David cameron

Why is the Prime Minister inviting everyone into his kitchen, asks Isabel Hardman. Good question. Doesn't he realise that for those of us fascinated by Dave's struggles with his waistline, a glimpse inside his fridge – provided courtesy of the Sun – is the perfect opportunity for a snoop? Disappointingly, there's no custard on display. In my days as a Telegraph columnist, I would receive regular updates from my source at Number 10 about the sauce at Number 10. Perhaps it's nestling out of shot. At first glance, the Cameron fridge looks disappointingly anodyne: if it did contain any goodies stuffed with E-numbers, they've been removed. What we see is a Notting Hill yuppie selection of... well, I can't identify much, but it all looks organically sourced.

Why is David Cameron inviting everyone into his kitchen? The Sun has followed the Prime Minister around with a day-in-the-life video, which starts in his kitchen and includes a recipe for sophisticated sardines on toast while the Standard has an interview with Cameron in this afternoon’s paper that starts… in the kitchen.

The Liberal Democrats sense an opportunity in all this speculation about who the Tories and Labour would do deals with in the event of a hung parliament. They believe that they can position themselves as the responsible party that will keep the country in the centre ground in contrast to the other smaller parties. Today, in his speech to the party’s spring conference, Clegg ruled out joining any coalition that involved the SNP or Ukip. He also tried to use the moment to reinforce voters’ worries about either main party governing on their own. He argued that the Tories would cut needlessly—‘Cows moo. Dogs bark. And Tories cut.

Was this the day Ed Miliband lost the election? Only two PMQs remain before polling day and the Labour leader used all six questions to ask David Cameron one thing: when might he ask him more questions? Nothing on policy. Nothing on convictions. Just questions about questions. He meant questions outside the House, of course. On telly. That’s the difference, according to Labour. A televised head-to-head debate is nothing like parliament. Except that PMQs is a televised head-to-head debate. To quiz the PM about quizzing the PM is hardly the tactic of a confident popular leader about to sweep to power. But Miliband had made a calculation. Previously, Cameron had offered unequivocally to take on the Labour leader at any time. Now he’s changed his mind.

It’s not just David Cameron who is unhappy with the way the Tory manifesto is looking at the moment. James reported at the weekend that the Prime Minister had demanded a re-write, and I have picked up some considerable dissatisfaction in the party at the way the document is being put together. Some departments feel as though they and their advisers have been shut out by the team working on the manifesto. Other lower-ranking ministers with extremely good, detailed ideas for their own policy areas have submitted ideas that have been rejected out of hand, which has left them rather grumpy. This is partly a result of the desire to keep a multitude of cooks away from the broth.

I understand that David Cameron has ordered a re-write of the Tory manifesto. Jo Johnson and the Number 10 policy unit, which he heads, had written and submitted a first draft of the manifesto to Cameron. But word has come back that Cameron feels that the tone is not right. As I say in my Mail on Sunday column, he wants a less wonky document. He thinks the document needs a crisper, more political style. The Tory aide Richard Parr has been charged with re-writing it. Parr learned his political trade under Andrew Mitchell and is regarded as having sharp instincts. Cameron is also a fan of his writing. But it is not just the style of the manifesto that is causing concern. One Cameroon tells me that there 'needs to be a bit of something you wouldn't expect in it'.

The broadcasters have rejected David Cameron’s offer of one seven-way debate before the start of the short campaign. Instead, they are sticking to their plan for two seven-way debates and one head to head between Cameron and Miliband in the short campaign. This means that the debates, certainly in terms of Cameron’s participation, are pretty much dead. Number 10 and CCHQ were insistent that their offer on Wednesday night was final. The Tories’ reason for not wanting to debate is simple: Cameron polls ahead of Miliband on leadership by such a margin that he would have to win the debate by a knock out for it to be worth his while.