Election 2015: Finally, the gloves are off
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Version 0 of 1. With a week to go in the longest election campaign for decades, the gloves are coming off. A campaign of extreme tonal caution was in danger of conveying an entirely false message: that there is not much to choose between the parties. While the relatively cautious Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, leaks Tory plans to slash welfare, Ed Miliband pays a risky late night visit to Russell Brand and David Cameron looks as if he is pumped up as well as declaring himself to be so, a campaign marked by fearful defensiveness becomes a more marked fight for power and survival. Good. Those voters who wrongly assume “they’re all the same”, or who are instinctively indifferent, need to get a sense of a battle where the stakes are high. Partly as a result of the previous nervy caution of the bigger parties, the media focus of the campaign had been largely on process rather than the marked ideological divide. Was Cameron showing enough passion? Did he want to win? Which poll is right and which is wrong? Are all the polls right because they are within the margin of error, in which case the margin must be extremely generous? Such questions are silly or peripheral. I would be surprised if Cameron, one of the two potential prime ministers in this campaign, was indifferent to the outcome even before he had announced he was pumped up. As for the polls, they should be banned during campaigns. In their intoxicating ubiquity they lead to an unyielding focus on what the result might be rather than on what it should be. At last the parties are socking it to each other and to us, making moves that highlight the significance of the choice. Alexander’s decision to leak details of Conservative plans to cut welfare benefits is the most vivid example of a new fighting spirit. For much of the last five years Alexander played the role of George Osborne’s loyal deputy at the Treasury, or appeared to do so. Now with a bold, dramatic flourish he reveals that in private meetings he attended in 2012 the Conservatives were contemplating sweeping welfare cuts, targeting in particular child benefit. Alexander’s decision to leak details of Conservative welfare plans is the most vivid example of a new fighting spirit This is a big intervention. Osborne’s proposed spending cuts, as outlined in his autumn statement and budget, have not received the attention they deserve in the campaign partly because he has got away with not specifying what form they would take. Alexander has filled in some of the gaps. Some Tories are furious at his provocative betrayal, but he performs a public service, bringing to life what vague “cuts” will mean if an unconstrained Osborne returns to the Treasury in a week’s time. Ed Miliband suddenly takes risks too as the most controlled campaign in election history reaches a climax. He would have known his decision to spend a few minutes with Russell Brand would provoke splenetic fury in the Conservative newspapers. But he was right to make the move precisely because there is a very big choice at the election, despite Brand proclaiming to his many followers that there was none. The nature of the risk went well beyond the reaction of the orthodox media. In his exchanges with Brand, Miliband needed to pull off a difficult contortion, conveying to Brand’s admirers he would be a prime ministerial force for change while distancing himself from some of their hero’s views. Perhaps that is why Miliband’s voice and mannerisms were less authentic in the interview than they hadbeen during the rest of the campaign, when he was more at ease as a public figure than at any point in his leadership. But Miliband’s points in the interview were pivotal:that politics can make a difference to voters’ lives, the NHS, the minimum wage and the rest. Some voters will have watched him make those points for the first time. Related: Danny Alexander’s revelation should be a wake-up call for everyone | Polly Toynbee Seeking a breakthrough, David Cameron is pumping up the policy initiatives as well as the projection of his leadership. His proposed new law preventing some tax rises is both silly and helpful in bringing to life his plans for a smaller state. If he cannot put up key taxes without getting arrested, the spending cuts will have to be deep. Let’s have a few more punches like the one delivered by the unlikely pugilist, Alexander, some more risks as Miliband becomes more self-confident and some more policies from Cameron that highlight his priorities. Voters need to be drawn to the final rounds of the fight and not be misled into bored apathy. Their lives will be very different depending on what happens next week. |