One of the major recent debates within the Labour party has been over how best to attack David Cameron and the Tories. Well – if a briefing obtained by the Guardian is anything to go by – that debate has pretty much resolved itself. It suggests that Labour should portray the Tories as a wolf in sheep’s clothing – as a nasty party lurking beneath a veneer of compassionate conservatism. This passage should give you a taste of what it’s about:
“Occasionally the mask slips [from Cameron’s Tories] and we see the dangerous, old- fashioned Tory rightwing instincts hidden underneath. They believe in unfettered free markets, cuts in public services to fund tax cuts for the richest, and a smaller, less effective government. David Cameron believes Britain would be stronger if we stand alone, rather than come together.”
So will the stategy work? I wouldn’t bet on it. After all, Cameron’s popularity and the “decontamination” of the Tory brand both seem solid enough. It will – at the very least – be extremely difficult to erode either of them. And Labour certainly won’t help themselves if they resort to crude caricature like that above. Not only might phrases such as “cuts in public services to fund tax cuts for the richest” not chime with a public who are increasingly coming round to the idea of spending cuts, and who saw this government betray some of the least well-off in society during the 10p tax debacle. But there’s a very real risk that Labour will come out of this looking like the nasty party themselves.
Comments