On the day that David Cameron launches the Tory manifesto at Battersea Power Station – famous for the 1977 Pink Floyd album cover of Animals with an inflatable pig tethered to the chimneys - the Mole hears that Lord Mandelson has written to Labour candidates saying: ‘Don't panic’. He has reassured them that the Tory tax plans will explode under Cameron before polling day. Mandy is basing his optimism on previous elections when the Tory tax-bomb failed to explode under Labour. This time, he claims, it will go off under Camo. “The Tories’ economic plans are a slow-burning fuse under their campaign,” said Gordon Brown's trusted election strategist. “As in 2001 and 2005, the incoherence of Tory tax and spending plans is the slow-burning fuse under the Tory campaign, and we do not need to rush our fences in detonating it.” Mandy's message would be a calming influence but for the fact that the Tories have been on the offensive ever since they announced they would reverse Brown's one per cent increase in National Insurance contributions. Cameron won the backing of big business figures such as Sir Stuart Rose, chairman of Marks & Spencer, who Mandy still describes as “my good friend” in spite of the snub to Brown. Cameron is likely to accuse Brown of going “back to the future” with Labour's retro manifesto, which promised Old Labour tax increases including the 50p-in-the-pound tax on the wealthy. So much for Mandy's boast at the outset of New Labour that he is relaxed about people getting filthy rich. It reminds the Mole of another Pink Floyd cover – for Dark Side of the Moon, which, of course, included their famous attack on the City, Money. Filed under: The Mole, General ElectionMandy tells Labour not to panic – Tories will explode
The Mole: Why Mandelson believes there’s no need to fear the Tories’ tax plans
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About the author
The Mole is the pseudonym for a London-based political consultant who writes for The First Post.
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