Politicians like to talk about ‘non-electoral milestones’—the big symbols, endorsements and Clause 4 moments that pave the way for a party’s return to power. But what about the much smaller signs—let’s call them ‘micro-runes’ –that might or might not reflect political recovery? Here are three:
1. The Sun is depicting David Cameron this week as a Tom Cruise-style agent on a Mission Impossible – thus making glamorous his apparently insuperable task. Remember: this is the newspaper that pictured Neil Kinnock with his head inside a lightbulb, inviting the last person to leave Britain to turn the lights out, and William Hague as a dead parrot.
2. Labour ministers long ago realised the importance of the GMTV sofa, and the value of a positive aside by one of its presenters. ‘Good stuff, David,’ said Andrew Castle at the end of an interview this morning with Mr Cameron. He wouldn’t have said that about IDS or Michael Howard.
3. The media have been much less willing to swallow whole Labour’s rubbishing of Tory tax calculations. In past years this morning’s headlines might have been along the lines of: ‘Tory tax plans in disarray as figures crumble’. Not so today. Not so at all. What does all this add up to? Not much, perhaps. But, then again…..
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