Cameron’s political language

24 February 2007

The US pollster Frank Luntz has made a huge impact on recent British political conference seasons. Here he explains why the Tory leader is pulling ahead of the Chancellor — and what the American political scene has to teach them both

Incredibly, Mr Cameron, a relative novice, is defining the words and themes that the Chancellor uses and, by extension, his political agenda. And it shows. That is why — as my research has consistently demonstrated — the British people aren’t buying into the new, ‘cuddly’ Mr Brown, the one who listens to the Arctic Monkeys in the morning before heading off to a photo op at a nursery school. They know it’s not the real him.

As for Cameron, he has sensibly chosen to ignore critics who complain that he is too light on detailed policy proposals and too soft and fuzzy in his lexicon. One can assume that he has learnt the difference between specifics — which the public has a right to demand — and statistics that will bore all but the hard-core wonks. Cameron is strategically correct to resist being painted into a corner by Brown, after the Chancellor’s successful attacks on Michael Howard’s ‘£30 billion worth of tax cuts’ during the 2005 election. Of course, he needs to recognise that the public will want to know the finer details at election time — but that is years away.

Incidentally, that’s why John Reid proved so popular in my last Newsnight special in the autumn: he talked about the rights of victims coming before the rights of suspected terrorists, the rights of British citizens coming before those of illegal immigrants — ‘no ifs, no buts, full stop, no exceptions’. These are the kinds of specific, clear, action-orientated words voters are begging for. Still, as Mr Reid has learnt the hard way, actual results — or the lack thereof — will trump well-crafted words every time.

Just because Cameron has the knack of tuning into people’s feelings does not disqualify him from being a serious politician. He’s almost too good at it, which is what so alarms some of the old guard on the Tory Right. He’s the best communicator since, well, Tony Blair.