We can argue all day and night (for five years or so) about the failings of the last Labour government. Many people on the right shudder at the prospect of a new 'old' Labour getting in at the next election after the mess in which they left the country last time and now with added union power pulling the strings: More here.
The financial disaster they oversaw; black holes in defense spending, failed IT projects, cover-ups of NHS neglect that led to thousands of unnecessary deaths, falling educational standards, completely uncontrolled immigration.
The growth of the welfare-dependent client state, selling off our gold reserves for a song, raiding the pension funds; the proliferation of mind-bogglingly stupid PFI contracts which mean paying for infrastructure and capital projects will cost ten times what they should have done and which were entered into, on the 'never never' when the economy was booming. Taking us into an unwinnable war on completely bogus evidence...
Dave has been trying to address many of these major problems and he has made some vital progress in many areas particularly in education and the welfare state where the problems are massive; were considered 'too difficult' by Labour last time, but need to be solved if we're to have any prospect of a prosperous future. The economy is turning a corner, jobs are being created and there continues to be fall-out from Labour incompetence on bank regulation, electoral scandals in Falkirk, NHS failings, the Co-op bank and, pretty much universal acceptance that Ed Balls' economic competence is non-existant.
Dave should be miles ahead in the polls, looking forward to ditching the woeful Lib Dems and taking the country forward on a sound footing for the first time since Maggie was at the helm. The polls suggest that a majority don't see Ed Miliband as a competent Prime Minister, don't trust Balls to run a whelk stall.. and yet.
The polls also suggest strongly that Labour will almost certainly win a majority at the next election. How is that even possible?
If you're of the opinion that there's no such thing as bad publicity, ask Gerald Ratner about it sometime.
I have opined, here, that the current poll ratings of the parties in the UK are quite mad given all of the above: Labour incompetence leaving a massive mess and Dave starting to clear it up.
But, it seems to me, it's not just about achievements and making progress any more. Doing the right thing for the country. It's about tribalism, about what you as an individual are likely to get out of whichever party, rather than anyone taking a wider view of the good of the country. I think that's an unutterebly sad state of affairs but when our politicians of all shades of the political spectrum seem to be in it for their own gain; have a 'fuck you' attitude, it's hardly surprising that most of the population take the same self-interested view of the world.
Most importantly - and here's the 'thing' - it's about vision, reputation or (to use a marketing term) 'brand identity'.
In today's 24-hour media society it's no longer about achievement or reality, but about spin and about perception. And sadly for Dave, he has not sufficiently addressed the perception that the Tories are 'the Nasty Party'.
So it doesn't really matter what great things he does if they don't add up to shaking off that epithet. Clearly Labour will continue to push the phrase for as long as they can (forever presumably while it still gains some traction) and until Dave or future Tory party leaders get to the point where they've debunked the concept, proved it to be invalid, it will continue to haunt them, probably fatally.
The way to achieve this is no longer just about improving people's lives and winning the argument through deeds. When the perception is so deep-seated (and latched onto at every opportunity by Labour supporters) it needs a much more concentrated effort in order to turn the situation around.
In short, it needs a clear, coherent vision: one which underlines every aspect of this government's achievements, one which effectively blows the old 'nasty party' tag off the agenda for good.
So fannying (technical term) around with half-baked slogans like 'in it together', 'the big society', 'aspiration nation', 'localism', 'hard working people', but not sticking to any one of them; making it the 'vision', the 'big idea', doesn't just fail to do the job, it actually adds to the confusion and makes you look like you don't have any real conviction. More here. And a more detailed look at the value of vision here.
I'm not suggesting that spinning rather than doing is the right approach - Labour did that with disastrous consequences for the country.
The terrifying trouble is, that their approach seems to be working better than Dave's.
Thanks for reading
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