Following their failure achieve third place in the 2005 General Election, the Conservatives under the leadership of David Cameron have announced they intend to be in a position to achieve this next time around. [See Story]

“The problem is, in the last election – whilst we were committed to finishing third with the voters, we didn't come across to the voters as a third placed political party.” David Cameron explained to the journalists, accounting for their previous failure to achieve this target, “This time however, we are not only committed to this outcome, we are prepared to progress the party to how the voting public perceive a third placed party.”

Cameron went on to unveil a new Conservative website, LibDems4Cameron – which he says demonstrates how the Conservative party is adapting itself to appeal to Lib Dem values. He explained this would be essential in the nextelection campaign, but failed to address how they would fit in after the election.

Reactions to the new Conservative initiative have mostly been as expected, in the form of ridicule, parody and hours and hour of rolling around on the floor in laughter. However, there were a few exceptions.

Boris Johnson, the Conservative Shadow Minister for Higher Education, has launched his own campaign – LibDems4Boris.

Meanwhile, political spectator Keith Wilson claimed he 'sort of understood' the Conservative's new strategy.

“When Labour won in 1997 they succeeded by duplicating Conservative values at a time the Conservatives were unpopular meaning that they took their place in Government. Three terms later, roles reversed – Labour are unpopular so the Conservatives are taking the opportunity to duplicate the party that is not in power. Hang on, I really don't get this at all... they really are trying to finish third.”

The question on everyone's lips was whether or not Cameron felt that Liberal Democrat voters were gullible enough to believe the Tories would actually deliver on their Lib-Dem style promises. Cameron was unusually candid:

“Well I really don't think that warrants an answer – after all, they believed Charles Kennedy would get them elected.”