Winning a bet may be the best it’s going to get for Rishi Sunak and his team

When even Angela Rayner remains relentlessly on message, you know the election is in the bag

You win some, you lose some. This week, both Labour and the Tories will reckon they've struck lucky with the timings of their manifesto launches - though for very different reasons.

It's always hard to know which is the best launch slot. To go first and set the agenda, with the anxiety that everyone will have soon forgotten what you are about. Or to go late and risk your manifesto lingering in the memory for all the wrong reasons. This year, both the main parties - if the Tories can still be called that - will reckon they judged it perfectly.