Owen Smith has told us he’s both ‘radical’ and ‘normal’. It doesn’t take a genius to work out those characteristics aren’t compatible. Yet, Owen Smith knows he needs to try and be both if he is to defy the huge odds and win this Labour leadership race. And therein lies the problem. Smith is deftly attempting a balancing act between praising Corbyn (his ‘radical’ bit) whilst trying to offer those policies in a more electable package (the ‘normal’ bit).
So can Smith manage to do both? It’s going to be a tricky ask but he tried his best just now during his Today interview. After praising Corbyn as someone who had been ‘great at identifying the question’ he tried to move things on to suggest he is the man to provide the answers. He said that at the moment Corbyn’s anti-austerity was just a slogan, not a solution; and he said his approach would be a £200bn investment fund to try and kick-start growth.
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