Tories off to flying start to 2010

Most days from now until polling day ConHome will be publishing an end-of-day bullet point guide to the key General Election themes. We start the briefing with the key stories from the first three days of 'Campaign 2010':

Heading for a Conservative majority of 48+. The first ConservativeHome Poll of Polls of the year suggests that the Tories could win a Commons majority of at least 48.

Year for Change: CCHQ blitzed newspapers and online media with the Year for Change message from the very first minutes of 2010. Some complained that the adverts did not even say that they were from the Conservatives but Tory strategists said they were a teaser for the campaign to come and framed the election as a vote for change or more of the same.

Where's the Tory beef? James Forsyth claimed that George Osborne was advising the Tory campaign to offer more earthy, "retail" policies while Steve Hilton, Cameron's chief strategist, recommends big picture, blue sky vision. In the first 72 hours blue sky vision has been dominant and Fraser Nelson coined the best soundbite of the campaign so far; attacking David Cameron's new year speech as containing as much beef as a vegan sandwich. Stephan Shakespeare came to the Conservative leader's aid, arguing that the decentralisation agenda was truly radical.

Wooing the Liberal Democrats: Both Lord Adonis in The Sunday Times for Labour and David Cameron for the Conservatives made appeals to Liberal Democrat voters. David Cameron promised a place for the Labour and LD leaders in a war cabinet should he become Prime Minister. Warning that a hung parliament could make it hard to agree on difficult budgetary decisions, Ken Clarke signalled the possibility that Conservatives will attempt to scare wavering voters away from voting for the Liberal Democrats.

 Will the Tories increase VAT? Ken Clarke refused to rule out an increase in VAT to 20%. Cameron told the Mail on Sunday that Whitehall needed a "haircut".

Gordon Brown appeared on Andrew Marr and said his attacks on Eton had been a joke. Watch him here.

Tories will launch NHS chapter of manifesto tomorrow. For those wanting more "beef", there will be a promise to tilt resources to poorer communities. Nearly every Tory MP will be on the campaign trail taking CCHQ's talking points to the top target seats.

Tim Montgomerie