Chapter 60 Section 3 First Week of Election – 21 days to 14 days before the election

On Wednesday 11 April, at my first Conservative Party press conference, the Manifesto was officially launched.Joining for the reception are Willie Whitelaw, Keith Joseph, Geoffrey Howe, Peter Carrington, Jim Pryor, Humphrey Atkins, Peter Thornick Roft and Angus Moder.The tone of the manifesto is moderate and to the point; Chris Patton and Angus Moder get our meaning across in plain, jargon-free language. The newspapers published the manifesto the next day well.But the crowd at the press conference that day was almost unbearable.Our male colleagues who sweated in heavy wool suits suffered more than I did.

The next day was the Thursday before Easter.Easter was right in the middle of the campaign, so we lost four days of campaigning.I officially started campaigning on Monday, April 16—D-17, in campaign worker lingo ("D-Day," of course, is Election Day).We have planned to start with Wales.We flew from London Gatwick to Swansea, where we boarded the campaign limousine, visited an NHS hospital, and then went to the local Conservative Party club to speak to regional TV and radio reporters.During the interview, I heard a lot of noise in the club.As it turned out afterwards, there had been a massive quarrel, which escalated into a fight, over the club's authorities trying to expel the female reporter from a room reserved only for male members.

From here I head to Cardiff for the first major campaign rally.The choice to start the campaign here is very fitting.This can be said to be the heart of the enemy's control, because Mr. Callaghan's constituency is in the southeast of Cardiff.Cardiff Town Hall has a comfortable environment, good acoustics and an enthusiastic audience, which is really good.I delivered an extremely powerful speech.It is an uncompromising statement of how socialism has weakened Britain's power, and why a fundamental change of direction must be made - not as a utopian experiment, but as a return to principles from which we have wrongly departed.

… In politics, I have learned a saying that you Welsh people have learned from your childhood: If you have information, spread it.I am a politician of firm belief. The prophets in the Old Testament didn't just say, "My fellow citizens, I agree." They said, "This is my belief and my imagination. This is what I believe passionately. If you believe it too; then Just follow me." That's what I'm going to say to you tonight.Sweep away the bleak and melancholy past that happened not so long ago.Sweep out defeatism.Under the two banners of choice and freedom, a new and exciting future is calling to the British people.

The audience enjoys my talk as much as I do.But my cunning opponent, Jim Callaghan, managed to use my speech to evoke old fears in the Tories of power that this frightening figure was leading them in an unpleasant and unfamiliar direction.The Prime Minister later claimed that my speech showed that I had driven the Conservative Party to the right, thus opening the way for him to fight for the centre.Fittingly enough, the main speaker at the Conservative press conference that morning was former Labor cabinet minister and current Conservative candidate Reggie Prentice, along with other "converts" who had departed from socialism It is a living example that it is not the Conservative Party that has turned to the right, but the Labor Party that has turned to the left.But anyway, I agree with Keith Joseph that the arguments we're emphasizing are "common ground", not "middle ground".From this point on, a rift arose between the campaign style that headquarters wanted and the campaign policy I adhered to.

However, I wasn't immediately aware of the problem.According to the Tuesday morning papers, national polls show we are now only six points ahead of Labor, but the gap has not narrowed compared to earlier national polls (various polls have varied wildly throughout the campaign far, from the Conservatives only slightly ahead - at one point even a slight Labor advantage - to the Conservatives going for a one-sided victory), I felt it was a good day for the campaign, starting in Bristol, visiting Klein Nitz Brush Factory, where I took every photo opportunity to show my determination to "clean up the cobwebs" with a "new broom", etc.

In Bristol also participated in the "Election Call" program hosted by Robin Day.There is always an element of risk in that situation.Knowledgeable interviewers have a way of exposing gaps in politicians' understanding that most political opponents will never be able to do.Moreover, since you cannot see the expression of the person talking to you on the other end of the phone, it is more difficult to correctly judge the other party's reaction.But I think the "Election Call" program that day was particularly successful, because the reporter asked me exactly the questions we can give the most convincing answers-cut taxes, control inflation, reduce government borrowing, encourage small businesses Wait for the necessity.Of course, some nitpicking questions were also raised.I have always believed that the key to dealing with these problems is to admit what went wrong and to make clear why a future Conservative government should correct it.So at this point I also acknowledge that the previous Conservative government was indeed responsible for the bureaucracy in the health service and we will correct that.

On the way back from Bristol, I took the 125th intercity high-speed train, got off in the western constituency, and took a group photo with the candidates running for election there on the Bath platform, including Chris Patton.The final program of the day was a speech at a rally in Gravesend.As head office told me that pensioner support for us was shaky, I wrote a press release recounting to voters the track record of successive Conservative governments on this issue. The following day (Wednesday 18 April), after the morning press conference, I set off to campaign in East Anglia and the East Midlands.The first stop was a campaign for the agricultural population vote, which included a discussion about cattle feed with a friendly farmer, as I cautiously walked across a field full of cattle (I forgot to wear my boots), holding a calf in my arms for Journalists take pictures so that more public can see.I have no experience with calves handling and don't know if the correct way to hold a calf is right.In front of photojournalists from five continents, Dennis, who has always been practical, warned: "If we are not careful, the calf will die in our arms." However, the calf survived under the care of me and the photojournalist.Fortunately, the calf was not available for interviews.