Risk management

The Tories keep telling us that they are on an election footing. If they are, part of that must be aiming to lose as few news cycles as possible between now and polling day. There are going to be some that the Tories can’t stop Labour winning; Labour is still the government giving it the ability to act and Brown the benefit of the Prime Ministerial bully pulpit. But what the Tories should be doing is addressing vulnerabilities they know about and cutting out the unforced errors.

There are two obvious weaknesses that the leadership has yet to deal with: the shadow cabinet’s second jobs and the whole issue of Lord Ashcroft’s tax status. Another area where the Tories are opening themselves up to Labour attacks is donations. The Telegraph reports that the party has accepted a series of donations from Lord Laidlaw who left the House of Lords rather than return from tax exile.