LONDON - Britain's political parties are preparing for the 2015 election by erasing evidence of past policy commitments - some from as recently as last year.
Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party confirmed a magazine report this week that it had removed from its website speeches that predated the party taking power in 2010, as well as placing markers on its site asking search engines to remove these from their archives.
The opposition Labour Party has eliminated all news items from before Ed Miliband was elected its leader in September 2010 from its website.
Both these are outdone by the Uk Independence Party, which has no record of any speeches made before March this year. The earliest news item is leader Nigel Farage's New Year 2013 message.
In one of the few references to 2012 remaining on the site, Farage heralded a "remarkable year" for his party.
UKIP spokesman Michael Heaver confirmed that the party's 2010 election manifesto had been removed. While the party now opposes the planned high-speed north-south rail line, the 2010 document advocated building three new routes.
"We’re in the process of updating everything," Heaver said by telephone. "We’re going through a policy review."
Only the Liberal Democrats, the junior partner in the governing coalition, admit the existence of a time before 2010 on their website. There, speeches date back to 2008, and the party’s 2010 election platform is still available.