Oh dear. It looks as though Brown’s speechwriters have got it wrong, wrong, wrong for his address on social mobility today. Rather than setting out what policy wonks call a “progressive vision”, it dwells all too acrimoniously on Margaret Thatcher, and tries to lay the blame for poor social mobility at her feet. As I see it, there are three immediate problems with this approach:
1) This is the same Margaret Thatcher that Brown stood with on the steps of No.10 last year. He seemed happy enough to be seen with her then – so why the harsh treatment now? It’s nothing more than hypocrisy – and unkindness – on a grand scale. And I doubt the public will be forgiving of our current Prime Minister. Particularly given that they seem to remember the Iron Lady with some fondness.
2) Social mobility is hardly great nowadays. There are enough statistics on this to fill several pamphlets, but this one – highlighted by Michael Gove – tells you all you need to know about social mobility in the UK today: only 176 of the 30,000 pupils who got 3 As at A-Level in 2007 were eligible for free school meals. Throw in the latest poverty statistics, and Brown’s criticisms of past Prime Ministers are grand hypocrisy. Again.
3) What Brown’s doing here is what we might call a vertical comparison – a comparison between now and a point in the past. This is also the tactic that he uses in PMQs, when he bangs on about the Tories under Major, or Cameron’s supposed role in Black Wednesday. Problem is, vertical comparisons generally don’t cut the mustard with voters, at least not when the same party has been in power for 11 years. What we need are horizontal comparisons – how is the UK performing in the here-and now? How does the UK rank up against other countries in 2008? Without falling back on some pretty major Brownies, our Prime Minister can’t answers these questions in his speeches – after all, the answers would damn his government. As this report by the think-tank Reform shows, the UK lags behind the rest of Europe on almost every measure of social mobility.
So, back to the drawing board for Relaunch No.276…
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