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The morning after the night before is a dispiriting experience generally; it's no different in politics. After the Prime Minister's stirring speech to rally the troops, not to mention the American style glitz injected by his wife Sarah — who seemed to have taken the example of Michelle Obama very much to heart — Mr Brown's prospects look rather different in the cold light of another day.
For one thing, the troops at conference woke up to the news that Rupert Murdoch's The Sun is going to back the Tories. This is not particularly surprising, nor does the paper have quite the ability to swing the popular vote that it makes out; rather, it has a sound sense for which way the current is going, and swims with it. And the truth is that this conference, for all the feelgood endorphins, will not be enough to turn the tide. Labour was behind in the polls at the outset and while there may be a temporary Brown bounce, that recovery is unlikely to be sustained for long.
Some of the reasons for the underlying disaffection with the Prime Minister's performance can be identified in his speech, for all its inspirational quality. There was the air of unreality both about his tally of his achievements and the criticisms of the Opposition — Labour is going to beat cancer; the Tories won't, apparently.
There were a number of sound promises, of policy commitments even, but after 12 years in government, voters may ask how these have not yet come about. The commitment to provide free home care for the elderly with critical needs is one instance. For years there has been a well-founded sense of grievance that elderly people in Scotland can be looked after in their homes whereas here homecare for the elderly is means-tested, where it is available at all. But can increased provision really be funded by cutting back on NHS research, when it wasn't affordable during the 11 fat years of prosperity?
Then there was the reiteration of the Government's intention to crack down on anti-social behaviour. We have heard this before, many times, under Tony Blair, but as the tragic case of Fiona Pilkington makes clear, vulnerable people can still be terrorised in their homes by youths.
Finally, there was Mr Brown's inability, understandable in the circumstances, to acknowledge the real failures of Labour in office, such as the rise in immigration beyond the capacity of society for integrating the numbers, the Government's commitment to unaffordable public-sector pensions or the diversion of NHS funds to pay for over-generous contracts for doctors and dentists. Mr Brown had to accentuate the positive — and there are many achievements to his credit — but his speech is unlikely to make voters change their verdict on Labour. But probably no speech could have done that.
Austerity Olympics
The Mayor, Boris Johnson, is committed to keeping the Olympics budget to its present £9.3 billion limit — already a three-fold increase over the original estimate. But when it comes to specifics about how to go about it, even given that private sponsorship has been hit by the recession, he says he is stymied by the British Olympic Association and the 2012 organising committee.
Now Mr Johnson is bringing in additional heavy guns to back his case for costcutting measures such as changing venues for some sports. He says David Cameron, who could be in government by 2012, backs his austerity approach. And small wonder; if the cost of the Games exceeds the reserves it is the taxpayer who will pay. Some of Mr Johnson's proposals may make some events less attractive to spectators but the underlying reality is that London is already paying huge sums for three weeks of glorious sport; we cannot afford to pay more.
Stamping on the post
There is never a good time for the price of stamps to go up but the proposal for a 3p rise in the cost of a first-class stamp after the chaos of the strikes is bizarre. Do its managers have a death wish or are they just incompetent?
Reader views (3)
The sun does not have the ability to sway voters opinions,in the way it did in previous elections, the internet and digital media are by far more significant. This is evidenced by the unsuccessful Fox news negative news feed in the U.S presidential elections.
- Damzel, Croydon, 30/09/2009 23:21
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Quite right Nobby.
Newspapers need to make money as they are a business, and employ people. They hire good columnists and editors to inform the public and want their comments. Maybe it's different in Government when you can always get more money from the public and then have a go at newspapers for TELLING THE TRUTH.
- Macdangler, Wimbledon SW19, 30/09/2009 14:01
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"I've got an old-fashioned opinion that you look to newspapers for news not opinions"
That's a shame, because if he read the opinions of leader writers and the readers of such papers, he might discover why he and his party are so disliked.
Sums the man up when even his soundbites boomerang back to sink their fangs into his derriere.
Announcing tired policies to give free childcare to those who have no intention of working, paid for by those that do work, is not going to win him power in 2010.
Labour have had twelve years to rejuvenate the country and we still have a creaking NHS, education system and transport infrastrcuture.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one, 30/09/2009 10:58
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