Howard's eleven word manifesto

It may not be the most positive election slogan ever.

But Michael Howard clearly believes his plea to the British people to vote against "five more years of smirking" will strike a chord.

He also hopes that by launching one of the slimmest election manifestos in living memory voters will actually read it and form a clear view of what a Conservative government would do for them.

That may be a forlorn expectation, particularly as the document contains no detail of the party's all-important tax plans, which will come in a separate document any day now, we are assured.

Still, he did steal a march on the other major parties by getting his manifesto onto the street first.

And it was at the launch of the document that he warmed to one of his key election themes - Tony Blair himself.

Big minus

"Don't let him get away with it again. Imagine five more years of it - five more years of smirking, five more years of failure, five more years of talk.

"Imagine waking up on 6 May to see Mr Blair re-elected. Imagine how you'd feel," he declared.

It may smack of personality politics, but Mr Howard knows that many now view Mr Blair as one of Labour's big minuses. And he is not about to let that pass.

The manifesto does contain policies - however briefly they are mapped out.

But, unusually for a party leader, it does not contain a picture of Mr Howard himself on the cover.

Instead - and this is another of the Tories' key tactics - it lists the party's six key policy headings in just eleven words. "More police, cleaner hospitals, lower taxes, school discipline, controlled immigration, accountability".

Mr Howard believes these six areas cover the "simple longings" of the British people.

Inside the back cover each of those pledges in elaborated on along the lines of: "Within the first month, our first budget will cut wasteful government spending, stop Labour's third term tax rises and lower taxes".

Between the covers there are only about 17 full pages of text that voters need to plough through to, Mr Howard hopes, get a handle on what his government would be like.

Daily lives

There are no grand, sweeping ideological brush strokes here.

Probably the closest to that is the general theme about smaller government not interfering in the nooks and crannies of people's lives but leaving them "the freedom to take the important decisions about their families and to keep more of the money they earn".

It is a manifesto designed to offer what Mr Howard believes are straightforward, commonsense policies designed to answer the problems voters are experiencing in their daily lives.

He is also eager to insist that the Conservatives have "changed" and "moved on".

He knows Labour is also going down the personality route by regularly reminding voters of what he did, or supported, when he was last in government.

So, Mr Howard insisted: "Today, I lead a changed Conservative party, open to all, focused on what matters, with the courage to speak out and address the issues that others want to sweep under the carpet".

And, when pressed about the Thatcher and Major years, he simply answered: "Of course we have moved on".

Britain had moved on and the Tories had an agenda for the concerns and problems of the 21st century, he said.

And if you need to know more, then read the manifesto.