Cameron's attacks on Miliband may end up helping Labour
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Version 0 of 1. In 1983 Margaret Thatcher did not stand outside No 10 and attack Michael Foot as a weak leader. She knew better than to lower herself to the same level as a weak opponent. Which is what makes the prime minister’s latest round of personal attacks on Ed Miliband so interesting. Cameron’s language towards him is increasingly searing, having just launched his campaign accusing Miliband’s Labour of being “hypocritical holier-than-thou, hopeless, sneering socialists” alongside frequent attacks on his “weakness”. But the fact that Cameron feels the need to attack Miliband as much as he talks up the economy tells us something important about the prime minister’s own confidence, or lack thereof. Because, simply put, winners tend to dismiss their opponents rather than elevate them. Yet the last week of political skirmishing, debates and media hits has seen an unusually rattled Cameron firing soundbite after soundbite at Miliband. In contrast to the calm and confident Cameron of yesteryear, the leader who proclaimed “let sunshine win the day”, Cameron 2015 seems weirdly obsessed with his supposedly too-weak-for-the-job rival. Either this is a remarkable lack of message discipline on the prime minister’s part (it’s never a good idea for a politician to waste time obsessing over their opponent) or, more likely, its Conservative strategy to focus on Miliband as the weak link in Labour’s campaign. And that obsession/strategy reveals Cameron’s own fears and belies the validity of his own attacks. For if Miliband were truly the weak creature Tory campaign chief, Lynton Crosby, is so desperate to portray him as, he wouldn’t need to resort to the scale and frequency of exaggerated attacks. Perhaps the other part of the problem for Tory strategy is that they lack a sense of mission in this election. Scratch beneath the surface of their “long-term economic plan” rhetoric and the Conservative campaign is remarkably lacking in forward-facing policy. Rather Crosby’s campaign seems to be the constant repetition of national economic numbers and ad hominem attacks on Miliband. The Labour leader has learned to keep his cool under fire through a mixture of humour (self-effacing jokes about bacon sandwiches) and dismissal (“am I tough enough to be prime minister? Hell yes”). At the heart of this approach was Miliband’s own decision last July to make his “let Ed be Ed” speech in which he hung a lantern on his image problem and stressed his authenticity instead. This clarity has aided him in his presentation to the electorate as a prime ministerial candidate of substance rather than spin, proud of his focus on policy rather than press and willing to laugh off Wallace & Gromit jokes. By staying calm and cool during last week’s TV “debate” even in the teeth of severe Jeremy Paxman goading, Miliband was able to exceed expectations and bolster his leadership numbers in the polls. Perhaps Crosby should heed the advice of his political hero Richard Nixon, “in politics, never shoot down”, as Cameron’s fire on Miliband may yet end up helping rather than hurting the Labour leader. Marcus Roberts is deputy general secretary of the Fabian Society |