Meanwhile, over on TikTok, they appear to have a completely different communications strategy, distinguished by actually having something critical to say about Farage:
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Across the west, conservatives are divided between those who support Trump and those who oppose him. The UK Conservatives have found a third position, which is simply to IMAGINE a version of Donald Trump and support that one.
It's oddly compelling how low information American swing voters have the same set of expressed concerns and views as Badenoch, Truss, Johnson et. al and the same 'I have seen this clip and I think maybe he means...the opposite?'
So, *I* am in group (i), but basically, surely everyone in the 'the number one concern of the UK government is defending our way of life' is either pro the real Donald Trump or anti the real Donald Trump. I see no evidence that there is a constituency for the 'We side with an invented Trump'.
Every party needs a Michael Fallon - someone who has been around, counts as a big enough name to get on the air but knows they are never going to be PM in their attack operation - who will just say anything, and Labour doesn't have that.
This is absolutely correct. The Starmer set-up had a huge blindspot about this. "oh, she's unpopular with some of our target voters". Who cares, the attack dog is always wildly unpopular with everyone in the focus groups!
In 2015, I sat in on several focus groups of Michael Fallon where the clip would play, the groups would just completely go for him. Why's he so nasty. Bit posh, isn't he? Seems cruel. Swear words sometimes used about what he'd said. Then someone would say 'but he's got a point about that'.
Ed Miliband is the least worst option they've got in the current Cabinet. Big name, waspish sense of humour and happy taking a difficult media round. Problem is he isn't naturally mean enough.
If it wasn't for the fact she's a plausible future PM, Rayner would be great at it.
I think Rayner would be great at it because she's a plausible future PM. But yes - maybe there's some way they could do a reverse Ludovico on Ed and turn him into a really vicious political street fighter.
While I agree with your overall comment on the need for an attack operation, it's worth saying no one bothers attacking the Tories with anything other than side swipes these days because they're irrelevant. As long as Badenoch remains LOTO, that will remain true. She's a self-defeating entity.
It works in the US, but for all its faults, UK media environment is infinitely better than the American one (for now at least). I guess the entire Tory strategy starts and ends on Twitter.
I suspect there is a lot more of that third position around than some are letting on as they condemn Trump's latest remarks about Ukraine, but somehow still think they don't have to engage with their massive and inescapable geopolitical consequences. A psychoanalyst would diagnose disavowal.
Well, they imagined a version of Brexit that didn’t exist but was very appealing and supported that, too. So they have form. Then they imagined a country that didn’t exist and ran an election campaign aiming at this latter day English Ruritania, too.
tbf they've had lots of practice in imagining a version of brexit and supporting that. Maybe they;re just more highly ski;;ed conservatives & the rest need to catch up?
It’s better but I’m not sure Curb Your Enthusiasm is the reference I’d pull off the shelf if I was going for floating Tory/Reform voter. Did it even get shown here?
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The real one is fathomlessly capricious.
Or, if not too busy and doesn't need to be an MP, Alastair Campbell?
But anyway. Why not McFadden? Too reasonable, maybe?
If it wasn't for the fact she's a plausible future PM, Rayner would be great at it.
It's really worth asking the question: why does Kemi Badenoch hate Britain so much?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/aug/02/jeremy-corbyn-urges-west-to-stop-arming-ukraine
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/medien/maybritt-illner-jens-spahn-donald-trump-usa-talkshow-tv-kritik-cdu-li.3188286