Saturday, 22 April 2017

The "I'll do the policy if you don't mind Philip" election - day 4


In case anybody had forgotten already, and in the face of misguided fools trying to run a proper election campaign, Theresa May issued this call for the "strong and stable leadership the United Kingdom needs to see us through Brexit and beyond".  It's all about Brexit and ME, she says.  And did I mention strong and stable leadership?



During a visit to a factory in her own seat of Maidenhead (where the workers were warned not to speak to the press), May actually seemed to say something definite about policy.  The commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on international aid was to be retained, though there was the usual caveat about making sure it was spent well (as if everybody since Clare Short hadn't come up with the brilliant new idea of checking where the money goes).  She avoided any commitment to maintain the triple lock on (parts of) the state pension (for some people).

Later in the day, at a meeting a long way from the dirty campaign, Philip Hammond observed that he wanted to be able to work flexibily, so maybe following George Osborne (remember him?) in forbidding yourself to raise the three taxes which bring in two thirds of government income would be a bad idea.  This led Christopher Hope of the Telegraph, reading between the lines only a little, to observe...





It must say something that Theresa May’s press secretary Lizzie Loudon, has left her job after just nine months in post, hard on the heels of communications chief Katie Perrior.





Friday was supposed to be Tim Farron's turn to shine, but he chose to launch his campaign in a Manchester park, not necessarily the biggest draw.  Here he is, exhibiting admirable focus.


He said (with a complement of verbs which would leave Tony Blair's head reeling),

There is no doubt whatsoever that Theresa May called this election not for all the bogus reasons she claimed about needing a mandate for Brexit. Sadly the Labour party gave her a mandate for Brexit as they pushed us off a cliff-edge voting for article 50 without a single condition attached.

She’s got all she needs if she wants to pursue Brexit, I’m afraid. She looked across the despatch box and thought ‘I cannot resist the temptation of taking on Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party - the most ineffective opposition in inter-planetary history’.

Most media coverage of this last remark neglected to mention Farron's nod to some Dr Who fans who were sharing park space with the event.  But then at least as much attention went to a surprise rival candidacy for the Lib Dem leader's Westmorland and Lonsdale seat.






The day's sacrificial shadow minister was Mike Kane (Wythenshawe and Sale East) "explaining" Labour's education proposals.  He had a script to describe the problems of the Tory education world - pretty good, apart from some questionable figures for children in large class sizes - but he just would not stop reciting it, no matter what question he was asked.  Eventually it fell to the "wait for the manifesto" line, but not until Twitter - supporters and otherwise - had grown lively with exasperation.

Several people observed "If this is the best that Labour can offer..." and that's part of the problem.  Corbyn may indeed not be able to call on a large part of his party at all, or may have chosen to use only those who will serve in his shadow cabinet, but either way it highlights Labour's divisions.  Mr Kane, and Jack Dromey and Dawn Butler from the day before, otherwise might not be from the first eleven.

Then I remembered that Ed Miliband would have had Lucy Powell on to cover education, who can be good on policy but wasn't at all convincing on the niggly questions about why the party is starting from a low base in the polls, etc, etc.  Let's see whether their preparation improves when they finally get a manifesto to promote.

Jeremy Corbyn himself was touring target Tory seats across the M4 corridor.  The one thing he's shown himself to love, and actually to be rather good at, is campaigning.  If he can move effectively from the easier environment of his own leadership election to the real nationwide stage, he might surprise us yet.  A large part of the parliamentary resource apparently being interested only in getting itself re-elected will be a serious burden to carry though.

It's worth observing that the Corbyn manner works well in many interpersonal settings when journalists might still be hovering, but at a distance.  Contrast his manner when going on a bear hunt with May's in a slightly more formal schol experience.







One sparkling example of Labour's honesty was their attempt to crowdsource some new candidates, the "I have an email from Margaret of South Shields" school of involvement.


Not to be outdone, the Tories are inviting ideas for the manifesto, though the call only extends to May's own parliamentary cohort.  Perhaps a "letter from Jacob in Somerset".



That old shrinking violet Farage came out again to explain why he's not planning to fail for the eighth time to become an MP.  He told us it was more important for him to remain an MEP in Brussels because there he had “a front seat where it matters most [for the Brexit talks]” and he could use his profile “to put real pressure on MEPs to vote for a sensible deal”.  This led several people to scratch their heads.




And (ex-?)UKIP confrère Arron Banks seems to have thought better of his own withdrawal from the fray.

It's urgent, so his people will be in Clacton, er... sometime next week.




Endnotes



When #tomorrowspaperstoday started to come out, the Times headline caused a bit of a stir.


For the real geeks among us this spreadsheet of which incumbent members are standing again or not will have a shortlived appeal.



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