Earlier this year Lynton Crosby was accused of recycling a ten-year-old ‘attack ad’ the Liberal Party used in the 2004 Australian elections, to criticise Ed Miliband in the general election. At the time the advert was used in Australia, the Tory election strategist was helping to run the Liberal Party’s election campaign.
Now it appears Crosby may have been ‘inspired’ once again by his former employer. Hugh Whitfeld, Europe Correspondent for the Australian Seven Network, has spotted a remarkable likeness between today’s Tory manifesto cover and one used by the Liberal Party of Australia as a cover to their policy book:
Compared to:
The Liberal Party of Australia’s manifesto cover
A Tory source denies they are in any way similar.
At least there is no sign of Crosby opting to use the ‘dead cat’ strategy today. Boris Johnson previously revealed how an unnamed Australian friend of his had taught him about a political tactic by which if the odds are stacked against you, you distract the public by bringing up a topic everyone will have to talk about:
‘“Jeez, mate, there’s a dead cat on the table!”; in other words they will be talking about the dead cat, the thing you want them to talk about, and they will not be talking about the issue that has been causing you so much grief.
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