Daily Mail? False narrative? NEVER!

[You kip if you want to...]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1335764/Ready-Alan-Johnson-told-Labour-leader-Ed-Miliband-falters.html#ixzz17BoJ4eqG

I just couldn't resist posting this. I highly doubt Labour is in the flames that the Murdoch media is trying to suggest. They're annoyed that we only had an election 7 months ago and the Tories are already behind.

One bad PMQs and the media goes insane - it's not like the average voter watchs it anyway.

To be fair to the Mail though (eugh), Yvette Cooper should've been made Shadow Chancellor.

If Miliband does goes though, it'll be after Clegg.

[Silent Hunter]

You're right; but with Ed's performances so far, I'd be worried about the debates.

[afleitch]

Ed both lisps slightly and has trouble with his 'r' s

He will need a vocal coach.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

You're right; but with Ed's performances so far, I'd be worried about the debates.

He did alright in the endless leadership hustings, and the format of those is closer to the televised debates than PMQs. Besides, I'm not sure that being a little uncomfortable during Commons set-pieces ought to be a major worry; Hague was generally regarded as an impressive Commons performer throughout his time as Leader of the Opposition and it didn't exactly endear him to the electorate.

My view is that we have tended to worry too much about this sort of thing. Obviously image does have an impact of sorts on electoral behavior, but there is no reason to believe it to be critical; it might make the difference between narrow victory and narrow defeat, but then so can a lot of other things. Let's say that Kinnock had looked and sounded like Blair. Would Labour have won in 1992? No.
That doesn't mean that it wouldn't hurt to sharpen up a little bit in Commons set pieces, but it's a low priority. More important is getting the policies right (which will take time) and sorting out certain other matters (which will take longer).

[You kip if you want to...]

You're right; but with Ed's performances so far, I'd be worried about the debates.

I'd be more worried for Clegg (or whoever is Leader of the LDs) and Cameron. They can't exactly attack eachother, it wouldn't look right. Will they end up on the same podium or something?

[Silent Hunter]

You're right; but with Ed's performances so far, I'd be worried about the debates.

He did alright in the endless leadership hustings, and the format of those is closer to the televised debates than PMQs. Besides, I'm not sure that being a little uncomfortable during Commons set-pieces ought to be a major worry;

Good point; but he's going to be exposed to a far wider audience of non-Labour voters in the debates.

When I first heard speak in his victory speech, I thought "Oh no". That's not a good first impression.

He's going to have difficulty shaking the "Mr. Bean" image that Private Eye are already rolling with.

[You kip if you want to...]

You're right; but with Ed's performances so far, I'd be worried about the debates.

He did alright in the endless leadership hustings, and the format of those is closer to the televised debates than PMQs. Besides, I'm not sure that being a little uncomfortable during Commons set-pieces ought to be a major worry;

When I first heard speak in his victory speech, I thought "Oh no". That's not a good first impression.

Ditto, although yes, I first preferenced David.

[Iosif]

This is what you get for letting the unions pick the leader. Ugh.

[You kip if you want to...]

This is what you get for letting the unions pick the leader. Ugh.

True. Ed could do all they wanted and they'd still moan that Labour's not lefty enough.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Obviously Labour's enemies would not have been able to attack the runner-up in the election on image grounds had he won.







Oh.

[You kip if you want to...]

Obviously Labour's enemies would not have been able to attack the runner-up in the election on image grounds had he won.







Oh.

If we're gonna sink to image politics, atleast David doesn't constantly sound like he's dying of flu. Also, I find fellow geeks like David endearing.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The point is that they'll latch on to anything. And there's always something to latch on to. There's no point even trying to play that game because, in the end, we always lose it. Had David Miliband won, he'd have been mocked for looking like a tool whenever a camera is turned on him. Had Balls won, he'd have been mocked for sounding like a lecturer, for having starey eyes and, presumably, for being obviously overweight. Had Burnham won, he'd have been mocked for his accent, his giraffe-like eyelashes and his Catholicism (Labour are lucky with Miliband that it's hard to openly attack secular Jews for being so without sounding like a Nazi). Abbott would have been mocked for being female, black and fat. Had Johnson run and won, he'd have been mocked for his accent, for his breezy manner and for having grey hair. Had Cooper run and won, she'd have been mocked for being female in the utterly vile way that only tabloid newspapers mostly read by women are capable of. And so on and so forth.

[You kip if you want to...]

The point is that they'll latch on to anything. And there's always something to latch on to. There's no point even trying to play that game because, in the end, we always lose it. Had David Miliband won, he'd have been mocked for looking like a tool whenever a camera is turned on him. Had Balls won, he'd have been mocked for sounding like a lecturer, for having starey eyes and, presumably, for being obviously overweight. Had Burnham won, he'd have been mocked for his accent, his giraffe-like eyelashes and his Catholicism (Labour are lucky with Miliband that it's hard to openly attack secular Jews for being so without sounding like a Nazi). Abbott would have been mocked for being female, black and fat. Had Johnson run and won, he'd have been mocked for his accent, for his breezy manner and for having grey hair. Had Cooper run and won, she'd have been mocked for being female in the utterly vile way that only tabloid newspapers mostly read by women are capable of. And so on and so forth.

Ah, so like Cameron's mocked for being posh, while trying to hide it and Clegg's mocked for being... well, a betraying tool?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

To an extent, but it's always much worse because of the intensity. The only paper that attacks Conservative politicians (systematically) in that way is the Mirror. And the Mirror mostly speaks only to the faithful; other tabloids are actually read by genuine swing voters.

Personally I think it's a mistake to be so worried about that though; one of several long-term errors made in the early 90s was to be so afraid of media attacks on the images of Labour politicians. Either way, it's not a game that can be won. Take Blair; eventually his image was smashed as effectively as that of all previous leaders. It took a while, but it was done.

[Iosif]

Did anyone catch any of that radio 4 interview? It was actually cringy and embarrassing. Ed's a rabbit in the headlights.

[You kip if you want to...]

Did anyone catch any of that radio 4 interview? It was actually cringy and embarrassing. Ed's a rabbit in the headlights.

You calling time on him yet?

[Iosif]

At this rate I doubt he makes it through next year but we'll see.

[Silent Hunter]

The point is that they'll latch on to anything. And there's always something to latch on to. There's no point even trying to play that game because, in the end, we always lose it. Had David Miliband won, he'd have been mocked for looking like a tool whenever a camera is turned on him. Had Balls won, he'd have been mocked for sounding like a lecturer, for having starey eyes and, presumably, for being obviously overweight. Had Burnham won, he'd have been mocked for his accent, his giraffe-like eyelashes and his Catholicism (Labour are lucky with Miliband that it's hard to openly attack secular Jews for being so without sounding like a Nazi). Abbott would have been mocked for being female, black and fat. Had Johnson run and won, he'd have been mocked for his accent, for his breezy manner and for having grey hair. Had Cooper run and won, she'd have been mocked for being female in the utterly vile way that only tabloid newspapers mostly read by women are capable of. And so on and so forth.

Al, you never cease to demonstrate the huge amount of value you bring to this place.