Memo to the Tories: stop talking about being authentic, and just do it

Chestcarcker

and by going on about it, it begins to look that they didn't really believe he could be like that and that they were surprised by his performance! He was impressive though and I thought that because I didn't think he had it in him!!

Publius

"Not only do voters crave authenticity after years of spin"

God knows why you always have to use these ghastly marketing-speak terms. I suppose they make you sound modern and somehow scientific. What's wrong with the older, more grounded, terms that actually mean something -- honesty, decency, statesmanship?

Vulture

Dave is about as 'authentic' as a Bernie Madoff share option.

Every single thing he has done since becoming leader has been fake image building, pretending that this out-of-touch toff is a man of the people, and has smacked of the phony PR man that he is. Think about it:
> Cycling to work to cement his green credentials while his limo purred along behind.
> Travelling to Lapland to hug a huskie (or was it a hoodie? I get confused).
> Jetting off to Rwanda for a conference ( remind me what it was about again?) the day the country disappeared under flood waters.
> Bollocking on about openness while secretly manoevring to push his cronies into safe or winnable seats.
> Chuntering on abt cleaning up Parliament while doing nothing to discipline the troughers and cheats in his own clique (eg. Gove, Duncan and Maude).

Authenticity? Dave? Go on, your having a larf.
Back to the drawning board, boys.

Chris lancashire

Oh do give it a rest Vulture. What do you want? Cameron on his bike or Brown on his?

Pete Hoskin

Publius: the main reason I used "authenticity" (which I don't actually think is a "marketing-speak term") is because it's one half of the "authenticity vs artificiality" battleground that Paul Goodman set out over at ConHome, and to which I referred at the beginning of the post. Nothing wrong with that.

Simon Stephenson

"Not only do voters crave authenticity after years of spin, deception and malice on the part of politicians ... But, also, this election is specifically wired to expose inauthentic behaviour."

It's a nice thought, Peter, but not reality I'm afraid. Our entire culture is now formulated around the unreal, the inauthentic, and if the Conservatives think they're about to reap a dividend for eschewing spin and deception they're in cloud-cuckoo-land.

What happens now is that the masses no longer even attempt to judge the intrinsic quality of the product, or the message. It's difficult enough to judge when what you are being told is basically true, but with persuasion having become almost entirely dishonest and misleading it's been most people's decision not even to bother to try.

The fallback is only to believe what famous people tell you to believe, and only then if you reckon the famous person strikes the right chord with your mates. Never risk being seen to be out on a limb about anything.

Of course there are some people who crave authenticity, but regrettably for society's future they're a small minority. The rest wouldn't recognise it if it bit them in the leg.

Philip Walker

It's the old joke, isn't it. 'Sincerity is the key to success. Once you can fake that, you've got it made.'

Rhoda Klapp

The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made.

Jean Giraudoux (1882 - 1944)

strapworld

It has just hit me.

Cameron has turned the tories into the Liberal Democrats. Last week he was for taking on the vested interests....today he is going to carry on allowing the unions to take public money!!

Terrific photograph in the press yesterday of Gove on a NUJ Picket Line! what a wally,
and a hypocritical wally at that.

Vulture, again, is spot on. People may not like the truth. But Cameron has changed the Tory Party, they should now adopt the colours of Newton Heath!

Irene

What are you banging on about - he is doing it isn't he?

Colin Pritchard 1

Here is a headline from Conservative Home.

"On Saturday Cameron promised to tackle the vested interests (today we learn he may continue to subsidise them)"

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thetorydiary/2010/03/on-saturday-cameron-promised-to-tackle-the-vested-interests-today-we-learn-he-may-continue-to-subsid.html

God knows what it will be like if Dave does inherit the keys to No. 10. The Tories are a shambolic shower. Authentic??? I think not.

Blair, Brown, The Heir to Blair, what's the difference?

I'm with Peter Hitchens - vote for any party other than the Tories. Out of the ashes of defeat we can hope for a a truly conservative party to emerge. It will be painful but so will another 13 years of Bliarism or Heir to Bliarism.

part timer

Exactly right. They can't help briefing how clever they are. Almost every story is briefed as strategy. That said, the media is overwhelmingly concerned with the story behind the story. Watch any BBC report on eg a Cameron speech and we'll have 30 secs of Cameron and then Nick Robinson telling us what it means. The media needs to think hard about stripping back coverage to just the news and let people decide its importance.

Vulture

@ chris lancashire.

I am not saying that Bruin is better than Dave - clearly he is not, and everyone should vote accordingly.

What I'm saying is that Dave is a transparent fake and phoney, and for Tories to campaign on his 'authenticity' is not...ahem...very convincing. Are you seriously denying that this election will just be a choice between two evils?

Publius

@Mr Hoskin
Yes, I know that you picked up the silly word "authenticity" from elsewhere and merely echoed it.

You may not think "authenticity" is a silly marketing-speak term, but whether you think so or not, that is precisely what it is. It has crept into marketing-speak from the social sciences.

Tell you what, why don't you explain precisely what you yourself mean by "authentic"? Tell me how you yourself determine that a person is "authentic."

Don't you see that it is precisely because people like you allow yourselves to be made prisoner of these Newspeak terms that you are unable to see the reality beyond them? It infects all of your commentary.

Nicholas

The thing I find curious about the posters who attack Cameron so viciously here is how it invariably comes across more as personal dislike, possibly rooted in some past grievance, than any objective appraisal of the man or his policies. The other thing is how his PR is attacked in the shadow of the greatest lies/dishonesty/spin machine this country has ever experienced - New Labour.

And if Colin Pritchard believes a Tory defeat will lead to a re-born Conservative party that will eventually triumph he must have been asleep for 13 years. That seriously underestimates New Labour's guile and determination to stay in power by any means. It also seriously overestimates the wallys in the Conservative party machinery. After several years in the wilderness as New Labour completes its task of turning Britain into a one party, East German state , they will no doubt draw the conclusion that the party needs to modernise and embrace the centre ground - by which time there will be no centre ground.

This is great stuff for Brown. Propagandists, supposedly of the right, doing his work for him. Incrementally undermining and damaging the only prospect of getting Labour out by continuously focussing on Cameron's failings. In almost every thread we get the same posters writing the same attack lines against Cameron. And yet the people who do this often protest their hatred of Brown and New Labour.

More afraid of what Cameron will be like in No.10 than Brown - or Balls? Utterly ridiculous.

stephen

The phoney non airs and graces surrounding Dave is a real problem for the Tories! I am now even thinking David Davis would have been more effective for the Tories with his "what you see is what you get ambience".
Dave went to Eton and is forever trying to play things as a ordinary bloke. He is not but he should not try to hide it. British Electors hate humbug. Dave have lots of good qualities and should play to these who suit him well to be our next PM. He should stop listening to the lads in Boy's election bunker and stopping pretending to be what he is not.

Chris lancashire

As it happens yes I am Vulture. Cameron has done what he had to in order to give the Tories a broader appeal. I have a lot more faith in Cameron-led Tories restoring the nation's finances to some semblance of rationality than Brown, Balls, the Milibands(!) or Alastair whats-is name.
And economic stability comes before everything else because without it, none of the rest is possible.
Yes, Cameron has posed (Huskies, bikes, etc.) but necessary, I'm afraid, to persuade the 50% of the public who are brain dead and policy light.

Vulture

@chris lancashire, Nicholas

There's a very good example of what i'm talking abt over at ConHome today. Within a few hours of Dave vowing to take on vested interests - CCHQ has confirmed that a Tory Govt would continue the disastrous, taxpayer-funded union 'modernisation fund' under which we have effectively given the Unions a £25 million warchest to attack the Conservatives and fund Liebour election campaigns.

Now, you tell me. Is this an example of
a) brain dead idiocy
or
b) snivelling, chicken-hearted cowardice?

There doesn't appear to be another alternative. And the choice at the election is between Tweedledumbruin or Tweedledeedave. Not much of a choice IMO.

echo34

what was it tony blair did with the labour party in 97? He made them electable by appealing to the centre left/right whatever you call them. He took a lot of the tories wind out of their sails and convinced the middle classes that he was the way forward.

What happened after 1997? The old labour left policies were invoked in the background whilst Blair spun, went to war and convinced working people life wasn't so bad.

The old labour policies are now biting. The whole project was a wolf in sheeps' clothing.

That's how i think Dave is the heir to blair. He using the same MO. Appealing to as many people as possible.

It wouldn't surprise me if remarks similar to the Cameron knockers here appeared about Blair before the 1997 election.

Alexander Pelling

The most worrying thing about Cameron is his manifest admiration for Blair. Anybody who prized substance, sincerity, honesty or (if you prefer) authenticity would regard Blair as a Bad Thing.

No?

Ex-Tory voter

Nicholas, I don't dislike Cameron as a person - he comes across as a personable character - but what I do dislike is the fact he isn't a conservative (with big or small C). He strikes me as truly the Heir To Blair he claimed to be inasmuch as I think he's too fixated on floating voters and courting the liberal left. He has abandoned the core vote and that's why he's lost my trust, my confidence and my vote. I want him to tackle the mess 13 years of Labour has left the country in and that means tackling the EU, immigration, multiculturalism, political correctness, the plethora of laws and State interference in all aspects of our life. So far he doesn't seem to be up for that. Repealing the useless Hunting Act is a start, but it's nowhere near enough.

Nicholas

Vulture - you are completely missing the point. There is a difference because your scathing appraisal of Cameron seriously underestimates the evil that is New Labour.

Do you really think the Conservatives would be sensible to fire that particular shot across Unite's bow BEFORE the election? Your grasp of strategy seems to be a little naive if you think it is best to take on the vested interests in specific commitments before acquiring the power to do so. That seriously underestimates New Labour's capability to twist and distort the truth, aided by their chums in the BBC and MSM, which is well proven. Cameron is walking a tightrope because essentially the establishment in this country, the public narrative, is bolshevik. The vast machinery of "public opinion" (the manufactured sort) and the media are waiting to pounce on him - not Brown. This whingeing country has a collective chip on its shoulder which New Labour and their chums have nurtured and exploited.

Those who keep up this facile drivel about both parties being the same are ultimately letting New Labour off the hook. They may as well go the whole hog and join the Labour party. A

Martyn Rowe

Cameron is impressive; very fluent and articulate.

But I dislike the plain white shirt/sleeves rolled up look - it is very photocopier repair-man.

He needs to get a trendier shirt.

Verity

Blair is mentoring Cameron - of that I am certain. In fact, Cameron is actually morphing into Blair.

And how very handy for Tony Blair, who is loathed by everyone in his own party. Yet a man of diverse business interests needs a largeish political favour every now and then and it is unthinkable that such would be granted by Brown, Straw et Cie. No love lost, to put it at its mildest.

So he and Dave are new old muckers, and Blair will advise Dave on what to say and how to act to get elected, and Dave can be counted on to return the favour of Tone's wise counsel when Tone needs something engineered to smooth his path to billionaireship.

Chris lancashire

Vulture: It's c) Good politics.
Nicholas provides an expansion on the above.

Vulture

@chris lancashire, Nicholas

I can only conclude that you are both paid members of Team Dave who can see no wrong in anything the Dear Bleeder says or does, however daft, shallow or sinister.

IT might be sensible politics to keep quiet about what you intend to do before you come to power lest the Nu Liebour jackals pounce on and distort it in their mendacious way.

It is certainly NOT sensible politics to publicly announce before the election that you are going to go on using taxpayers' money to fund your party's mortal enemies.
That is akin to announcing to Hitler just before the Battle of Britain that you are out of Spitfires.

It will a) demoralise if not disgust your own supporters ( and this and every other Tory blog is full as such folk as you must admit - for every bleating liberal that Dave has attracted, he has alienated three Tories) b) encourage your enemies and c) tie you to an insane policy or risk being accused of breaking your promises.

It is the politics of appeasment, Vichy and the madhouse rolled into one. Only Dave, the creepy Baldermort Hilton ( who has never voted Tory ) and his amen corner of Coffee Housers could pretend otherwise.

What will you say if, having thus abased himself and turned into a socialist, Dave STILL does not manage to win?

2trueblue

Nicholas, you are absolutely right. It is very easy to attack the individual and miss the point. If Liebore manage to hang on to power we are well and truely stuffed.

The UK will be destroyed and there will be nothing left of our democracy, absolutely nothing. That is what will happen if people do not see the true picture, it is the party and not just the man that we vote for.

In this instance Liebore are playing the electorate well and with its friends in the BBC they are playing the man.
Follow at you peril. Who the hell cares what shirt he wears, where he parts his hair, etc. Can he deliver? We have had 13yrs of NO DELIVERY, just words, initiatives, and more initiatives. I am too old to wait. Focus on the solution and think. It is not Liebore/Brown/Balls/Mandy/Harman/2Millies etc.

Nicholas

Vulture, no I am not a paid up member of "Team Dave" and I have posted my share of reservations about him. But I have more reservations about the Brown gang and have had quite enough of Labour governments in all their guises, including the pretend centre-ground one that calls itself New Labour (do they still?), that I don't believe I could endure 5 more years of one. I'd support Clegg if I thought he was in with a better chance of ousting Brown.

Cameron bears a huge responsibility and rather than the heir to Blair he is the heir to some pretty useless Tory leaders who managed to stuff up their election chances by leaving themselves exposed to the kind of anti-Tory cant that seems to resonate in Britain. My suspicion is that a majority of Brits plan to vote Tory but keep it secret because of the bolshy "public narrative" we all have to live with - the risk of being villified as "right wing" by the vociferous left wing minority that holds the power.