Conservative party leader David Cameron today unveiled the Conservative Party’s election manifesto in which he sought to contrast the Tory’s central election narrative of the “Big Society” with the juxtaposing image of Labour’s “Big Government” and overbearing waste.  In attempting to make this contrast, David Cameron channelled this narrative through an underlying message of optimism as evidenced when saying “The Big Society is a big idea with the power to change Britain” while also invoking the now immortalised saying of President John F Kennedy in stating “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”.

This manifested itself in the Conservative party’s pledge of endorsing greater “people power” for British voters, an ambition that would be achieved through a raft of measures designed to localize the impact of Government by empowering voters to create new schools, launch community interventions for failing local pubs and post offices, giving communities greater influence over local police and the right to veto council tax rises. Homeowners and first time buyers were also endorsed through a proposed abrogation of stamp duty on homes under the value of £250,000 and widespread introductions of social tenancy schemes.

Other measures included a pledge to move Britain towards a Green economy, a reemphasis on high speed rail and a central tenet of the Big Society, the introduction of the national citizens service for teenagers which Mr Cameron argued would begin to “establish a culture of responsibility” in the UK.

Unsurprisingly, Cameron also appeared keen to reiterate the Conservative party’s  policy to block the Labour Government’s proposed National Insurance rise, an issue that has proved an extremely effective vote winner for the Conservative’s in the first week of the campaign.  The Manifesto also confidently espoused the Tories pledge to more than halve the UK structural deficit in the next Parliament. There was also a return to some of the more traditional Tory voters’ values, including a pledge to reopen the vote on the Hunting ban and a promise to impose an annual limit on the number of non-EU Economic migrants entering Britain.

Yet throughout his address, Cameron rarely deviated from the well established Conservative image of “modernity” and “radical change,” a political trope that has allowed the Conservatives to appear to be reaching for a higher agenda than mere electioneering and also helps to dispel many apprehensions previously associated with the Conservatives. Despite the clear positives of this strategy,  the often nebulous or vague proposals within “the Big Society” left Cameron exposed  to some robust questioning from the awaiting media, who frequently returned to the public’s need for clarity on the evidently necessary cuts to the public sector and to validate their proposed national insurance freeze.

A further theme that the Tories appeared keen to impress was one of party unity and ideological cohesion. Set against the background of the Tory party slogan “we are all in this together” appeared apt, and it was thus no surprise that Mr Cameron’s speech was delivered in front of the entire Shadow Cabinet and was preceded by speeches from numerous Shadow Cabinet Ministers including Michael Gove, Andrew Lansley and Sayeeda Warsi.

The location of the Conservative’s launch was equally telling, with the Tories choosing to announce their manifesto in the marginal Labour seat of Battersea while Labour could be accused of taking a more protectionist approach by holding theirs in the current Labour safe seat of Edgbaston, a contrast that is arguably indicative of the two parties’ current ambitions for the campaign.

Ultimately, today’s Manifesto served to harshly polarize the two majors parties on the future of Britain, with the Conservative’s paradigm of Big Society directly contrasting with Labour’s clear promise yesterday of a more active Government and while Cameron did mitigate his optimistic theme with acceptance of cuts to the public sector, his conviction that “The country wants change and I want to get started” certainly prevailed.