Crime week? High vis chain gangs? The latest from the master of misdirection

Polls have narrowed. YouGov last week reported that the Conservative lead over Labour had fallen from 13 points to four. Survation recorded an 11-point lead reduced to two within a fortnight. In fact, all major pollsters have recognised a closing of the gap between Labour and the Tories, with the exception of Opinium. Boris Johnson’s own approval ratings are languishing, too. Deltapoll, for example, reports an eight-point lead for Keir Starmer over the Prime Minister, and Redfield & Wilton has recorded its lowest ever net approval rating for Johnson.

It is not surprising, then, that the last few days have seen the Prime Minister launch ‘crime week’. This is territory that the Conservatives are confident campaigning on – and campaigning is precisely the word. Rather than focus on substantive policies, the Prime Minister has preferred to bait the left, doubling down today on proposals for hi-vis chain gangs. “What I want to see is those who’re guilty of antisocial behaviour paying their debt to society,” he told LBC listeners this morning. “If that means they’re visibly part of some yellow, fluorescent-jacketed chain gang, then I’m not going to weep any hot tears. That’s a good thing.”

Silly comments like this are designed to provoke the left and distract from actual government policy, or lack thereof. Crime week is slim on new proposals, instead offering rehashed ideas such as piloting alcohol tags and gimmicks like named officers for neighbourhoods and league tables for 999 call-handling. It also distracts from the more sinister and serious concerns, such as expanding stop-and-search powers, the police pay freeze and the fact that the Police Federation has no confidence in Priti Patel.

Crime week comes after an unusually difficult time for Johnson on a policy area the Tories normally do well in. In recent weeks, Labour has capitalised on crime as an area of Conservative weakness. Demonstrating his knowledge of the justice system, borne of his time as director of public prosecutions, Starmer has attacked the Prime Minister on shocking conviction rates for rape, knife crime and antisocial behaviour. This culminated in the launch of his ‘safer communities’ campaign last week, which will see the Labour leader tour the country bashing the Tory record on crime.

Hi-vis chain gangs are just the latest deflection from Johnson, a master of misdirection, distracting from his shortcomings with the eccentric, incendiary and/or offensive. We have seen this time and again: when he compared Jeremy Corbyn to Josef Stalin shortly before the 2019 election – deflecting from a host of issues uncomfortable for the Tories – for example. His jibes stoke the right and bait the left, and demonstrate once again that this is a Prime Minister far happier campaigning than governing, more content to spur a culture war than produce policy. But as the urgency of the pandemic begins to subside, some of his soundbites may come back to haunt him. People may start to wonder when his many slogans and promises – ‘fixing’ social care, tackling the climate emergency and ‘levelling up’, to name a few – will manifest in actual results.