In the 1970s, you waited months to have a telephone line installed, your car broke down, shops closed for lunch, and you couldn’t get a decent coffee without flying to Milan. It was, frankly, all a bit rubbish.
Once the label of incompetence attaches itself to an organisation, it is very hard to remove. It becomes a magnifying glass through which every failing and fault is made more huge. It creates, to use the political communicators’ favourite word, a ‘narrative’. Labour leader John Smith knew this when he addressed the House of Commons on 9 June 1993, in a debate on the Tory government’s collapsing economic strategy. It was just moments after ex-chancellor Norman Lamont had given his resignation statement. The peroration included the lines:
‘In response to the plummeting popularity of the Administration itself, revealed at Newbury and in the shire county elections, we have the Prime Minister’s botched reshuffle. If we were to offer that tale of events to the BBC light entertainment department as a script for a programme, I think that the producers of “Yes, Minister” would have turned it down as hopelessly over the top. It might have even been too much for “Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ’em”. The tragedy for us all is that it is really happening-it is fact, not fiction. The man with the non-Midas touch is in charge. It is no wonder that we live in a country where the Grand National does not start and hotels fall into the sea.’
Those last lines also found their way into Smith’s leader’s speech at Labour party conference later that year. They refer to the fiasco of the Grand National at Aintree in 1993 when 30 out of 39 riders failed to realise a false start had been called, and carried on to the finish line. The hotel Smith refers to was the Holbeck Hall Hotel in Scarborough, which attracted international coverage when soil erosion caused it to collapse into the North Sea. Even the most vehement of John Major’s critics would demur from blaming him personally for the false start of the Grand National, or the erosion of the North Yorkshire coast. Yet John Smith knew that if he could link the sense in the country that things were going awry with the failings of the government, it would be a much more powerful condemnation than a recitation of unemployment figures or business failures.
Ed Miliband, as Harriet Harman’s adviser in 1993 (when she was shadow chief secretary to the treasury), was listening closely to Smith’s speech. As was Lamont’s ex-special adviser David Cameron. Both young men would have recognised immediately the potency of such an attack.
That’s why we’ve been hearing the word ‘incompetent’ so much this week. Ed knows that once a government is seen to be incompetent, it is almost impossible to reverse. Tim Montgomerie wrote at ConservativeHome that ‘the Labour leadership has decided to attempt to destroy the coalition by painting it as incompetent. It is a good tactic and Downing Street is aware that it is potentially deadly.’
People loved or loathed Thatcher and Blair, but no-one thought they couldn’t do the job. This government, because of the nature of the coalition, and the inexperience of ministers and their advisers, looks tired and out of control after only 10 months.
William Hague has provided most of the ammunition this week. The capture of the iconic SAS by Libyan farmers is a blow to national pride. The rescue mission reliant on charter flights which didn’t turn up adds to the chaos. The deputy prime minister who says he’s not sure whether he’s in charge or not. The new Downing Street spin doctor who misses the motorcade and has to hail a cab. The cull of special advisers who can’t cut it.
Every gaffe, fluff, and foul-up adds to the ‘incompetence’ narrative. I haven’t had a British Rail sandwich for 15 years, but the mere mention of them makes me think of stale bread and rubberised cheese. That’s what we need to do to the coalition – charge it with incompetence until it becomes part of the national psyche. When bland BBC comedies are making gags about incompetent coalition ministers, we’ll know we’ve succeeded.
People are fickle with all the cuts people will all remember Brown in the future and his ideas on running the country sadly after many years in labour I could not in all honesty vote for the party again
It is a trait of the Labour top brass.They jump in head first to score a political point. As the facts emerge,Labour’s top brass are left looking silly, opportunists and show NO ability to run the country,because of their knee jerk soundbites and constant opposition to EVERYTHING. Yes Miliband and his new boss Balls may get the upper hand for a few news bulletines,but leaders of this fine country they will NEVER be. The days of government by headlines are over. The people of this country will now go on and grow up,take responsibility for themselves(freedom from the bludgeoning state)and shun the likes of Miliband & Balls and their lead weight policies. Incompetence lies firmly and fairly at Labour’s door once again. It really does focus the minds of the public just who were running the country less than eleven months ago and just who HAS made massive in roads to fix it. Incompetence indeed,yet it is NOT the Coalition the public believe to be incompetent,it is the Labour party with their false promises that EVERYTHING can be fixed by throwing money at it,or the cuts/reforms are politically motivated when they are not or not needed when they clearly are. This,like all the previous ‘cunning plans’ cooked up by spin,half truths and scare tactics will of course fail,because as the country goes forward WITHOUT Labour dragging her down,more and more people will ignore the likes of Miliband,Balls & Co,who will be consigned to the political scrap heap. The times they are a changing? Already changed mate. Nice try though.
Looks like the spirit of Michael Howard is alive and kicking 🙂
British Rail sandwiches were triangular and curled up at the corners but at least we owned them and were not provided by some crummy company winning the franchise with the lowest tendered bid! Oh, happy days. I think the Comdens have lost the Civil Service with all these blistering attacks against the public sector, high paid officials and mega-pensions, etc, etc. Do they not know that the average local government pension, for example, is roughly £4000 pa? Probably, but do they care? No.
hhmmmmn ,all very foot stampy Holly but,methinks thee doth protest too much ! sounds as though it is yourself you are trying to convince ! nothing really intellectually coherent to say,I suppose you may be one of those ‘plants’ put in by the new Tory PR ? The country can focus their own minds dear ! not long now till May.
d.mcardle And your saying what?
which word did you not understand? !
You ain’t seen nothing yet. With the Lib/Dems about to force a U-Turn on Cameron’s flagship policy (Human rights) and forcing Lansley to make a U-Turn on the NHS coupled with all the above they are incompetent. Now once Labour decide whether they wish to finisih the flagging career of ‘Two Doors’ Clegg by supporting a no vote on the AV, and bringing about a General election that Cameron will certainly lose (again !!) or finishing Cameron (who never got started ) by supporting a Yes vote, the fun should really begin!!!
You ain’t seen nothing yet. With the Lib/Dems about to force a U-Turn on Cameron’s flagship policy (Human rights) and forcing Lansley to make a U-Turn on the NHS coupled with all the above they are incompetent. Now once Labour decide whether they wish to finisih the flagging career of ‘Two Doors’ Clegg by supporting a no vote on the AV, and bringing about a General election that Cameron will certainly lose (again !!) or finishing Cameron (who never got started ) by supporting a Yes vote, the fun should really begin!!!