As Labour battles against the barrage of combination punches from the Gurkhas vote, MP expenses and the YouTube debacle it seems that one of the consistent weaknesses is No 10’s communications strategy. David Cameron and Michael Gove are obviously benefiting from Tory communications director Andy Coulson’s background in tabloid journalism in the same way that Tony Blair benefited from Alastair Campbell’s voracious attention to detail.
The period under Stephen Carter was not an inspiring one for Gordon Brown, but things picked up when he left. The YouTube fallout, in particular, reeks of poor communications advice. Cameron spent 10 years carrying Michael Green’s bags at Carlton Television and honed his skills at crisis communications. Gove has been a prominent journalist and delivered erudite performances on Radio 4’s Moral Maze for some time, as well as currently being a regular newspaper columnist. Both of them therefore know the importance of presentation. Cameron’s attack on Brown as ‘an analogue politician in a digital age’ is pure soundbite.
Brown’s administration will not be remembered for its soundbites. It may have deliberately moved away from this strategy in order to distance itself from the negative press Blair received about ‘spin’. ‘No time for a novice’ stands out as one of Brown’s more memorable phrases. Also ‘my children are people, not props’ was another one – both appearing in the same speech.
Tory fortunes turned around when George Osborne announced the policy of paying for a cut in inheritance tax by taxing non-doms a flat fee of £25,000. At the time, this move saw a turnaround in Tory fortunes, helped by the overblown speculation of Brown calling an early election. The Osborne policy was primarily a masterstroke in presentation, while Brown’s error was a failure in communications – a rumour spiralling out of control. The Tory policy tapped into the middle-class unhappiness with inheritance tax and the non-taxation of super-rich non-doms. The two were fused together in an easily digestible headline-grabbing piece of policy. Cameron appears to pay attention to the current tide of public sentiment. He is keen to be seen as tuned into the zeitgeist. The early use of Webcameron is an example. His attacks on Brown are often to accuse him of ‘playing politics’. Cameron’s response to the expenses publication was rapid reaction that diffused the situation.
Brown’s fightback in the buildup to a general election in a year’s time must be to focus on his communications strategy. He can use YouTube but his advisors need to be aware of how viral videos work. The growth in viral video viewership is so great it is mirroring the introduction of television in the 1950s. His advisers need at least to be aware of why Susan Boyle’s clip has clocked up 186 million viewers, why the Nike Hyperdunk campaign chose to use amateur-style footage and why the dancers in T-mobile’s successful ad were dressed as commuters. There are tried and tested means of deploying viral videos that work. Prince Charles’s rainforest clip used celebrities but ultimately could have been more effective.
Brown needs to remember how John Major’s soapbox presentation during the 1992 general election campaign worked in his favour against Neil Kinnock’s presidential-style Sheffield rally. Is Cameron’s implementation unit a similar piece of hubris, effectively an unelected government-in-waiting? As Campbell once said, if Cameron is going to be the next prime minister, then people need to look very hard at the kind of person he is. Why, for example, did he spend 10 years working in a senior PR role in Carlton Television, a job it is alleged that his mother-in-law, Lady Astor, helped him secure? It was a curious career choice for someone who wanted to serve the public good. It is less curious for someone who is interested in power and the means of attaining it.
Gove is always keen to praise Ed Balls’s own education in an attempt to distance him from more underprivileged students. Similarly, Brown should seek to constantly draw attention to Cameron’s PR decade and praise his ease with the media and soundbites. He could say: ‘Cameron talks about broken society and broken economy so much he’s like a broken record.’ Or: ‘The leader of the opposition loves living in a media bubble so much he should be called David Camera-On.’