Labour failing to portray Tories as 'Right-wing'

A leaked document revealed that party chiefs have admitted they are struggling to convince voters that David Cameron's Tories are extremists.

At the same time, shadow Chancellor George Osborne has launched an audacious bid to woo Left-wingers.

The Government's tactics are to attack the Conservatives as unreconstructed despite Mr Cameron's changes to his party.

But ministers accept they are finding it difficult to make their claim stick.

Ahead of Labour's annual rally in Manchester later this month, party chiefs are briefing MPs and activists on how to counter the Tory revival.

They want to persuade voters that Mr Cameron has brought slick salesmanship to his party, and have labelled him a "chameleon", but that behind the facade little has changed.

"With their warm words and slick positioning, it is hard to convince people of the argument that the Tories have not changed, but the evidence is there," say Labour briefing slides, according to The Guardian.

"Occasionally the mask slips and we see the dangerous, old-fashioned Tory Right-wing instincts hidden underneath.

"They believe in cuts in public services, to fund tax cuts for the richest, and a smaller, less effective government.

"Our job is to hold the Tories relentlessly accountable and expose the reality behind the image."

Party insiders accept that the strategy is a risk as many people have warmed to Mr Cameron and believe he has modernised the Conservatives.

Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell is expected to brief MPs today on the tactics, accusing the Tories of trying to "hijack Labour's central core traditional value of fairness.".

The 16-page briefing document adds: "Unlike the Tories, we really believe in it as an end, and unlike them we don't just pay lip service to it. We are willing to commit the means to make it a reality."

But it also reportedly accepts that the Tories have changed on some issues such as gay rights.
Mr Osborne yesterday moved to ditch Tory promises to match Labour's spending plans opening him up to the charge that he is paving the way for public spending cuts.

But he also launched a raid on traditional Labour territory as TUC delegates gathered in Brighton.
In an open letter to activists, he said: "If you care about better jobs and better incomes, forget about the Labour party.

"It has forgotten about you...social justice is at the very heart of the modern Conservative message."