Liberal Democrats
Nick Clegg will launch the Lib Dem general election manifesto at Bloomberg in Finsbury Square, London, this morning (9.30am), under the party’s campaign slogan “Change That Works For You. Building a Fairer Britain”. Later on, the Lib Dem leader will meet staff and shoppers at an Asda in Oldham with the party’s candidate for Oldham East and Saddleworth, Elwyn Watkins (2.30pm).
Labour
The party stole a march on the Lib Dems with a press conference at 8am where Peter Mandelson, Andy Burnham and Ed Balls tore into yesterday’s Tory manifesto, accusing the Conservatives of concealing the impact of their plans on public services. Mandelson said he had the following advice for his party leader for tomorrow’s TV debate: “Be yourself, be clear, be straight with people and don’t compete with David Cameron on personal insults.” Meanwhile, on the Labour website, Gordon Brown posted a blog entitled “If you give people a little help, we can all get back a lot in return”.
Conservatives
After the launch of their manifesto yesterday, the Conservatives have a quieter day ahead. Still, the Tory shadow chancellor, George Osborne, was quick to welcome Brown’s admission that he should have been tougher on the banks, telling the Telegraph that Brown’s “next huge mistake” would be a “jobs tax that will kill the recovery”.
Other parties
The SNP leader, Alex Salmond, will open the party’s Glasgow East campaign office, accompanied by the MP John Mason (12.15pm), arguing that only his party can clean up Glasgow. Ukip will have awkward questions to answer following their revelations yesterday that they would “actively campaign” for certain Labour and Conservative candidates, even at the expense of their own.
The media
The pick of the media is tonight’s Gordon Brown interview on ITV1’s Tonight programme (8.30pm), with those comments about his mistakes about the banking system in the last of Mark Austin’s profiles of the three main party leaders. BBC News and Sky News will be dominated by the reaction to the Lib Dem manifesto and its coalition implications in a hung parliament. Elsewhere, commentators continue to look forward to tomorrow night’s live election debate on ITV1 (8.30pm), moderated by Alastair Stewart, the first half of which will focus on domestic affairs.
Away from the campaign
Tottenham Hotspur meet Arsenal in the north London derby at White Hart Lane tonight (8pm). Spurs are still reeling from their FA Cup semi-final loss to relegated Potsmouth at the weekend, while Wenger’s side hopes to catch up the leaders, Chelsea, who went four points clear in the Premier League with a win over Bolton last night. The fixture could see the return of Sol Campbell to Tottenham, whose fans revile their former defender as “Judas” for his move to Arsenal in 2001.
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