Here’s the best way to counter the Tory narrative

A solidly working class friend of mine surprised me the other day.

“I like that Nigel Farage,” he said. “He’s an ordinary bloke – just like me.”

As I know my friend is not a millionaire professional politician, has never worked for an investment bank or attended a private school, I asked him how he’d reached that conclusion.

“Well,” he replied. “He’s always in the pub having a pint.”

We on the Left often struggle to respond to people like that. We think politics matters. In fact, we know politics matters. The NHS, the economy, and our country’s future prosperity are all at stake next May. So we try and persuade voters, like my friend, to change their minds by giving them the facts.

Yet we already know facts alone do not have the power to persuade. Back in 2007, Drew Westen demonstrated the point superbly in his book “The Political Brain”. He showed how, by focusing on facts, both Al Gore and John Kerry contrived to lose elections to the distinctly unpresidential George W Bush.

If you want to persuade, you need to tell a story. A story that creates an emotional connection with your audience and is more compelling than the one your opponent is telling. At the moment, Labour is not doing this as effectively as it could.

Take the issue of leadership. Here are some facts. Since becoming Leader, Ed Miliband has stuck to his principles on Syria, tackled the press over phone-hacking, and stood up to bankers over bonuses, energy companies over price-fixing, and unions over Falkirk’s PPC selection. Whether or not you agree with his stance on these issues, what cannot be denied is he has made difficult decisions, including some he must have known would make it harder for him to become Prime Minister. This is real leadership.

By contrast, since becoming PM, David Cameron has consistently shown weak or no leadership. He has put party over country interests on Europe, immigration and the NHS to name but a few. About the only person he’s stood up to was Jimmy Carr over tax evasion – although even then he chose to ignore similar activity from Tory supporting Gary Barlow.

Despite these facts, opinion polls consistently rate Cameron a better leader than Miliband. Not because Cameron is highly rated, but because Ed scores worse. Why is this? A lot of credit needs to be given to the Tory PR machine. They have consistently used a simple narrative attacking Miliband’s personality: “He’s not an ordinary bloke like you, he looks a bit weird and he’s a bit too serious.” In essence, it’s the same story Bush used to devastating effect against Gore.

Labour’s competing narrative is more factually based, trumpeting the real actions Ed has taken to show he is: “On your side against vested interests”. In principle, it’s a powerful story. However, by not first challenging the Tory narrative it is built on sand. You have to believe Ed is someone like you, before you can trust him to be on your side.

To win next May, we need to counter the Tory narrative quickly. The best way of doing this is not with more facts or policy announcements. Ed needs to let us in to his life a bit more. We need to see him doing more of the ordinary things that ordinary people do, struggling with more of the things ordinary people struggle with, and enjoying the things that ordinary people enjoy. And yes, that should include the occasional pint down the pub.

Roger Mendonça is an organisational storytelling expert and a member of Daventry CLP.