The Coalition monologues: Why Labour has to start talking

By Tom Callow

In his fortnightly PR Week column back in June, Alex Hilton argued that Labour’s communications strategy was failing in getting across its messages about the danger of cutting too much too soon. Whilst a fragmented communications strategy may not have been the ultimate factor in our defeat, I do not think we are being anywhere near as effective as we need to be in communicating both ideology and policy.

Alex Hilton’s central example was that Labour “allowed its reputation for economic competence to be stripped”. Rather than a factually accurate common public opinion that the Labour government oversaw the country’s longest period of sustained economic growth, public perception shifted to a warped view of reality in which Labour – and specifically Gordon Brown – had been the trigger for the entirety of the global economic downturn.

Given the economic policy that has been wheeled out by the Tories in recent times, it is ludicrous to think this is a credible message, but their manipulation of history has been successful and much of the public now sees Labour as economically irresponsible. We should not be naïve in thinking that the Tory PR machine will somehow be turned down a notch now that the Tories are in power. If anything, it will be cranked up.

Cameron has at his side a former editor of the one of the largest-selling English-language newspapers in the world, the man who thought up the unforgettable ‘New Labour, New Danger’ campaign and was the architect of the Tories’ re-brand – as well as being married to Google’s VP for global communications and public affairs. Despite Labour’s best efforts, the Tories have, in the public’s eyes, moved away from the ‘nasty party’ image of the last decade.

In this time of transition, when we are still in the process of deciding on our next leader, when some are still licking election wounds, whilst others are feeling deflated and others conversely overconfident, Labour risks letting the Tories create a monologue with the public where their cuts agenda becomes the acceptable and only message. Indeed, I fear that they are already turning another fallacy – that stopping the Building Schools for the Future programme was essential due to Labour’s mismanagement – into the default opinion amongst the public.

The next victim of Tory spin will be the proposed bill on electoral reform, where we risk another defeat in the communications battle. Despite legitimate arguments about constituency boundary changes and more pressing issues such as an estimated 3.5 million people not being registered to vote, Labour is being portrayed by the government as opposing democracy and of hypocrisy, given its election commitment to voting reform. Rather than the Tories’ blatant greed in redrawing the boundaries according to where their own support lies, it is Labour that is being accused of – and more importantly perceived as – being opportunistic.

In April, I was fortunate enough to sit through Gordon Brown’s speech at the Royal Institution in which he lucidly explained the factors that led to the recession, how it was global and most importantly why Labour was right in its response. I felt sure that had any member of the public been in that room, all the fog of misdirection and ignorance would have cleared and they would have left completely enlightened. But at this closed-door, invitation-only event, Gordon was preaching to the converted.

It isn’t enough just to be right. We have to explain why we are right and why the coalition – a term which, no doubt due to its connotations of collaboration, is popular with the public – is wrong. We must be proactive, positive and proud in our communication with the public if we are to have any hope of success in taking on the Tories.