Monday 12 April 2010

Weekend antics: Campaign Days 4 & 5

The policy watchword of the weekend seems to have been 'couples', with the  big argument focussing on Tory proposals for tax breaks for married couples. Nick Clegg immediately dismissed this idea as 'patronising drivel that belongs in the Edwardian age' in a continuation of a week's worth of lashing out at the two larger parties. It seems, however, that there may be trouble in paradise for Clegg and his campaign wife: yes, Gordon has Sarah, David has Sam, and Clegg has.... well, Vince. Perhaps some sort of domestic clash had propelled grumpy Mr Clegg's less-than-charitable remarks on Cameron's support of marriage - at least he can take comfort in the fact that he and Vince would, in theory, be able to celebrate their partnership with an extra pint thanks to the extra £3 a week that Mr Cameron would give them. On that sort of money, though, it's debatable whether it would be a celebratory pint of anything worth drinking.

The LibDems found themselves at the centre of the other major bone of contention on Saturday, following Lord Adonis' remarks in the Friday press that LibDems in Labour-Tory marginals should get behind the reds to keep the Tories out. Frankly, I marvel at how long (four whole days) the Labour Party has managed to maintain enough belief in its own principles and fearless disregard for patronising the electorate not to have to resort to encouraging tactical voting: party morale must be high. You might be forgiven for thinking that the best way of salvaging this situation would be to stress the right of the voter to make an informed decision based on policy rather than tactic (although admittedly this is wishful thinking), and to acknowledge the presence of the not-insubstantial LibDem support rather than assuming them all to be lacking in principle and fickle enough to form allegiances on the basis of smears from the opposition; that seems to be a job very well done by the politicians, and we can leave them to it. It goes without saying that Gordon "Face for the Radio" Brown (Thanks, Lord Kinnock) did not counter Lord Adonis' comments with such good measure. The message on Saturday was clear: Labour voters in LibDem-Tory marginals should vote LibDem with the same purpose in mind. Whether this serves to appease a disgruntled LibDem votership remains to be seen, but constant Tory-bashing isn't going to convince anyone that the Labour Party has anything of substance to say, and that is what will matter on Election Day.

The issue of tactical voting raises the issue of the continued calls by the LibDems for political reform, one of several topics of conversation between Jon Sopel and 'Saint Vince' Cable on Sunday morning. The discourse followed roughly the following outline:

Jon Sopel: How can Nick Clegg argue that voting Lib Dem will eradicate corruption when 
surely political corruption is the fault of all three main parties?
Vince Cable: This is essentially an extension of our blanket policy to insult both of the other parties at any given opportunity. My colleague has made it abundantly clear at every stage this week that this is the primary focus of our campaign.

JS: Where does the £389 extra VAT figure on your Tory-bashing poster come from?
VC: It's an arbitrary number based in some excessively-tenuous fashion on what they did twenty years ago.
JS: It's not reasonable of you to state as fact on a poster what you've estimated on the basis of past figures
VC: We don't have anything else to go on. [Whether or not our argument is based on fact is a triviality; as a political journalist you should know that this goes for almost anything that any of us ever says.]
JS: Will YOU guarantee not to raise VAT?
VC: No.

Away from the economic debate, anticipation of the Labour manifesto launch seemed to be growing as the weekend drew to a close, no doubt fuelled by Peter Mandelson's claim that 'this is no time for business-as-usual manifesto'. Well done, Lord Mandelson, so you've noticed that the situation that this government has landed us in is no ordinary one. Undoubtedly he will have something canny up his sleeve: as Sir Menzies Campbell said on Question Time last week, 'the Lord Mandelson moves in mysterious ways'. If only he would move a little further away.

...And finally: The BBC provided us with a comprehensive run-down of the most witty jibes and observations of the week (see here). I would like to quote one in particular, from Ann Treneman, which embodies everything that I wanted to say about Brown's last appearance at PMQs: "Almost every Labour MP who spoke had been prompted to ask a question that went something like this: 'Is it true, oh wonderful master, that you have created a land of milk and honey?' Mr Brown, preening, would turn around and admit that, yes, actually it was true."