Friday 23 May 2008

Change the Crewe?

Crewe and Nantwich. Difficult. We need to reflect. The campaign was poor - we knew that half way through, but didn't seem to change tack. I also have an issue with the campaign materials which insulted the intelligence of many voters. In this day and age we have to respect residents' knowledge about the world around them, not try to pull the wool.

One example was the inflated claim that Tamsin Dunwoody had helped convince the Chancellor to compensate losers in Crewe over the 10p tax band debacle. Everyone knows that is political bluster. Why not just calm down and focus on the facts? It frustrates me.

I don't want to carp and criticise. Gordon is a phenomenal politician who has slipped behind the zeitgeist, I hope temporarily. We need some of the new Labour organisational skills back, some of the dynamic narrative. I suspect that the quiet twosome, Milburn and Byers, may have something to add to this debate - they were campaiging hard in C&N I note.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Leaving aside the specifics of C&N. I agree with you wholeheartedly on the campaign materials. We are still using the same 'Vote Labour' materials that I used back in the mid '90's.

We've got to change. The brand looks stale at the moment and we don't look aspirational. I agree with your point about new labour organisation BUT, the 90's model won't work, we need to bring our campaigns back to local issues if we are going to win and a centralised campaign structure isn't as effective as it once was.