Maria Hutchings says what she thinks. But is she thinking what Eastleigh voters are thinking?

One of the key strands of the Conservative campaign in Eastleigh is trust: not just because campaigners can remind voters about Chris Huhne, but thanks to a contrast they can draw between Maria Hutchings and Lib Dem candidate Mike Thornton. The party’s latest poster underlines this: it accuses the Lib Dems of ‘facing both ways on development’ and contrasts quotes from Thornton on protecting green spaces and his voting record.

The bottom of the poster says: ‘Maria Hutchings has consistently campaigned with local residents against these developments.’

I’ve already grumbled about how silly it is for the two Coalition parties to be scrapping not just over agreed Coalition policy but also over something that will help those aspirational young families in Eastleigh afford to live in the constituency. But the Tories clearly believe in marketing Hutchings as a straight-talker, even when that straight talker is honest about things most politicians tend to mumble about, like her opinions on private schools, or disagreeing with her party leader on the EU.