It is interesting that the media seem to regard the 'accidental' release of Tory proposals on tax as some horrible mistake.
The proposals were posted on a website ahead of their official unveiling. The reaction from the other parties has been what one would expect.
Ed Balls has been wheeled out from the Treasury to say the plans would mean cuts in schools and hospitals. The LibDems say the Tories are confused - that really is the pot calling the kettle black.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has said they are only proposals, and that anyway any tax cuts will depend on what state the economy is in after the next election.
What is clear is that this goverment has hiked up direct and indirect taxes in the last decade. For all the sound and fury from Balls, it might just be that large sections of the middle class think it is time they paid less tax.
Best of all, the Tories get to float these proposals and if they get a negative reaction can just dismiss them as a policy paper they commissioned but have no intention of actually putting into practice.
Bit of a win-win situation for the Conservatives then, for all the talk of 'mistaken' publication. Just the words tax cuts will warm the cockles of Tory hearts.
Labour may have doubled investment in the NHS and education, but its clear the voters do not think the money has been well spent.
21bn in tax cuts sounds a huge amount, but the Tories are also thinking about lifting 2.5m people out of income tax. Isn't that a LibDem policy?
Abolishing inheritance tax is another eye-catching proposal. Lower business taxes will also hearten Tory activists.
Poor Labour. All that money spent and the voters don't seem to care.
It seems that the Tories are the new masters of spin, for all the Balls Ed comes out with.
