UK Politics
Tactical Briefing
Published 05 June 2008
From: The Unit
To: GB
Subject: Going for broke
So, pretty good week. A few reports out there that we've hit our lowest poll rating since records began, but not sure this really hurts us. I think most people already assumed that we were at our lowest poll rating since records began - so the news that we have only just hit it feels, in a weird way, maybe, like a small inverse bump?
Think we are now at an absolutely critical juncture, and the big danger for the party is that you heed the advice from the broadsheet commentators and in some way suddenly "go for broke".
Of course we can all see it would be incredibly exciting to suddenly do what we really want to do. But in our view, trusting our so-called "instincts" would be a disaster. Every fibre in our bodies over here at The Unit says, "No, don't trust our instincts - that way lies disaster. And also, very likely, what we think we want to do isn't actually what we want to do and probably wouldn't work anyway."
Tactically speaking, coming out now and suddenly "doing what we think is right" also presents massive presentational problems, because it strongly suggests that we haven't believed in what we've been doing over the past 11 years. Which, while not necessarily totally untrue, is politically very hard to manage. It's like Harriet on Today the other week - interjecting after one question that her answer wasn't just another thing she was saying, but that she actually believed it. Which sounded good, but did rather undermine everything she's ever said previously, and everything she will ever say subsequently, not reinforced by this "truth guarantee clause".
An additional problem with "going for broke" would be deciding what we do basically believe. I mean, we know, obviously. But it's not as simple as that. It used to be that we believed in taxing the shit out of everyone but mainly the rich, and giving the resultant goodies to the poor and other lovely enterprises like hospitals, schools, trains, etc. I guess we still believe in the latter, but the former we somewhat believe in but also very much don't believe in. Would you say that's a fair summary of our position?
We used to be the party of Tax and Spend. But we have painfully redefined our position to become the much more appealing (although much less popular) Party of Spend. Would be lunacy to throw away this hard-earned position.
So our strong advice is: now is not the time to suddenly "do the right thing". We need to have the courage of our convictions. If it was right to do the wrong thing yesterday, it should be right to do the wrong thing today. And if we suddenly start doing the right thing (which might well not really be the right thing), we run the risk of losing all credibility.
Let us know your thoughts.
Post this article to
We want to encourage people to comment on our content and to exchange views with other readers and hope this will be done on a courteous basis. However, if you encounter posts which are offensive please let us know by emailing comments@newstatesman.co.uk and we will take swift action where necessary.
