Was this Cameron's 'essay crisis' manifesto?

A funny thing happened on the way to the election. High profile policy pledges which David Cameron has recently projected to key progressive constituencies as proof that his party had changed did not make it into the election manifesto which he published today.

I blog at Left Foot Forward about "the mystery of the missing manifesto commitments" on fair pay in the public sector and gay rights.

The overall pattern creates the possibility that, in his fifth year as party leader, this may have been something of an “essay crisis manifesto” for David Cameron.

Was progressive Conservative policy on pay and gay rights being made on the hoof for media purposes even as and after the manifesto had been completed and was being printed in order to have something shiny and new to offer Guardian and Pink News readers?

... the mystery of the missing manifesto commitments does suggest that he was scrambling for ways to re-establish his ProgCon credentials well into injury time.