In our media-driven politics, perceptions matter so much — too much.
So Nick Clegg’s repeated self-distancing from Gordon Brown will not be seen in the electorate at large as a nuanced point about the share of the vote: it will be seen as a further closening between Clegg and David Cameron’s Tories. This may be just what Clegg wants, of course, as he seeks to stave off the Tories in Middle England.
I spent part of the weekend in Winchester, a tightly marginal seat being hotly contested by the occupants — the Lib Dems — and the Conservatives. I spoke to a number of voters who were intelligently part of “Cleggmania”. However, one floating voter to whom I spoke this morning said bluntly that she had given up on Clegg, “now he has said he will join with the Tories”.
Now, he hasn’t quite said that (and I still think it’s inconceivable, given the two parties’ diametrically opposed values on areas of crucial national and international importance), but one look at the media, and it is clear that that is the perception conveyed by the headlines.
It may or may not be true, as Douglas Alexander said this morning, that Clegg has become “intoxicated” by the publicity he has received. But there are floating voters out there, not to mention Lib Dems, who would like him to revert to silence on the question of a hung parliament.
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