politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Is this getting a little personal?.
The success of the New Labour Project is based on lies. The mother of all these lies is that Labour has changed. That it is no longer the party of profligate "tax and spend." That it is no longer the enemy of prudence and aspiration. That is is no longer a class-based party. Such lies work well and are fertile breeders.
Remember Gordon Brown's one-word slogan as Chancellor? To counter Labour's historical reputation for profligacy, he repeated it ad nauseam; "Prudence." A good Conservative word; the kind that sat comfortably on Margaret Thatcher's lips. A word never heard from Labour before and for good reason. Brown ran up huge debt while the country's credit was was good. he mixed it with stealth taxes equivalent to a 100% increase in income tax. Then he poured that easy cash over Labour's payroll vote like syrup on pancakes.
"Tax, borrow and spend" - Labour's modus operandi ab initio. Nothing had changed except for Tony Blair's plastic smile and a stolen word.
The bust Brown promised us (untruthfully) would never come again is now worse for Britain than any other OECD country. The OECD and the IMF regard our economy as the most damaged in the developed world and are pointing the finger at government debt. Debt now so high it will take generations to repay it. Always assuming, as frighteningly we cannot, that a future government does not make it worse.
Even without tax cuts to stimulate the economy public services must be cut (however much Labour lies to the contrary) just to meet the interest payments. When private borrowers finally return to compete with governments for available credit, interest rates will rise and we must shudder to think what the costs will be then. I think it is fair to say in this context that "prudence" did not truthfully describe the Prime Minister's conduct during his time in Number 11. It was a propaganda word repeated as a mantra to deceive trusting voters. In short, it was a deliberate lie.
Now the party that thinks "he's a toff" is a reasoned argument is crying foul; complaining that in exposing Labour's lies HM Opposition is indulging in "personal attacks" and "dirty politics." Political Betting, usually astute on these matters, thinks this tactic may work. It speaks to the old theme of the Conservatives as "the nasty party." It assists in persuading Labour's core voters to "hate the Tories again." Some wonderful, kind, naieve voters will undoubtedly respond to syrupy themes of "let's all be nice to each other" and "can't we all just get along?" Indeed David Cameron foolishly made himself vulnerable to this tactic by promising to end "Punch and Judy politics." So how are the Conservatives now to respond, without letting Labour off the hook?
