5 things Labour’s new rapid-rebuttal team need to get right

Yesterday’s story of a new Labour media management team, seemingly in the mould of Alastair Campbell’s famously effective rapid-response unit, and headed by Michael Dugher, should be welcome news to us all. A well-run operation can make a huge difference, and in an election as close as 2015 looks set to be, that difference could be Miliband or Cameron in Number 10. But for it to be truly helpful, it needs to get some things right.

1. Be rapid

This may sound obvious, but it’s an area that needs drastic improvement. Too often a story is left to run for too long before we seem to have got a grip on it: by which point, the damage is already done.

When an attack is launched, there should be a time limit for a response. This means 24/7 coverage and clear guidelines drawn up for how to deal with a story when it happens. Divide potential stories by type, and decide a process that each one has to go through, including time frames. And then do whatever is necessary to simplify sign-off and cut those times further.

1a. Rebut

Again obvious, but, again, it needs saying. The standard for all media response teams now is the Clinton office of the 1990s, where the motto famously was: “Let no attack go unanswered, let no opportunity go unexploited.” It’s a smart guide to modern campaigning, and with the expectation of an onslaught of attacks over the next year (you may not have noticed, but Miliband has not made it his aim to make as many friends in the press as possible), it is one that could serve us well. “All publicity is good publicity” may be a platitudinous load of rubbish, but we could do worse than treating all publicity as though it has potential.

2. Give your rebuttal a frame

Building narratives. Joined up thinking. Whatever you want to call it, it’s important.

Come up with a bigger story about the Tories (or Lib Dems, or UKIP). Every story, response, or attack we want to put out about them now has to fit in to this bigger story: “X is just the kind of thing we’ve come to expect from Y because of Z.” In a year’s time, we want voters to have ideas about the other parties drummed into their heads. That does not mean repeating the same attack or line ad nauseam, because that’s just an empty frame – it means linking every story to a larger idea of what these parties represent.

3. Use the quickest means possible

Once you’ve got a story, get it out. Don’t let events overtake you. News cycles move quickly, and they can be vicious. A good story at breakfast can be dead in the water by lunch. If something obviously has a short shelf-life, this isn’t a reason not to do it; it’s a reason to do it quickly.

4. Use the right medium

Dugher identified this election as “the first to be fought online as much as it will on the doorstep and over the airwaves.” While the web often feels like the quickest way to get a story out, rapid rebuttal can mean calling a radio or TV station – it doesn’t just have to be social media. If you think something will have the best effect on the front of the morning’s papers, pushing it on Twitter during the afternoon the day before is probably not going to work. For an example of that going badly, see this how quickly and effectively this Labour effort from 2008 was dealt with by the Tories. Remember that story? Probably not.

5. Authenticity rules

If possible, try and give your rapid rebuttal a name and a face. Use the depth of the Shadow Cabinet (and the PLP as a whole – there are plenty of canny media operators sitting on the backbenches) to your advantage. That means getting the right person for the story, not just whoever is available – and no one is worse. A couple of weeks ago, when Maria Miller’s resignation came in at 7am, Labour HQ hurried to get a quote out; only the story happened so early that they seemed to struggle to find anyone to attribute the quote to. In the end, the press release came out with a quote from “a Labour spokesperson”. Quite aside from the fact that Miller’s resignation shouldn’t really have caught anyone off guard after that week of front pages, it would have been preferable to have a sanctioned non-Miller putting across a line about trust, rather than simply letting John Mann wing it on is own. It being a bit early isn’t really an excuse.

Giving people responsibility for stories means sharing the load, and improving the profiles of many in what is a broad and competent team. This would help to take the sting out of the “Two Eds” attacks. The Tories obviously perceive Miliband and Balls as Labour’s major weakness, and they plan to go strong, hard and often with personal attacks. While countering these attacks is paramount, spreading out the media attention will make them less potent in future.