Nick Clegg has picked his time to talk about power. In his party conference speech he described why he wanted to be Prime Minister. This is a major step forward in his development as leader of the Liberal Democrats.
Now he has to say what he wants to achieve and what he will do in power. He must develop a narrative that we all as Liberal Democrats can use. The party has excellent policies on a range of issues and these have to be brought together into a collection of coherent sound-bites.
After the excitement of a couple of opinion polls showing us neck-and-neck with Labour following our conference, we are in for the long haul again with very limited exposure in the media.
Our narrative should start from the basis that we have had 30 years of Thatcherite social (“no such thing as society”) and economic (“loadsamoney!”) policies – and look where that has got us. At one end, banks have nearly destroyed the economy; and, at the other, local services incapable of protecting a vulnerable family in rural Leicestershire.
The two larger parties are both competing for the same small section of the voting public who will swing the next election. Both Brown and Cameron react to developments only with sound-bites, trying to cover each other like two yachts in a race. Neither of them has consistent policies, and change with the results from each focus group.
Cameron is no more than a great PR man. He was picked by the Conservative party to compete with Blair. His decision on the position of his group in the European parliament is ridiculous, and is purely designed to ward off the attacks from head-bangers in UKIP. It will be quite easy for Nick Clegg to position himself as the leader of the sensible pro-Europeans in the UK.
If local government is anything to go by, Conservatives are at the forefront of climate change denial and our position as leaders on the climate change issue will stand us in good stead.
I challenge Lib Dem Voice contributors to produce that Narrative! Go to it.
* David Pollard is a Councillor on Blaby District Council and a member of the Leicestershire Liberal Democrat Climate Change Network.
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14 Comments
My narrative would be this.
The Lib Dems aren’t going to win the next election but we might hold the balance of power if enough people vote for us. You know it, we know it, you know we know it, so no more pretending Nick Clegg is going to be Prime Minister. Unless our poll rating goes to 45% or more it ain’t going to happen.
People ask who would we choose to support in a hung parliament – that’s not the right question.
The question is which of the other parties is prepared to put the interest of the Country before that of their party by
working with us?
Our position is clear, we will not prop up a discredited Labour Party or a no-change Conservative party. A coalition would not be a Labour Govt or a Conservative Government – it would be a better type of Government – a coalition governemnt with a huge LIb Dem influence.
We will enter into a coalition only if we get agreement on the following key issues:
1) No more politics as usual – we don’t have broken Britain, we do have a broken political system. It must be reformed to give more power to voters than they have ever had before.
2) Fair Taxes – substantial tax cust for low and middle income families – a £10,000 income tax threshold.
We must bring incentives to all.
3) Real action on the environment and climate change – building a sustainable future not or boom or bust future
4) Reform of the EU – Britain should be leading the reform of the EU to make it fit for the 21st Century.
5) Vince Cable as Chancellor
So when Conservatives say you can’t put a cigerette paper between our parties and they are all Liberal Conservatives – the onus is on them to say why they won’t work with us.
And when Labour say they want to govern for the many not the few – then they need to put that into action.
The other parties won’t like any of this. They won’t want to go into coalition with us as they want business as usual.
They wan’t to change the driver but not the direction of the car. David Cameron for example says things are so bad, so awful, so dreadful that he wnats to be Prime Minister and not change things very much at all.
But one thing can make it happen – if enough people vote Lib Dem then the other parties will be under enormous pressure to work with us. No party is 100% right, 100% of the time. The other parties may try to go it alone, they may prop each other up, they may refuse to have anything to do with the Lib Dems. The politics of the playground bully, and that is what is wrong with politics in this country.
“We will enter into a coalition only if we get agreement on the following key issues”
The problem with that kind of approach is that statistically speaking it’s pretty unlikely that the Lib Dems would be in a position to choose which party to work with. The choice is more likely to be whether to work with the party with the larger number of seats, and if so in what way. That choice would be particularly tricky if the unexpected happened and Labour ended up as the larger party in a hung parliament – because that would almost certainly imply that Labour had received fewer votes than the Tories.
Surely, the real reason for saying “let me tell you why a I want to be Prime Minister” is that if its said enough, over and over again, enough peoiple might actually think it could be a possibility, and so, are more likley to vote Liberal Democrat because every bit of research ever done, going back to the Grimond Era, has shown that lots more people would vote Liberal if they thought there was any real chance of winning. People are less willing to vote to losers. So, talking it up in this way was a shrewd move…Nick should say it more often. Non of his predecessorts spoke like that, which is what seems to have caught people by surprise….
“Our narrative should start from the basis that we have had 30 years of Thatcherite social (”no such thing as society”) and economic (”loadsamoney!”) policies – and look where that has got us. At one end, banks have nearly destroyed the economy; and, at the other, local services incapable of protecting a vulnerable family in rural Leicestershire.”
Hmmm. Not sure this is the case. What we’ve had is 3 decades of over centralisation and pandering to powerful interests.
Mouse, I’m no expert, but I understand there is a tipping point where FPTP starts to give Lib Dems over-representation. I believe at 37% we get something like 48% of MPs.
David,
I’m happy to drop it 40% if you like, you can try out your own figures on
http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/swing-calculator
I feer that all the polls saying people would vote Lib Dem if they thought we could win are like most of those polls of dubious value – a bit like the UKIP poll that showed 55% of people wanted to stay in the EU as is and 55% wanted to leave. Making 110%.
Herbert is absolutely right, statistically, (and indeeed politically) there is usually little choice in a hung parliament to put either or other party in power.
It still leaves the option of a stable coalition or a minority government making a dash for the polls.
In the past the Lib Dems have come up with bizzare statements like we’d first offer a deal with whichever other party got the most votes or seats – as if the results of a biased electoral system were somehow intentional !
By taking up rather than down the prospect of a hung parliament, the Lib Dems would do better, and there is now the best statistical chance of a hung parliament because of the incraesed Lib Dem and other party representation.
But the real point si to move the debate away from will you support Labour or Tories and move it on to
i) will they support us ii) it would not mean putting Labour in or putting the tories in but Lib Dems in iii) ramming home the five key campaign messages.
The party could sell it, “You may like Mr Cameron but you think the Tories haven’t really changed, keep them honest by voting Lib Dem.”
To Labour it would have to be on the basis that if they lose the elction, there would be no propping up Gordon, (who lets face it would resign anyway) and it would have to be a new Labour leader ready to accept serious changes.
Philip,
I think you are correct, The message has to be strong and simple.
And repeated Many, many,many,many,many times.
/
Tabman – you are also right but it needs putting plainly – over centralisation is politico speak.
Don’t forget the classic training theory – you need to repeat a message at least three times for it to register,
and that’s when students are actually listening!
People tend to tune out politicians saying anything even if the media actually give us some coverage.
sorry haven’t got the hang of this HTML yet !
Ah that worked better
What is being asked for is a LibDem narrative for a LibDem campaign. We have to be clear on that before we can compare and contrast ourselves with the other two parties. Today’s news that the Sun has moved support to the Tories shows that with Cameron we will have another 5 years of Thatcherite (or Murdoch) policies.
David Pollard rightly asked for a soundbite. Mouse has written a good essay, but it ain’t the same thing.
I’m just drafting my final letter to voters in a local byelection. Before I talk about local issues, I would like to dismiss national issues in one line. I want to do that, simply to persuade people not to vote on the basis of a totally irrelevant sideswipe at Gordon Brown.
Ten years ago, I’d have said something like “I am proud of our policy to put a penny on income tax for better health and education, but of course, that’s not what this byelection is about.”
Five years ago, I’d have said something like “I am proud of our policy against the Iraq war, but of course, that’s not what this byelection is about.”
What should I say today? What, at national level, is our one-line winner, our USP, our killer punch?
I’d go for something around the theme of ‘you have the power’ – it simple terms, it captures our message that we want to decentralise power and give it back to the people, and in terms of campaigning it can be easily adapted into ‘you have the power to … (insert policy here)’. The point to make is that Brown and Cameron are just fighting over who gets to tell you how to live your life – we think you’re best placed to decide that yourself. We can differentiate ourselves by not playing the same ‘we will cut x and spend y’ games, and highlighting how we’ll change the way power works in this country.
As for the hung parliament question, my response would be ‘I’ll answer that, once you start asking it to all the other parties as well.’
David Allen: “I’m proud of our policy to take low paid workers out of tax by closing tax loopholes for the rich, but that’s not what this by-election is about.”
Nick,
Well yes, that is very much my line at the local level. I’ve used:
“Q – Why are you a Liberal Democrat?
A – The Tories and Labour are the parties of the powerful vested interests – big government, big business, big unions, big financiers and paymasters. The Lib Dems stand up for ordinary people and families, which is why we behave so differently in local government.”
Hopefully this will strike a chord with voters who have seen the local Tories sell out to big builders and run the Council on “Yes Minister” principles, while we talk to people and tackle their local issues.
The only trouble is, I am less confident it will strike a chord at national level. It hasn’t yet been a consistent message at that level, though it could be.
Maybe amend the slogan to “You can take back the power – With the LDs”.