How do you snare a spin doctor?

Verity

"...(hoodie hugging, huskie-riding etc ...")

Husky-riding? I must have missed that. I'll bet it was a treat for sore eyes.

Rhoda Klapp

Tell you what, millions of peo-ple are expected, required, to make similar sacrifices for a lot less money and no acknowledgement at all. So spare us. And, get a grip. There will be a queue a mile long to do this job. And every person in it will be a tosser.

Peter From Maidstone

I don't understand. The communication coming from No. 10 is NONEXISTENT. There is nothing said of any value to any citizen of the British Isles.

Perhaps there is a lot of material being sent to newspapers, lots of sucking up to the BBC, who knows. But there is no communication with US. The Electorate. The one's that Cameron is supposed to serve.

So how does it matter to most of us who takes this job. It is an irrelevance. If a marriage is destroyed because of it then it is all for nothing at all.

We don't care about spin. We don't believe spin. We know that we are being lied to 24/7/365. Why should we applaud the man who is going to try to lie to us more successfully than the last one.

This is Westminster bubble stuff.

Start telling the truth and we will listen.

yank

"So, who’s next after Andy Coulson? The question is one of the most important issues facing David Cameron and the future of his government."

.

This is not serious commentary, and borders on the blind and farcical, to include Hollywood reference.

Take some time away. Go out and do something. You're trapped, and it's painful to watch.

Nick

I must say I have thought the media message coming from the Tories both before the election and now has been remarkably poor.

It doesn't help that so many of the front bench spokesmen are poor public performers but Andy Coulson must share some of the blame for not ensuring that Tory MPs can't explain policy in a logical and persuasive manner.

Alex

Plenty of us have to make similar "sacrifices". So do our wives. We stay married.

Fraser Nelson

Rhoda, as someone currently listed by Ladbrokes as 20-1 I take exception to your categorisation of the likely candidates...

Naomi Muse

With your new family you're not tempted to try the poison challace, then, Fraser? I am glad if you don't. You're better for the Spectator.

strapworld

If Cameron were to appoint Richard Littlejohn or Quentin Letts I may have a little confidence in him. I do believe they are more tuned in to the people.

I also think Nick Watts of the Guardian is a fair minded honest journalist and would do the job well. As would Joey Jones of SkyNews.

But after listening to Fraser Nelson-on Skynews- it is obvious who wants the job.

But Cameron will probably go for someone from his neck of the woods. Someone who has no idea whatsoever of what ordinary voters think. Step forward Polly Toynbee.

Nick Wood

24-7-365??? Shouldn't that be 24-7-52?

oldtimer

There will be no shortage of applicants - there never is. The more pressing question is whether any of them will be up to the job.

As others have said - being on call more or less 24/7 is not unique to the No 10 press office, or politicians.

Andre

24-7-365??? Shouldn't that be 24-7-52? What about Leap Years?

Verity

I think it was partly due to his being called "Andy". It makes him sound as though he regards himself as a lightweight. People of that age should employ a little formality and gravitas if they want people to take them seriously.

On the other hand, he was no good.

Jupiter

To everybody in the media, listen up chaps, nobody in the real world cares who the PM's spin doctor is.

It doesn't add up...

Pay them more than the PM?

se1man

Meaningless comparison with the West Wing.

Leo was Chief of Staff - i.e. managing the entire White House operation as well as being 1st counsel to the President.

We're talking about a communications role here - a spin doctor.

It's not at all the same thing. Unless managing the spin has become more important than managing the entire operation...

Fraser Nelson

Nick Wood & Andre, 24-7-365 is a reference to the Percy Sledge song of the same name. It's a great wee tune. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMXyoFyCKKc

Verity

Jupiter and Se1man - Good points. No 10, take note.

Holly ......

PfM.
Back in the day,BEFORE 24/7 news,and most MP's did not make you as physically sick as they do today,Prime Ministers and MP'spoke to the electorate when they had something of relevance to say.
Droning on about a communication bod who has resigned is not going to make a bit of difference to the average voter's life.
Politics by media is why we have had a decade of so many unfit,unsuitable and vile people governing us.
David Cameron made it clear he was not going to do headline politics and so far so good.
He is not there to defend Coulson,why he hired him or why he has gone,he is there and paid to run the country,we should not need a play by play.
When this all plays out and no charges are bought,will we take any notice?
The media line is 'Cameron's judgement'.Why is that?
DC was told by Coulson he had no part in the hacking,should DC have called him a liar,or doubted his word?
Where we there when Coulson told him this?
It is one man taking another man at his word. Trust.
Nothing up to now has proven Coulson's word is dodgy or that DC was wrong to take him at his word.
Let Labour be the ones who continue this tacky practice,I find it degrading to the positions they hold and has dragged British politics down to sewer levels on a daily basis.
Meanwhile,Alan Johnson is left clearing up the wreckage caused by the hand grenade,
thrown by his own side.
We have a decent bloke in No 10 and should be glad we have,at last,got rid of the hand grenade lobbers,who can now get on with what they do best,smear their own side for their own gain.To them NOTHING else matters.
You may feel you want to know what DC is thinking,planning etc,which is fair enough when we are so used to that kind of politics
Me personally,I would prefer DC to face the camera's with a clear head and a clear plan.
We can then decide to agree or disagree with a rational statement,not the dross rubbish we are getting at the moment.
DC is being a far better PM staying away from the TV headlines,than the tacky bods
questioning Cameron's judgement.
Who is judging them and their headline for the sake of a headline politics,we grew so tired of,because that is all they were...A headline.Hollow of substance when you came to read the detail.

Simon Stephenson

Peter from Maidstone : 4.23pm

"I don't understand. The communication coming from No. 10 is NONEXISTENT. There is nothing said of any value to any citizen of the British Isles."

I think you're making a mistake here. You're confusing the lack of substantial comment with a lack of comment, full stop.

As far as I can see, the job of a modern spin-doctor is to put political communications through a processor so that what comes out is something that:-

(a) is completely ungrippable by anyone seeking a political dialogue - totally depoliticised - a series of unarguable assertions that commit to precisely nothing.

and

(b) is soothing mood-music to the millions who are not looking for political engagement, but are still influenced by the sort of reassuring waffle that helped ease their anxieties as children.

Norman Dee

Holly, I would love to know what Cameron is doing because he is so far from the pre election promises made to be out of sight, last seen kissing arse in Europe

TGF UKIP

Of course Rhoda's bang on Fraser, and you're just as bad as any of the other London Village tossers.

As for your post, I assume it's just a forlorn attempt to get us to feel sorry for you when you obtain what your Camerluvvie Speccie editorship has been so obviously bent on engineering.

Won't work, though.

Victor Southern

It is hard to see what good the two special advisors Coulson and Hilton have done for the party or for David Cameron. Certainly the Labour spin doctors get their principals more and better press exposure.
I am not sure that surrounded by these two plus Letwin, Willetts and Maude it is possible to see the world or the country in accurate context.

There are some pretty smart people around who are Conservatives - practical men and women. They might make a better advisory team.

Does Hilton still spend most of his time in the USA? He is certainly hugely influenced by things American. His pre-election strategy bulletins referred non-stop to USA politicians, initiatives and affairs.

The only good thing to emerge from this resignation is that he and Coulson will no longer have to duel with each other for influence.

David Ossitt

Apart from all of the wonks who work in the media, does anyone else give a shit?

Paddy

Holly: I agree with what you say but I'm afraid the world has changed.....especially since the Labour party trashed the nation and everything we hold dear.

I didn't know students got paid "expenses" for going to University.

I think you would be a very good choice Fraser. Just what David Cameron needs.

I would sleep much more soundly at night knowing you were advising him.

Noa.

Fraser.

Why on earth would you want to give up your current position of real power and influence to take on the role of eminence grease to the current transient occupant at No 10?

Or have you got a piece of that 20 to 1 action?

And will Pete Hoskins and Dave Blackburn be forced to go with you?

Holly ......

Norman Dee.6.58.
I would much rather have Cameron 'kissing arse' in Europe,than backstabbing/smear campaigns in Britain.
Ask Alan Johnson which he'd prefer.

Paddy.7.45.
The world may have changed and the Labour party trashed our nation,but that does not mean Cameron has to do the same.
The past 24 hours has shown the British public the personal characters of Cameron and Miliband.
One is strong and does not need to 'play to the media'.
The other is weak,and thinks being on the telly all the time is all he has to do.
The reality will hit when questions are asked.The weak telly addicts may not like what they hear.
Balls for one has a lot of questions to ask Osborne,he is the one who will be 'outed' as useless,unfit and out of his 'comfort zone'.
Miliband has already failed to impress.
Let's see how loyal Balls is to Ed,compared to Cameron to Coulson.
I certainly know who's character I prefer.
WITHOUT news interviews.

EC

Snare? Until Andy Coulson picks up Jonathan Aitken's "Sword of Truth" and sues someone then shouldn't the electorate assume that he was the architect of his own downfall?

TGF UKIP

Nick at 4.36 pm makes the most apposite comment of all. The Cameron Tories were, are, and will continue to be, crap at political communication - confused message by poor communicators.

Indeed, one of the many reasons, pre-election, why I thought they would prove to be a failure in government was because of their lamentable performance in opposition and because almost to a man they were and are such poor media performers when compared with their Labour counterparts. Since May, they have just been proving me correct.

agkamya

Can somebody please explain to me what it is with British Conservatives being so enamored with a show as left-wing as The West Wing? [Iain Dale used to worship WW over on his blog.] Is this partly what is wrong with Cameroonism?

Tiberius

Although it appears less frequently these days, I see TGF's Through the Looking Glass interpretation of Cameron's Tories is still going strong.

Although it may be a case of Just Following Orders, Fraser is often unduly critical of Cameron and his fellow Tory ministers. This would not disbar him from joining Cameron's team (and indeed Cameron might want a sceptical voice), but there are others who knew what the Tories needed to do before Cameron became leader. In my opinion, he (sorry they) would be more suited to the role because the government needs all its team onside in the face of the determined efforts of the BBC, DT and others to derail it.

Fergus Pickering

TGF, you mean good media performers like Brown and Balls and Red Ed and Cab-for-hire and the guy shafted by the divine Joanna and.. and.. and. I'll give you Tony Blair, an excellent media performer. Pity he's such a four-letters-beginning-with-c.

Fraser Nelson

Tiberius, there is a long list of things I'd prefer to do than that v hard job (including various forms of self-mutilation). Apart from anything else, I'd be very bad at it. I could never make the sacrifice that I outline in this blog post, and I admire those who do put in the required hours. Its a v important job, because what Cameron's doing is radical and necessary - and communicating this is a fundamental. If its done badly: game over.

The Slog

Snaring the elite, never mind a spin-quack, is looking increasingly likely.
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/hiding-from-us-but-monitoring-us/

Simon Stephenson

Fraser Nelson : 11.09am

"Its a v important job, because what Cameron's doing is radical and necessary - and communicating this is a fundamental. If its done badly: game over."

The thing is, Fraser, that some of us believe that what passes for communication these days is so contra-intellectual as to be valueless to anyone who actually wishes to take part in social decision-making. It's as though the "staff" have decided that the general public are to be treated as pupils from whom there is nothing worthwhile to be added to what has already been said.

It's a particularly dismal view of humanity that Mr Average doesn't have the ability to think constructively, and therefore should be restricted to emoting.

Tiberius

I entirely agree, Fraser, that it is a very difficult job, not only because of natural political opponents, but also because of the UKIP/Hefferite nutjob factions, who won't or can't appreciate the radical nature of what Cameron's trying to do.

Fraser Nelson

Tiberius, I really don't think that criticism of Cameron from the right is a major problem for him. The no1 problem is basic clarity. He needs to persuade the public that the 1%-a-year cuts are mild and necessary - and that the reform is badly-needed.

Being diverted into a form of Tory wars is a real danger for Cameron, I think. Using phrases like "Tory right" risks drawing a dividing line that I really don't think exists right now. Although there's a real risk that some of those around Cameron are veterans from the old Tory wars, and still see politics in the context of party factionalism.

yank

Fraser Nelson
January 22nd, 2011 11:09am

"Its a v important job, because what Cameron's doing is radical and necessary - and communicating this is a fundamental. If its done badly: game over."

.

Yes, because if this milquetoast Blairism doesn't flourish, it could very well be replaced with the milquetoast Blairism that preceded it.

"radical"? Do words have any meaning for you Spectator types? Any at all?

If you could only see yourself, from outside the bubble.

yank

Fraser Nelson
January 22nd, 2011 1:15pm

"Although there's a real risk that some of those around Cameron are veterans from the old Tory wars..."

.

Pity. I'd thought all who disagreed with Dave and the wets would have been liquidated by now.

I think what you fail to see, in your blindness, is that you can't liquidate temperament, and there will arise politicians who will reflect the conservative temperament. You're whistling past the graveyard, in this post.

Mr Adequate

@Rhoda Klapp - spot on!

Tiberius

I agree, Fraser, that the "right wing" of the Tory party is not a major threat to Cameron (Baroness Warsi can get carried away sometimes), and I would agree that he (like anyone else) can always improve on presentation. Whether the clarity under Coulson could have been better (without the benefit of hindsight) is, I suppose, a matter of opinion.

But there is a threat to Cameron and the Tories from the right in the country, and these are the nutjobs I refer to. I met some of them on the doorstep during the election campaign, and there are enough of them to deny the Tories a majority again in 2015 (less than 100 votes kept Labour in, and cost the Tories the seat in my constituency despite a large swing - U KIPPERS!). No amount of clarity will suffice for these voters as long as Cameron continues to occupy the centre ground, which he has to if he is to continue to appeal to the (majority) national mainstream.

TGF UKIP

Ah, I thought you usually used your Trevorsden guise to throw about terms like "nutjob", Tiberius.

Tiberius

It must have been pleasing, TGF, to see the Reds get their revenge yesterday.

TGF UKIP

It was, indeed, most pleasing, Tiberius, to see the natural order of things restored after the minor aberration of a few weeks ago.

Just a pity, given their even greater need, that at 85 The Great Lady is past doing for the Tories what King Kenny is being able to do for the Reds at age 59.