The Spectator

A propaganda war

If you want to know about Labour’s election campaign, simply turn on a commercial radio station.

issue 20 March 2010

If you want to know about Labour’s election campaign, simply turn on a commercial radio station.

If you want to know about Labour’s election campaign, simply turn on a commercial radio station. Soon enough, you will hear an advertisement offering to help you lose weight, buy a car, claim more benefits, deal with door-to-door salesmen or stop smoking.

Who provides all these services? The government, of course. The covert message is that Gordon Brown cares and Labour, if re-elected, will look after you. The cap on election spending in Britain is £19 million, a sum that the Labour party cannot hope to raise. So instead, the Prime Minister is doing what he does best: helping himself to taxpayers’ money, in this case to advertise the virtues of his big government.

So far, the extent of this scandal has been anecdotal.

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