‘Labour needs to start selling a narrative before it drowns in bad comms’

Labour’s freshly announced welfare changes have been described as “stomach turning,” “cruel” and “attacking the most vulnerable.” You should hear what their opponents are saying.

Other MPs are talking of being “aghast at the appalling political management” while some accuse the leadership of “losing the narrative”.

I disagree with that second point only because it implies that the Labour government actually has a narrative.
Since July it’s seemed more likely to me that the inability to tell a story about what this government is about is not a glitch but a built-in strategy at the highest level. I may be wrong but can only speculate because no one will tell me. I’ve tried to talk to someone – anyone – about comms policy and no one ever replies.

The question many people have been asking for months is this: why are we so bad at it?

Storytelling is a vital tool

Storytelling is one of the most ancient and trusted methods of delivering important messages. It’s always been a vital tool in assisting with the election of governments. More important once elected, storytelling has been the key to maintaining power.

This has been well understood in the US and the UK most clearly by the right. It helps that they own most of the means of communication that control that narrative, but as Blair, Clinton and Obama proved that’s not essential.
In the Blair years communication was organised with control-freak efficiency by Alastair Campbell. This was effective in the short term but ultimately caused great harm.

Starmer and his team were correct to refuse to go down that route. Apart from anything else it’s much harder to control the message in this social media age. The manifesto pledge to overturn years of hostility to the BBC was a welcome change.

However it appears that the decision has been instead to abandon the idea of delivering a message completely.
There can be no other explanation, since almost every press story around the government is a negative one. It’s not just the rows about winter fuel allowances, disability benefits, refusals to discuss tax rises, harmful as they all are.

Look at the really good things that have already been done. In every department these are drowned out by negative stories, stories which appear to have been sourced by the government themselves.

This Labour government has no narrative

The most clearly perceived narrative of the current Labour government is that they have no narrative.
What’s the first thing you think of with regard to Labour’s policy on climate action?

My guess is that they’re planning another runway at Heathrow, or that Ed Miliband’s department slashed back its 28 billion budget, or that it’s bet the entire remainder of that on carbon capture, a yet-to-be proven method of cutting dangerous emissions.

Did you know that in the first month of being elected Miliband signed off £1.5 billion investment in wind and offshore tech development, created a new fund for local councils to develop small and medium scale energy renewable projects, and delivered millions immediately towards boiler upgrades and grants for warm homes for low income and social housing?

READ MORE: ‘People want New Labour-style spending now. Here’s why it’s just not possible’

You probably won’t because nobody at his department or in any communications section has been publicising this. Finding out this intelligence was harder than getting a Freedom of Information answer out of Rishi Sunak.
In the early Starmer days I was on hand to talk to Comms about the power of storytelling. It’s something I’ve been doing for a living for 40 years, writing comedy and songs for radio, stage and TV.

If you want to tell a story successfully, you need to engage with people. You have to bring them with you. You don’t need to spell everything out, you give them the facts and leave them to draw their own conclusions.

Even difficult decisions can be sold in a way that causes less damage

We were all set to run a session in 2022 when Liz Truss became PM. Her implosion changed the mood and from that moment the entire party switched to campaign mode. Storytelling would have to wait.

I understood the arguments then. Labour had no money, every penny available was aimed at converting the 2019 Tory switchers back to Labour. Each of those people was worth two votes. A disgruntled Corbyn supporter or passionate anti-Brexiter who wouldn’t support the party anymore was only one vote. Starmer needed to play the system and win big.

After that victory came the reality everyone knew. Building the country after 14 years of watching it be knocked down was going to involve everyone. We didn’t need a Trump we had the Tories.

READ MORE: ‘The rhetoric’s turned people’s stomachs’

We waited for some kind of engagement with the newly elected national party. A number of petty scandals that would have been visible to Alastair Campbell from outer space were allowed to dominate the summer, and it’s been downhill ever since.

The actual policy approaches to immigration, climate, devolution, prison reform and a host of other sectors are nuanced, realistic and talk to a great narrative story.

Now all that’s required is a creative way to tell it.

Even the difficult decisions can be sold in a way that allows for less damage.

If there’s anyone out there reading this who knows someone dealing with comms ask them to come and talk to me. Please. Answer my emails. Promise I won’t bite.
Tell me a story.

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