I’ve been up in Crewe this weekend, enjoying the weather, Harvey’s sandwich shop and helping out in the campaign – and oh so unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of handwringing from the bien pensant press about the campaign.
It’s a load of rubbish, of course, but that doesn’t seem to stop them recycling tory attack lines.
In a funny sort of way I’ve got more respect for the Mail on Sunday, the Telegraph et al. They have an agenda – to attack New Labour with any weapons they can find – and if attacking the Labour campaign is part of that, well that’s what they do. no point whining about it.
After all, being lectured by Quentin “Gorbals mick” Letts about the evils of class warfare is at least amusing. The man clearly has no scruples at all.
So I don’t mind that. If the right wing press weren’t attacking us for our campaign they’d be attacking us for something else. ‘Twas ever thus.
No, what gets my goat is how respectable, nice lefties recycle this nonsense in national newspaper columns as if it were gospel truth.
Let’s review the facts, shall we?
The Tories are accussing Labour of running a “class war campaign” after they repeatedly attacked Labour’s by-election candidate in Brent for living in “millionaires row”. Oddly, I don’t remember Andrew Rawnsley, John Harris or Quentin Letts frothing with rage and declaring it the lowest point in the history of politics. Funny that.
Don’t believe me? Well, here’s one of the Tories very own “Class war” leaflet, complete with “outrageous” picture of the Labour candidates mansion on “millionaires row”
And how about immigration? The Tories are apparently disgusted that Labour mentioned ID cards for foriegn nationals, saying that despite it being Tory party policy to oppose them, it was xenophobic of us to even mention it.
So it’s perhaps a surprise that the Tories first press release in this campaign was about the need to reduce immigration.
Strangely it’s now been airbrushed from history, having disappeared from the Tories by-election news archive in an impressively Orwellian piece of doublethink.
Still, these things are harder to hide than just deleting them from your website, especially when you’ve got your friend Iain Dale to promote it on his blog… so here’s a quote from the first Tory Press release of the campaign, a personal letter from Tory candidate Edward Timpson.
“Do you believe that the net level of immigration should be reduced?
I believe that this government has failed to give local public services the support they need to cope with a rising population… so we need to plan properly for increases in population, and reduce the overall level of net immigration”
So who’s running the xenophobic campaign? The people calling for less immigration and dog whistling about how bad it is for local services or the people calling for foriegn nationals to have ID cards, in line with the party policy which we’ve stood on for the last two elections and which was opposed by the Tories at their annual conference last year?
The Tories have also been flat out lying about Labour. Telling journalists we’ve been calling people at 4am pretending to be tories.
This is a lie. It’s a lie that has two useful components - It’s both re-usable (this briefing has been done before) and unprovable – how can Labour prove that they haven’t been phoning people up like this? The fact journalists have swallowed this stuff shows how much they want to believe the Tory campaign machine.
So who else is ”running a class war campaign”? Surely not the sainted Lib Dems, whose champions despise that sort of thing.
Strange then that Lib Dem leaflets here in Crwe feature quotes like this one prominently…
“Out of touch Teddy? Conservative millionaire Edward Timpson is looking increasingly out of touch with hard-working families people in Crewe and Nantwich. Edward’s family business has a turnover of £100 million – and his parents bought him a race horse for his 30th birthday”
Nor would the Lib dems dog whistle on immigration, being far to pure for that. So it must have been an evil gremlin who inserted these words into a Lib Dem campaign leaflet.
“Rising immigration is adding pressure to our overstretched schools and local NHS”
So, yes- it’s a roughty, toughty campaign.
Except for one thing. No-one, not Tory journalists or leftie ones seems to be interested in asking the tories any hard questions.
After all their candidate stands to benefit from a Tory tax cut worth hundreds of thousands to him and his family, but won’t say if he thinks that’s a better way of spending money than a tax cut for local families.
Their candidate says he’s opposed to Post Office cuts, but won’t tell David Cameron he should sack his Post Office spokesman, who said the Tories would shrink the post office network.
Nor would the Tory candidate cut car tax, as his leaflets suggest- because his Leader has said he won’t.
Yet all the Tory candidate does in this campaign is nod supportively next to his leader, hardly saying a word while his boss does all the talking. He knows his place, I guess, and is backing Cameron not Crewe.
21 Comments
May 18, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Big news Conservatuves have not at all times been perfect.So what and the fact you cannot see the difrehce between a hugely supprted call for snse on Labour
May 18, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Having already decided that the narrative would be that ‘Gordon is on the ropes’, the media has done everything it can to fuel this by hindering Labour’s campaign and boosting the Conservatives in Crewe. Your article adds some welcome context to the hypocrisy of recent musings from the corporate media.
Labour must understand that they have no real friends in the media. On the same day that the national press was publishing a poll (they commissioned) showing a 10-point Tory lead, it was left to the lone voice of a crewe.tv reporter to exclaim that having been with the candidates, Labour was far from certain to lose.
Again and again, the press – not just the usual suspects of the Mail and Telegraph, but The Guardian and Independent too – have used their pages to attack Labour and puff up the Conservatives. It’s almost as if they’ve already written their articles declaring the ‘crisis’ that the loss of the by-election puts Gordon in. Nowhere will they write how much they were to blame for such an outcome, should it come about.
Accused of “class war” by Cameron, and ridiculed by the press, the ‘Tory toff’ issue is important. It really does matter whether your MP understands what it’s like to be hungry and broke. All the more so when the top issue for ordinary people is that they are in debt whilst prices are rising far more dramatically than the inflation figures indicate.
Just as somebody who has never been hungry, I mean not-eaten-for-days hungry, can not understand how all pervasive the concern about where the next meal might come from, a multi-millionaire can not understand how all consuming debt worries are.
May 18, 2008 at 3:57 pm
“Just as somebody who has never been hungry, I mean not-eaten-for-days hungry, can not understand how all pervasive the concern about where the next meal might come from, a multi-millionaire can not understand how all consuming debt worries are.”
Two points:
we do have a welfare state so there is no real excuse for anyone not eating.
and if muti- millionaires can not understand, how is the Labour Party going to when it is full of multi-millionaires.. and is funded by them as well?
Hypocrisy.
May 18, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I couldn’t afford to eat for days on end once … when I went to a Timpson’s Heel Bar to get a key cut and a pair of shoes re-soled. Would have been cheaper to buy a new lock and a new pair of shoes to boot.
Madasaish is of course mad to think that a Welfare State means there is no real excuse for anyone not eating.
Say your dad follows a nap in The Daily Mail, loses and drowns his sorrows with the rest of his Giro over “low stakes poker” and “pool hustling” at £5 a corner down the Conservative Club.
Why would the mother and kids not have your sympathy on that one?
This is just banter. It often happens in by-elections, From all sides. Post Ted and Dave protest too much.
May 18, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Posh Ted …
May 18, 2008 at 5:49 pm
This is pitiful stuff. Yours is the bigoted, one-track campaign. Blaming the meeja for spotting this, cuts no ice.
May 18, 2008 at 6:08 pm
I too was in Crewe over the weekend and agree with you entirely. Interestingly enough I wrote a response to John Harris’s piece in last week’s Guardian, was promised that it would be posted on CiF but it is yet to appear.
To read what I have written click on the link below.
Mike
http://mike-ion.blogspot.com/2008/05/labour-campaign-in-crewe.html
May 18, 2008 at 8:03 pm
“a multi-millionaire can not understand how all consuming debt worries are.”
So we should ditch Lord Sainsbury then and David Miliband who is far from poor?
The ‘toff’ campaign is the most appalling and embarrassing campaign and as a Labour party member I ashamed of it.
May 18, 2008 at 8:09 pm
the people calling for foreign nationals to have ID cards, in line with the party policy which we’ve stood on for the last two elections and which was opposed by the Tories at their annual conference last year?
You are , droog. The Conservative Party oppose ID cards on cost and Libertarian grounds , that’s for everyone as you well know , not just this ‘awful Poles ’ of whom you are so suspicious . We deplore your miscalculation of EU migration , your lies about numbers and inadequate funding . We also want a cap on net migration and would not have encouraged aggressive settlement .
If we were persuaded that there was case for ID cards we would be highly averse topicking on blameless immigrant communities first to approach fait accompli .New Labour decided to dog tag the foreigners only to ease their authoritarian and expensive white elephant through the Commons . (ooops another failure )
So you have introduced tale of Labour stupidity callous disregard for the English and sly deployment of prejudice and disarray .In this context you claim that Conservatives are not being nasty enough to those Poles who are , you sat , almost certainly cheating or stealing or something .I really think Hopi you have badly underestimated both the memory and intelligence of the voters . Obviously it is trying to use bigotry but as I said it it the sheer moronic incoherence of this nasty ad hoc spite that takes my breath away and nothing you have written changes that . Why …BECAUSE YOU MISSED OUT EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED BEFORE YESTERDAY….
well on that basis by all means lets try this fresh young Brown..
PS Those are silly questions and perfectly easy to answer. The fact no–one is interested is not ,as you seem to imagine because of some Press plot but because nothing you say makes any sense in the first place . I think people have just got bored with Brownite slippery New Lab babble ….. Why did he call the election off ? Why did he remove the 10p rate ? Why did he borrow £2.7biollion ? Why did he sneak out of the EU referendum? I doubt there ids anyone who does not know the answers and if you keep blethering on with no reference to the plausible , people just stop listening .
Start re establishing credibility or take up origami . You are wasting your time.
May 18, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Newmania, I sometimes wonder if you speed type without pausing to think.
Anyway, my party (with a minority who disagree) support ID cards. The first people to get them, for perfectly sensible reasons, are foriegn nationals. The tories in october last year specifically said they were opposed to this.
How on earth the tories can claim that supporting Id cards is xenophobic but calling for less immigration somehow isn’t is well beyond me – but hey – I don’t mind it from tories.
They’re supposed to attack us, fair or foul. No it’s the useful idiots on my own side that bother me…
May 18, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Chris Gale. I’m a Labour party member and I’m not ashamed of it.
Tories circling around that constituency appealing for the votes of Labour supporters/voters who they routinely and regularly label feckless, client state, workshy and scroungers – it’s their vile hypocricy that’s something to be sickened and ashamed of, not a bit of silly toff name calling.
And sorry? Have you read anything that Hopi has written? Have a look at Dale and his very revealing post, and Chris Paul, and follow some of the links – there’s more going on than a bit of name calling, and attempting to stand (alone) on the high ground won’t cut it in N/C
May 18, 2008 at 9:41 pm
The first people to get them, for perfectly sensible reasons, are foriegn nationals. The tories in october last year specifically said they were opposed to this.
How on earth the tories can claim that supporting Id cards is xenophobic but calling for less immigration somehow isn’t is well beyond me – but hey – I don’t mind it from tories.
No Hopi there is no reason for any group to be the first to get them least of all the Poles who are the issue in Crewe. ( You keep forgetting that context don’t you ) I have told you why it is foreign nationals ,as if you did not know perfectly well. Brown style sleazy politics .We oppose ID cards that’s all . And take no part in your cynical use of bigotry to dog tag Britain by increment .
You have used our opposition to ID cards to imply that the Conservative Party are less keen on cracking down on Polish welfare scroungers , illegals and assorted social problems associated with New Labour`s torrential immigration in Crewe . This is insulting to the meanest intelligence for reasons I am tired of explaining mostly because I simply cannot believe you are as dumb as you are pretending to be .
Additionally however it is vindictive to the blameless Poles who are doing exactly what Labour Policy intended them to do albeit in far greater numbers . All your fault .The fact your are befuddled by the distinction between a firm immigration Policy and attacking minorities in our midst so as to benefit from local tensions you have created says more about you than money ever can. And if you are still confused I `m sorry but no–one else is and |I can only suspect a recent bang to the head.
And another thing unlike you I am not paid to Parrot whatever some Party tells me to . And I do not support everything the Cameroons dream up so don’t include me in your swivel eyed legion of mouthpieces . Newspapers cannot afford to lose touch with their readership and that is why even those addicted to socialism are starting to think of kicking the dead man out of the balloon. It will not be long before you are pretending you thought they were right all along .
I will be around to remind you
May 19, 2008 at 6:20 am
unlike you I am not paid to Parrot whatever some Party tells me to .
ahem …that may have been a tad unfair .
May 19, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Where to start Hopi?
“The Tories are accussing Labour of running a “class war campaign” after they repeatedly attacked Labour’s by-election candidate in Brent for living in “millionaires row”. Oddly, I don’t remember Andrew Rawnsley, John Harris or Quentin Letts frothing with rage and declaring it the lowest point in the history of politics. Funny that.”
Not that funny when you remember that Labour actively portrays itself as the party of ordinary working people, it defines itself with reference to class and social background. Consequently, highlighting the incongruity between a Labour candidate and the voters they actively court is a legitimate line of attack – it speaks directly to hypocrisy and double standards. In recent times the Tories have never claimed to speak for a particular class, vested interest or section of society (I know what you’re thinking but you’re view on the outcome of their policies is irrelevant here – it’s the pitch we’re talking about which is class neutral as a matter of historical fact). So highlighting the wealth of a Tory candidate is different – it’s low and dirty and not that much different to highlighting religion or race because you know it stirs hostility.
“So who’s running the xenophobic campaign? The people calling for less immigration and dog whistling about how bad it is for local services or the people calling for foriegn nationals to have ID cards, in line with the party policy which we’ve stood on for the last two elections and which was opposed by the Tories at their annual conference last year?”
I think you’ve just got this wrong Hopi – asking foreign nationals to carry ID cards (‘branded’ you might call it) and scaring voters with the suggestion that Tories would let ‘THEM’ disappear in our midst unidentified is simply far more xenophobic than simply pointing out the need to plan effectively for their arrival. Labour politicians up to and including the PM have endorsed the need to plan better for immigration numbers so it’s simply nonsense to suggest that the Tory line is somehow xenophobic. If I’m honest I don’t think either campaign deserves that tag but if any does it isn’t the Tory one.
I always worried what ‘writing as a loyal Labour supporter’ meant Hopi – committed to party but clear-headed enough to criticise when needed or blind partisan. This post suggests the latter
May 19, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Cassilis- This campaign (and all other by-election campaigns, truth be told) is tough business. I’ve never been at a by-election where you aren’t disgusted at the chicanery of your opponents – while being certain that your opponents are disgusted at yours.
As I say, I don’t mind that.
I don’t even mind the tories trying to get up a set of stories that are demonstrably hypocritical (like the millionaires row stuff) or laughable in policy terms- like the immigration stuff.
(by the way, I can only wonder at the process by which a statement clearly saying we should “reduce immigration” is shorn of its actual meaning and left merely as “simply plan effectively” by sensible people going out of their way to be fair to the Tories, while going equally out of their way to give labour a shoeing.)
No, what I mind is the double standard being applied by people on the left. Tories and Lib dems campaign on someones background – As I’ve shown they have – not a word.
We do it and you’d think the Gracchi were rising.
On your second paragraph- it’s a curious double standard you set out. It’s OK to judge Labour candidates by their roots and background because we’re a party of the working classes – but it’s not OK to do that for the Tories because they claim to be a party of all (stress on the claim there).
Therefore if the Tories do something that “stirs hostility” against labour candidates for being privileged it’s allowed, but we should be prevented from doing the exact same thing?
Sorry, that makes no sense to me at all. It’s one rule for them… Unless it’s a vice versa thing- would we be allowed to attack Tory candidates for their background, but only if they were born poor?
May 19, 2008 at 6:04 pm
This is all very familiar to me from the tory campaign I witnessed in London.
1. Accusing opponents of what you have done or are doing yourself.
2. Inconvenient press releases being posted down the memory hole.
3. Inventing stories about ‘push-polling’ phone calls and the like when your own campaign team (Lynton Crosby in this case) has a known record for using them themselves.
4. Acting hurt to the press at being so cruelly treated by those nasty Labour campaigners.Boo hoo.
I guess this is standard campaigning practice from the Tories now after it was proved to work in London.It’s just surprising that the press lap it up so unquestioningly.
May 19, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Just out of interest Hopi Sen, when does that leaflet above date from? It certainly does not look recent. Just a year will do. Thanks!
May 19, 2008 at 7:08 pm
As I mention in the post, it’s from the Brent by-election. I think that was 2003.
and please, call me Hopi. Using my last name like that kind of looks wierd…
May 19, 2008 at 8:30 pm
[...] in Crewe 19May08 In spite of the evidence to suggest the Tories have (quelle surprise), been practicing rank hypocrisy in their battle for [...]
May 19, 2008 at 9:41 pm
There is no double standard – if you make something (in this case class) a defining aspect of your party’s identity or central to your policy platform and then conventiently ignore it when electoral expediency calls (as Labour did in Brent) then you deserve criticism. Tell me how a similar charge can be levelled against the Tories here for fielding a wealthy candidate? It can’t.
“(by the way, I can only wonder at the process by which a statement clearly saying we should “reduce immigration” is shorn of its actual meaning and left merely as “simply plan effectively” by sensible people going out of their way to be fair to the Tories, while going equally out of their way to give labour a shoeing.)”
The statement calls for both effective planning and a reduction, in that order. Seems very straightforward and fair to me and I wasn’t trying to divest it of any meaning. As you know I always ‘go out of my way’ to be fair to all parties and I’m certainly not trying to give Labour a ’shoeing’ here. The reason Labour supporting writers such as Rawnsley are still attacking the party over this campaign is that they can see through the partisan fog that still clouds your vision Hopi – Labour have overstepped a mark here because the loss of Crewe would have such symbolic resonance in the media (probably too much actually).
May 27, 2008 at 6:39 pm
“The Tories are apparently disgusted that Labour mentioned ID cards for foriegn nationals, saying that despite it being Tory party policy to oppose them, it was xenophobic of us to even mention it.
So it’s perhaps a surprise that the Tories first press release in this campaign was about the need to reduce immigration.
Strangely it’s now been airbrushed from history, having disappeared from the Tories by-election news archive in an impressively Orwellian piece of doublethink.”
The Tories being wrong doesn’t make us right. I oppose compulsory ID cards in the first place, but the notion that they are only to be given to ‘foreigners’ disgusts me even more.
The tories are clearly being disingenuous, and I’m sure that were they in office, they would be enacting the very same piece of legislation.
Which is exactly, in my view, what makes it right to vote against it!