I have just listened to a livid man on LBC Radio ranting about how he voted Conservative for the first time because he detests all that Jeremy Corbyn stands for. He was obviously emotional in his anger which was aimed at both Teresa May and Jeremy Corbyn.
May was a target because she failed in his eyes. Truth is she failed in everyone’s eyes. The election turnaround was incredible. In six weeks she went from glued-on certainty to increase her majority to untouchable levels, to a slow motion car crash who was floundering out of her depth. I almost felt sorry for her. Then I remembered the cuts affecting the poor, sick needy and elderly and the tax bonuses for the wealthy and my sympathy faded faster than Boris Johnson’s dignity.
Fooled?
I think perhaps there was either a lack of real awareness about that caller or his myopia-inducing anger caused him to be disingenuous enough to state that such a large section of the public has been “fooled” by Labour and Jeremy Corbyn. Fooled by what Corbyn was promising. Fooled by the “sweets” offered to pensioners. The NHS. The Students. The sick. The common man. Corbyn had masterfully engineered a manifesto full of traps for the unsuspecting gullible voters. Palpable nonsense.
I would offer three simple factors based on my decades of active interest and observations in politics.
1. Preference for the Status Quo
A large section of the electorate in UK are conservative in the true sense of the word, where:
- ‘charity begins at home’,
- ‘every englishman’s home is his castle’ and
- ‘look after number one’
all preside in both psyche and stance. They will ‘conserve’ the status quo. The boat is never to be rocked – at least not until the above mantras are threatened by a failing system that threatens their status.
May made many mistakes in her campaign. Most were all too obvious and damaging. The U-turns. The lack of cohesive message. The inability to debate. The inability to face anyone other than a hand-picked audience of her supporters. The delay in publishing a manifesto. The eventual manifesto being full of pain and no hope. The “Strong and Stable” PR mantra was spotted immediately by media-savvy journalists and public alike and dealt with using all the mirth and ridicule it deserved.
PR works in many ways but two important factors:
Strengthening a belief
PR is effective in endorsing a belief we already have or suspect. In the case of Teresa May’s campaign the sudden use of the “Strong and Stable” mantra in all interviews, media releases, talk programmes and news stations by all senior conservatives was not only blindingly unsubtle but obviously untrue. It was exposed by the twitterati within five minutes of launch. Teresa May has never, at any point in my memory, appeared strong or stable. I don’t like the woman but I don’t think that fact informs my view that she has achieved little, if anything, as a politician, other than get elected as leader of the Conservative party as the best of a bad bunch.
I was no fan of Thatcher but she achieved things. I may not have liked most of them but she achieved much of what she set out to do. She was strong on leadership. The mantra may well have suited Thatcher but Teresa May achieved nothing as Home Secretary. She failed to hit immigration targets at any point in six years. The EU cannot be blamed as there were more immigrants from non-EU countries during that period and no system to count them in or out. Nothing. We don’t know who came in during that period and we certainly don’t have any record of those who, to this day, have overstayed their visas. The opposition mantra became Strong and stable my arse. The woman crumbled when interviewed and became a masterclass in not answering a straight question. While that is a skill, it is not one that is admirable in a politician. People appreciate honesty and know when wool is being pulled below the brow
Undermining
A good PR campaign can undermine anything if targeted well. Everyone always thinks that yes, strong media controls and PR soundbites can steer the public view, but just as firmly everyone believes that they, personally, are not fooled. Even when they parrot the phrases exactly as the PR company phrased it. They think it is merely coincidence that their views coincide precisely with the soundbite; “He’s not a leader“. I have questioned friends who told me they believed Corbyn was not a leader and that they had formed that opinion themselves, “If your opinion has not been externally formed please cite an instance of Corbyn’s lack of leadership“. Some cited the internal squabble at Labour. I was quick to point out that every party in transition has a power struggle. The one with leadership qualities emerges eventually. Corbyn won the Labour leadership battle comfortably.
Any advertising man or copywriter will tell you when a PR mantra is challenged or pointed out like the emperors new clothes it is done. It’s potency has tipped and on it’s way back down to obscurity. The public saw through it but the PR machine was so married to the phrase that they made the mistake of pressing it home. Not only flogging a dead horse but thrashing the greasy spot where the dead horse once lay.
2. Social Media
The greatest thing to come from this election is the recognition of press and media mendacity. The Mail and the Express have joined the Sun in being recognised as propaganda sheets rather than purveyors of actual news or journalism. Good for sport but widely recognised by the public as unreliable, biased and in some cases, outright liars.
Their halcyon days of being seen as the voice of middle Britain are gone. Joe Public knows Paul Dacre dines with Tory grandees and knows that the papers’ owners are based in sunnier climes enjoying “tax efficiencies” and dodging inclement weather.
Social Media and Citizen Journalism is where I turn for breaking news. People share views and cite sources of new information on any given subject. There are literally tens of thousands of pages on any given subject ranging from the outright lunatic to the absolutely on-the-button political journals and, in the case of twitter, sparks of genius insight from people who may never write again. We are taking the media back.
As the current older generation walk off hand in hand towards the sunset of life the old media paradigm of printed press newspapers blows along beside them in the breeze. The world is now on the internet. The game has changed. Let’s make sure we protect this freedom.
3. People who care for people
I have friends who are artists, authors, award winning writers and high achievers in various industries. Friends who are erudite and not propaganda fodder for any PR spin from either side of our political divide. Friends who know what Nick Robinson is doing when he cuts answers short or when Jeremy Paxman harangues politicians from either side of a debate. We are not fools and we are too long in the tooth to be fooled. I have an acquaintance who has been an economist his whole life and only recently turned to Labour because his education and more importantly, his experience told him the sums add up and that the only major country to still be at our levels of austerity is ourselves, the United Kingdom with no end in sight. Indeed, the current government has warned us of more “Difficult decisions” i.e. austerity cuts if we let them get away with it.
Some of the sharpest minds in modern Britain are Labour supporters. It is an insult to their intelligence, and ours, to suggest that they have been fooled.
Most of the people I know who voted for Corbyn’s labour are not only socially and politically aware but also possessing a high level of empathy and care for others. I think that factor has been missed by commentators. Not everything is about tax rates. Some of us are happy to pay more to see children cared for. Pensioners not wracked by fear of cold or hunger. Nurses smiling because they are happy and not just because they care. Responding police. Responding Fire Services. Education for all. We need to start smiling at each other in the streets. Revel in variety instead of fearing it.
Summary
That’s the stuff that Conservative strategists, Mrs May, the press and Mr Angry Caller all missed by a country mile!
Moving Along Nicely 
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