The Guardian view on how Labour responds to David Cameron’s speech
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Version 0 of 1. Labour listeners will not have enjoyed David Cameron’s speech. They will have been dismayed by the contrast between the prime minister’s immediate command at the Birmingham podium and their own leader’s flat opening in Manchester last week. They will have noted, too, the ruthless Cameron aim on the opposition’s twin weak spots: economic trust and Ed Miliband’s perceived lack of readiness to take up residence in No 10. By forgetting to include his planned remarks on the deficit in Manchester, Mr Miliband had almost invited an assault on both fronts at once – and Mr Cameron was not above twisting this two-pronged knife. These occasions can shape standing in the media, which can matter very much, but shrewd politicians know that few of their constituents will have been listening. The real significance of both the Manchester and the Birmingham speeches is not the contrast between stage fright and limelight bravado, but the territory that each address staked out. In this respect, the parallels were striking. Just as Mr Miliband had talked about extra nurses over explaining how Britain could pay its way, Mr Cameron mostly ignored social policy in favour of throwing lumps of red meat to the Conservative crowd. The two tribes, both strikingly unpopular by any historical standards, are both, to some degree, in their comfort zone. Abstract analysis might suggest that all this presents an opening for the Lib Dems among disgruntled middle-of-the-road sorts. But even amid the diminished band of activists preparing to assemble in Glasgow, there are few illusions that Nick Clegg, tainted by years of compromise in a Conservative-dominated government, can tap the disaffection of the hour. Ukip looks like a more plausible beneficiary of all the indignation. Since Gordon Brown presided over the great crash, any Labour opposition would face challenges in the recovery. A sharper shadow cabinet, however, could shield itself better against the sort of assault launched on Wednesday, and could channel more of the rage about a decade of stuck pay. Labour should frankly confess to one catastrophic error, not on the deficit but on bank regulation, and ensure that the country understands, too, that the Conservatives were at that time urging a more monstrous blunder still. It could point out that, as the prime minister talks up tax cuts for high earners, he also reveals that the cuts were never purely a matter of pragmatism in a crisis, but were indeed always ideological in intention. But to truly convince anyone that he has, as he claims, a plan that goes beyond public expenditure, Mr Miliband needs to start singing songs about spurring investment and rebuilding the banks, tunes which he knows the Tories would never hum. |