The right and wrong way to respond to Labour
It is right and legitimate that in the debate about what future Britain should follow, people should have the right to make constructive criticism of the parties and policies they don't support as well as advocating those they do.
However, the result of the 2017 general election stands as a dire warning of what can happen if you give the impression of spending too much time trashing your opponents and not enough time putting forward clearly set out positive policies of your own.
Anyone who imagines that the Conservatives can win the next election through a campaign which mainly consists of Corbyn-bashing should read
"Time has let Corbyn off the hook,"
an excellent article by Andrew Stuttaford which explains why a attitudes and a history which would once have made Jeremy Corbyn unelectable outside the most loyal of Labour heartlands - and still do make him unelectable in some areas which used to be Labour heartlands, such as the constituency where I live, which now has a Conservative MP - no longer act as the electoral millstone they would once have been.
I belong to the generation who lived through the "Troubles" and the associated IRA bombing campaign - during which republican terrorists killed about 1,800 people of whom about 650 were civilians including small children.
In December 1984, two weeks after the IRA attempted to wipe out the British government with a bomb in Brighton which did kill five people, Jeremy Corbyn invited convicted IRA volunteers Linda Quigley and Gerry MacLochlainn to the House of Commons. It caused uproar at the time.
Many people of my generation, including myself, still think of that invitation in roughly the same way that most Labour party members would react if a Conservative MP had invited convicted leaders of "Britain First" to a meeting at the Commons within a fortnight of the murder of Jo Cox by a killer who shouted "Britain First" during his attack - and if that MP had then become leader of the party.
But those electors to whom the Troubles and the Good Friday Agreement are ancient history often do not share that reaction and we will not make a positive impression on them by banging on about it.
I posted a few days ago about the similarities between Jeremy Corbyn and Donald Trump, but unfortunately a comment which I read last week about what the opponents of both Corbyn and Trump have in common is also true.
Specifically, it has been said that critics of both Corbyn and Trump have such a low opinion of these men that they find it very hard to express their criticism in ways which have any resonance for people who don't already share the same opinion.
So what should people who want to win an election against Labour do?
Well, for a start, it should be a golden rule of all political campaigning to get your facts right.
It is not necessary to criticise your opponents, but if you do, it is particularly important to make every effort to get your facts right. As was demonstrated only too clearly this month, if you attack someone and make defamatory allegations which you cannot prove, it's only too easy to help them and make yourself look very foolish. Being caught making a false statement also undermines the ability of your side of the argument to be believed when making similar criticisms which are actually true!
To win the next election it is necessary
1) To have good policies which will address the issues people are concerned about
2) To make a positive case for those policies.
3) To listen to people. You can't please everyone but you should try to at least listen
4) To work hard to help those people you can.
5) To explain what you've achieved.
6) If you criticise your opponent at all, do not let it dominate your message, make sure that everything you say is true and do not express your criticisms in a personal or malicious way.
Most of the time the electorate awards victory to the major party which is most positive and least divisive. I suspect that whenever the election comes they will do so again.
However, the result of the 2017 general election stands as a dire warning of what can happen if you give the impression of spending too much time trashing your opponents and not enough time putting forward clearly set out positive policies of your own.
Anyone who imagines that the Conservatives can win the next election through a campaign which mainly consists of Corbyn-bashing should read
"Time has let Corbyn off the hook,"
an excellent article by Andrew Stuttaford which explains why a attitudes and a history which would once have made Jeremy Corbyn unelectable outside the most loyal of Labour heartlands - and still do make him unelectable in some areas which used to be Labour heartlands, such as the constituency where I live, which now has a Conservative MP - no longer act as the electoral millstone they would once have been.
I belong to the generation who lived through the "Troubles" and the associated IRA bombing campaign - during which republican terrorists killed about 1,800 people of whom about 650 were civilians including small children.
In December 1984, two weeks after the IRA attempted to wipe out the British government with a bomb in Brighton which did kill five people, Jeremy Corbyn invited convicted IRA volunteers Linda Quigley and Gerry MacLochlainn to the House of Commons. It caused uproar at the time.
Many people of my generation, including myself, still think of that invitation in roughly the same way that most Labour party members would react if a Conservative MP had invited convicted leaders of "Britain First" to a meeting at the Commons within a fortnight of the murder of Jo Cox by a killer who shouted "Britain First" during his attack - and if that MP had then become leader of the party.
But those electors to whom the Troubles and the Good Friday Agreement are ancient history often do not share that reaction and we will not make a positive impression on them by banging on about it.
I posted a few days ago about the similarities between Jeremy Corbyn and Donald Trump, but unfortunately a comment which I read last week about what the opponents of both Corbyn and Trump have in common is also true.
Specifically, it has been said that critics of both Corbyn and Trump have such a low opinion of these men that they find it very hard to express their criticism in ways which have any resonance for people who don't already share the same opinion.
So what should people who want to win an election against Labour do?
Well, for a start, it should be a golden rule of all political campaigning to get your facts right.
It is not necessary to criticise your opponents, but if you do, it is particularly important to make every effort to get your facts right. As was demonstrated only too clearly this month, if you attack someone and make defamatory allegations which you cannot prove, it's only too easy to help them and make yourself look very foolish. Being caught making a false statement also undermines the ability of your side of the argument to be believed when making similar criticisms which are actually true!
To win the next election it is necessary
1) To have good policies which will address the issues people are concerned about
2) To make a positive case for those policies.
3) To listen to people. You can't please everyone but you should try to at least listen
4) To work hard to help those people you can.
5) To explain what you've achieved.
6) If you criticise your opponent at all, do not let it dominate your message, make sure that everything you say is true and do not express your criticisms in a personal or malicious way.
Most of the time the electorate awards victory to the major party which is most positive and least divisive. I suspect that whenever the election comes they will do so again.
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