just as Margaret Thatcher did in her slender but radical manifesto in 1979, Forward Together is an attempt to shine some light through the trees.
There is a clear principle behind the Tories’ latest plan for government. When Theresa May entered Downing Street last year, her team made the calculation that last year’s vote to leave the EU was not really about Britain’s membership of the bloc. It was a cry for help from parts of the UK that felt left behind by its political class.
This is the driving principle behind the manifesto: an attempt to heal the divides and speak to the populist cry for radical change. Notably, the section on leaving the EU, which contained some softer language but still promises a trade deal within two years, comes after economic reform. Brexit is a given in the book of May but there are other matters they see as more pressing.