Cameron found a new story

By Ben Furber / @benfurber

Of course I disagree with Cameron on multiculturalism, but that’s beside the point. Government opponents were winning the argument on library closures and the forest sell-off, but Sunday became about multiculturalism not those issues, which was exactly Cameron’s plan.

As Anthony’s post elegantly explained, what Cameron actually said in his speech wasn’t as bad as the headlines suggested. Of course this is also beside the point, headlines are never true reflections of the content – as we in the Labour Party know all too well.

Where I disagree with Anthony is his headline (oh the irony). Cameron wasn’t trying to lecture Muslims about extremism and he isn’t interested in talking about culture full stop. He was successfully doing something his government hasn’t been good at this year; he moved the public debate away from talks of cuts, cuts, cuts.

Cameron’s speech was him back on form. After Labour finally found a coherent press strategy in mid-December, the government started the year on defence. Then there was Coulson, Cameron messed-up his NHS reform with his brother in-law’s comments, then this week sizable opposition has been mounted again the forest sell-off, big society chat wasn’t going his way and communities have started kicking back at library closures.

Cameron doesn’t want or need to win this argument – multiculturalism and terrorism as topics aren’t islands. Immigration, religion, jobs, housing, poverty and education are the first six topics that come to mind in relation to them. While the Labour Party will happily call Cameron a racist based on the headlines, our views on immigration, religion, jobs, housing, poverty and education differ widely. Cameron already has huge support with the headlines, the right of his party love it and the tabloids agree with him.

The point of Cameron’s speech is that while we all shout ‘racist’ and call his speech un-Prime Ministerial considering the EDL march, we stopped talking about the forest sell-off.

Cameron has defined the agenda for the next few days, if not a whole week. Columnists hastily re-wrote their articles, Marr’s producers quickly booked new interviewees and every talk radio host from now until Friday wants to add their 2p worth. And in all that time, every comment will extend the story for twenty-four hours.

Cameron is a master of the media. He’s got everyone talking about an issue of his choosing and on his terms. That’s all wanted to do.