Hello again. A slightly abridged newsletter this week, as by the time you read this Dark Arts will be on a stag do in Prague – recommendations are encouraged, along with tips, comments and the usual, via email: ethan.shone@opendemocracy.net.
Last week saw the main political parties launch their manifestos, which for the most part offered few surprises. The Tory document was desperate, cobbled together and ultimately insignificant, while Labour’s was cautious, coherent on its own terms and, as expected, bore all the hallmarks of significant influence from business. Dark Arts’ favourite take on Labour’s plan came from leading lobbying hack Solomon Hughes’s centrist alter ego, William O’Pinion: “Radically Quiet”.
Let it never be said that Dark Arts can’t own up to mistaken predictions. My money was on Labour omitting its previously announced pledge to scrap the carried interest loophole, but that commitment did appear in its manifesto – and we all know no party would ever renege on a manifesto commitment!
