Cameron's attacks on Miliband may end up helping Labour

In 1983 Margaret Thatcher did not stand outside Number 10 and attack Michael Foot as a weak leader. She knew better than to lower herself to the same level as a weak opponent.

Which is what makes the prime minister’s latest round of personal attacks on Ed Miliband so interesting. Cameron’s language towards him is increasingly searing, having just launched his campaign accusing Miliband’s Labour of being “hypocritical holier-than-thou, hopeless, sneering socialists” alongside frequent attacks on his “weakness”.

But the fact that Cameron feels the need to attack Miliband as much as he talks up the economy tells us something important about the prime minister’s own confidence, or lack thereof.

Because, simply put, winners tend to dismiss their opponents rather than elevate them. Yet the last week of political skirmishing, debates and media hits has seen an unusually rattled Cameron firing soundbite after soundbite at Miliband.

In contrast to the calm and confident Cameron of yesteryear, the leader who proclaimed “let sunshine win the day”, Cameron 2015 seems weirdly obsessed with his supposedly too-weak-for-the-job rival. Either this is a remarkable lack of message discipline on the prime minister’s part (it’s never a good idea for a politician to waste time obsessing over their opponent) or, more likely, its Conservative strategy to focus on Miliband as the weak link in Labour’s campaign.

And that obsession/strategy reveals Cameron’s own fears and belies the validity of his own attacks. For if Miliband were truly the weak creature the Tory campaign chief, Lynton Crosby, is so desperate to portray he wouldn’t need to resort to the scale and frequency of exaggerated attacks.

Perhaps the other part of the problem for Tory strategy is that they lack a sense of mission in this election. Scratch beneath the surface of their “long-term economic plan” rhetoric and the Conservative campaign is remarkably lacking in forward-facing policy. Rather Crosby’s campaign seems to be the constant repetition of national economic numbers and ad hominem attacks on Miliband.

The Labour leader has learned to keep his cool under fire through a mixture of humour (self-effacing jokes about bacon sandwiches) and dismissal (“am I tough enough to be prime minister? Hell yes”). At the heart of this approach was Miliband’s own decision last July to make his “let Ed be Ed” speech in which he hung a lantern on his image problem and stressed his authenticity instead. This clarity has aided him in his presentation to the electorate as a prime ministerial candidate of substance rather than spin, proud of his focus on policy rather than press and willing to laugh off Wallace & Gromit jokes.

By staying calm and cool during last week’s TV “debate” even in the teeth of severe Jeremy Paxman goading, Miliband was able to exceed expectations and bolster his leadership numbers in the polls.

Perhaps Crosby should heed the advice of his political hero Richard Nixon: “in politics, never shoot down” as Cameron’s fire on Miliband may yet end up helping rather than hurting the Labour leader.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/2015/mar/31/camerons-attacks-on-miliband-may-end-up-helping-labour?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

I always think it quite stupid and unnecessary to try and score points off an adversary.

Some MPs think it helps their case. On the contrary I think it makes them look childish and churlish and it turns me off voting for them!

eddie wrote:I always think it quite stupid and unnecessary to try and score points off an adversary.

Some MPs think it helps their case. On the contrary I think it makes them look childish and churlish and it turns me off voting for them!

People try to score points on their adversaries all the time and nobody is different on this, it is very much human nature Eddie

Brasidas wrote:

eddie wrote:I always think it quite stupid and unnecessary to try and score points off an adversary.

Some MPs think it helps their case. On the contrary I think it makes them look childish and churlish and it turns me off voting for them!

People try to score points on their adversaries all the time and nobody is different on this, it is very much human nature Eddie

Hmmm I guess if it isn't an important election or soemthing....but I never think it's a good look as its so obviously a childish rant!

eddie wrote:

Brasidas wrote:


People try to score points on their adversaries all the time and nobody is different on this, it is very much human nature Eddie

Hmmm I guess if it isn't an important election or soemthing....but I never think it's a good look as its so obviously a childish rant!

All politicians do it to each other all the time, because if you can get one over on your opponent their credibility is damaged momentarily. You see this tactic used in countless debates, all being wrong because it sways from the points of the debate unless the person is directly a part of that issue, then it has every validity in making.

eddie wrote:

Brasidas wrote:

eddie wrote:I always think it quite stupid and unnecessary to try and score points off an adversary.

Some MPs think it helps their case. On the contrary I think it makes them look childish and churlish and it turns me off voting for them!

People try to score points on their adversaries all the time and nobody is different on this, it is very much human nature Eddie

Hmmm I guess if it isn't an important election or soemthing....but I never think it's a good look as its so obviously a childish rant!

It's not, you look at someone doing that and naturally wonder whether you want that type of person in power. It looks like they lack perspective and emotional control.

It's important that candidates distinguish themselves from one another, but they can do it without sounding like a grade-school bully

Brasidas wrote:

eddie wrote:

Brasidas wrote:


People try to score points on their adversaries all the time and nobody is different on this, it is very much human nature Eddie

Hmmm I guess if it isn't an important election or soemthing....but I never think it's a good look as its so obviously a childish rant!

All politicians do it to each other all the time, because if you can get one over on your opponent their credibility is damaged momentarily. You see this tactic used in countless debates, all being wrong because it sways from the points of the debate unless the person is directly a part of that issue, then it has every validity in making.

That's what Im sayign actually Didge. It is childish and deflects from the issue.

Ben_Reilly wrote:

eddie wrote:

Brasidas wrote:

eddie wrote:I always think it quite stupid and unnecessary to try and score points off an adversary.

Some MPs think it helps their case. On the contrary I think it makes them look childish and churlish and it turns me off voting for them!

People try to score points on their adversaries all the time and nobody is different on this, it is very much human nature Eddie

Hmmm I guess if it isn't an important election or soemthing....but I never think it's a good look as its so obviously a childish rant!

It's not, you look at someone doing that and naturally wonder whether you want that type of person in power. It looks like they lack perspective and emotional control.

It's important that candidates distinguish themselves from one another, but they can do it without sounding like a grade-school bully

Exactement.

For a while now, Miliband has been self deprecating and shown a mix of humour and steel in the face of some brutal inquisitions.
Whether you agree with his policies or not, it is hard to argue that he has been the more controlled , articulate, persuasive and rational speaker out of him and Cameron, who seems to be getting pretty poor advice from Crosby.

Either that or he really believes he is more elite and superior than everyone else.
He just comes over as a posh bully boy.

Cameron is no more "posh" than most of the front bench Labour mob!

Wrong again Nicko

Although this sort of elite education was not evenly shared across parties - 59% of Labour MPs went to a comprehensive, compared to 30% of Lib Dems and 26% of Conservatives.
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/aug/28/elitism-in-britain-breakdown-by-profession

eddie wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:

It's not, you look at someone doing that and naturally wonder whether you want that type of person in power. It looks like they lack perspective and emotional control.

It's important that candidates distinguish themselves from one another, but they can do it without sounding like a grade-school bully

Exactement.

They are all complete rubish, so could not care less here where they were educated. There is not one decent person among any of them that we could choose to care for this country. Has one of the so called future wanna be PM's ever mentioned anything at all on any of the huge amount of tax's that have not been paid or sent abroad. What about the chld fiddle=ing criminals among them all, how could they so much as look at these monsters, let alone work and plan with such putrid slime. Ugh, they all make me So why and who in their right mind, would ever want any one of these sewer scrapings as a leader.