Tory PR on the eve of Cameron's speech: gaffe or master stroke?

Was it an incredible gaffe or a spectacular PR coup for the Tories to reveal today that former army chief, General SIr Richard Dannatt, was being signed up for a position within the party as soon as he retires in November (HERE)?

Whatever the intention, not a single line from any of the speeches at todays party conference by shadow cabinet ministers Richerd Graylng, Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt made it on to BBC Television's 10 o'clock News - the first twelve minutes of which (i.e. about 50% of the news bulletin) were entirely taken up with the Dannatt story.

Were the Tories, I wonder, delirious or despondent that the news of what had been said during the day's proceedings that was broadcast to to the mass television audience was 'nothing'? And were they equally happy to be seen to be recruiting a serving military leader because he's been critical of the way our civilian leaders (i.e. the elected government) have been handling the war effort.

PR leaks about Cameron's speech tomorrow
At the same time, the Tories have leaked some of the words (e.g. 'painful' and 'tough') that David Cameron will be using in his speech tomorrow.

And, according to Nick Robinson, the BBC's political editor, they've also given advance notice that he's got some biblical metaphors about climbing up mountains up his sleeve- which, though obviously borrowed from Martin Luther King and/or Barack Obama, have not so far been attributed to them in the advance press release.

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