Peter Mandelson is a clever chap and it was not a bad idea when, in the run-up to the Budget, he told Brown and Darling to start saying "I'm very Optimistic" on all occasions. Brown gave this its first airing when smiling grotesquely as he "relished the prospect" of the upcoming TV debates.
But then Peter had a second good idea, which was to pull a Long Face and stress how fragile is the recovery. And Lo! since it's best not to try to combine both faces at once, Brown commences the campaign with strict instructions to stay with the long one. He finds it easier anyway.
Which is kinda convenient as it leaves the Optimism field wide open for the Tories. They are beaming at every opportunity, and why not indeed, because at last they have found a really simple mantra that is working immediately and brilliantly: we're going to scrap the tax on jobs (boy, those last 3 words echo easily around every studio don't they ?) and we're optimistic that waste can be found to fund it.
This one will run and run. In the face of a really frustrating series of opening skirmishes for Labour, it's more than ever likely they will hatch some really monstrous lie, a la "Tories to scrap state pension" of 1997. But whereas Blair had huge capital with the media with which to invest in this lie, Brown has almost none. That staged Long Face will quickly become a real one. Which is the start of a jolly amusing death-spiral, since he'll have a hard job disappearing from public view any time soon.
Optimism all round, I'd say.
ND
7 comments:
Nick, I can't understand why the Beeb keep saying that this is the closest election in years.
Who says so?
And was The Orange Liar asked to come back by Mandelson or Brown?
why the Beeb keep saying ...
meeja love a close contest, Scrobs
also, to be fair, Newsnight yesterday did a good piece on why the System is stacked against the Tories. (Paxo roughed up wee Dougie Alexander as well, which was fun)
but you and I remember 1979, don't we ? even if Brown is hoping for 1992 (I did a post on this in Oct '08)
I wonder how long Brown can keep that fake smile going for. I'm sure it will slip at some point.
The fuel escalator is starting to play again. Highest petrol prices ever!
Gordon's excessive taxing of the motorist for a decade may just be about to bite him.
Brown's "tax on jobs" will play well, as do the poster reminders about his gold sales and pension raiding.
Cameron is vulnerable on the Tories ludicrous claim to be "in the EU, but not run by the EU". But that applies to Labour and LibDems as well.
Then there is the AGW scam that the LabLibCons have fallen for.
No cause for optimism.
If there was an option of
'A N Other' / 'A N Other Party'
on the ballot, I have the feeling that that person / party would end up with a good few thousand votes.
Almost worth £500 to find out.
Unlike previous elections, where the incumbents lost as the public voted against them, we are in the position of wanting to vote against them all.
The question is who is going to be voted against the least?
All the media is focusing on positives, but all the parties will be focusing on the others negatives to an unusual degree, and for good reason.
The photos of Cameron addressing a crowd of people with the Houses of Parliament across the river as the backdrop contrast sharply with Party Leader and politburo outside the Executive's offices at 10 Downing Street, don't they.
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