The Conservatives have got a comprehensive plan of attack that will shape political discussion for the next five years. It is about security and it relies on Labour doing as much of the work as the Tories and the media.
In 2010, after the election of the last Labour leader, the Tories were very quick to claim it was Labour Welfare overspending that caused the need for Austerity. They were so good at this, that this complete factual falsehood was never challenged, at least not by Labour.
The Anti Austerity movement had to fight a lie for 5 years with no support from Labour.
A good deal of people were persuaded from the beginning that it was poor people’s fault in 2010 and that only increased thanks to the rise of poverty porn and non stop debates about scroungers and shirkers.
The big debate for the next five years is going to be about peace, militarism and security. Clearly if we want to live in a more secure world we need to stop arming and bombing everyone.
Unfortunately Labour are back to eating their young – Polly Toynbee on Marr this morning joining a parade of Labour big hitters trying to undermine the new Labour leader. Their big red lines – the first words out of all of their mouths when asked about the leadership election – have been about NATO and Trident.
‘We need to be realistic about NATO and Trident’ they say. This ties in nicely with the Conservatives plan of attack.
“Not so long ago, the big Conservative word was Freedom… But that has now changed. “The big word, the linking theme,” one Minister told me, “was Security”. The long Conservative election campaign takes as its starting-point the view that most voters primarily want greater security, rather than more freedom.” CONSERVATIVE HOME
This relentless focus on a core concept is a legacy of Lynton Crosby’s influence on the campaign, but there was a time when the vanilla version – ‘We’re on the right track, Labour are scary’ – didn’t really seem to be cutting through.
What turbo-charged it was when the party managed to link Miliband to the far-left posturing and poisonous nationalism of the SNP. ‘A weak Labour Party held to ransom by socialist splitters’ proved a much more potent combination, and seems to have tipped the balance in a significant number of vital seats.
Corbyn’s victory has given this strategy a whole new lease on life. If the looming threat of a Lab-Nat pact was scary before, how much more potent will it be after up to five years of the two parties supporting the same far-left agenda in the Commons?
We can see Priti Patel beginning this relentless attack on LBC yesterday.
Regardless of our personal opinions on Labour, we cannot allow the Conservatives present a pacifist agenda as a threat to national security. Empirical facts, logic and plain human compassion tell us that the reverse is true.
It should be clearly and immediately rebutted. It should be made obvious that the real threat to our security comes from those who would use military force around the world for the benefits of a tiny few.
The task starts now.