Fighting defeatism and turning the spotlight on the detail-light opposition

By Gino D’Oca

The media frenzy surrounding the woes afflicting the government continue in earnest, entirely as expected given the past week’s fun and games involving the prevailing stench of the MPs’ expenses affair, cabinet resignations, and Labour’s trouncing in the UK and European elections.

The issues surrounding the government are almost certainly not going to blow over any time soon, or not until the media have their pound of flesh – probably in the form of a Brown resignation or announcement of an election – prompting yet another cascade of events that will ensure political commentators and armchair experts can remain high on a cocktail of spiralling speculation and Westminster gossip for another few months, all of which only further paralyses the workings of government.

While the government continues to do itself few favours in all this, what really must happen is that the spotlight, thus far focussed so intensely on Labour and its supposed rot, must be turned towards the Conservatives.

It is vital for the democratic process that the general assumption expressed across the entire spectrum of the mainstream media, namely that Cameron et al will inevitably form the next government, be challenged.

It is not healthy that the Conservative Party is being allowed, and helped, to saunter towards government not on merit, but rather because of a sadistic media obsession with catalysing and stringing out every aspect of the challenges facing Brown and his government. Some – if not many – of these challenges, it should be said, are not entirely the government’s making or, in the case of the expenses scandal, exclusive to Labour.

Although it may not entirely stop the haemorrhage Labour is suffering in its support, making a (more) concerted effort to ensure that the spotlight is placed more intensely on Cameron and his detail-light PR machine would be a start.

To do that, Labour needs to raise its voice, shout about what it stands for and what is has achieved, perhaps say more about where it has faltered, stop playing catch up and pull itself together. Whether Brown is the best man to lead that fight is another matter.

It is hard to overcome a lingering sense of defeatism that whatever is done will be too little, too late to focus the political debate in this country on policy issues as opposed to ‘impressions’ formed by media frenzy. I sympathise with those who say that ousting Brown is the only way to hasten this refocusing of the debate on hard policy. Brown may be the most accomplished person to lead the Labour Party and government, but the baggage surrounding him – some of which is self inflicted, some the product of media froth – is proving to be an obstacle to shifting the debate back to bread and butter issues.

Once the media set the agenda, tell us what the “British public is thinking” (whether we actually are, or not) then the game is effectively up.