Watching David Miliband surrender all he gained over the summer, Labour rebels wound but not oust Brown and the Lib Dems having their conference overshadowed by Labour’s troubles it would be understandable if the Tories felt things were going just fine. But a close reading of today’s papers should jolt the Tories out of any sense of complacency and encourage those Labour MPs who are sitting on the fence to join in the rebellion.
There are three stories in today’s paper that the Labour attack machine would have used to hammer the Tories back in the day. First, and most seriously, there is The Sunday Times’ investigation into Lord Ashcroft’s funding of the Tories. It should be stressed that it is entirely legal. But as long as David Cameron cannot say whether Ashcroft is domiciled in this country for tax purposes the Tories will be politically vulnerable on this point.
Then there are two smaller stories that used cleverly could have dented Cameron’s image as a normal, approachable guy. The Sunday Telegraph reveals that Cameron was paid £20,000 for the interviews that he did with Dylan Jones for Cameron on Cameron. This money has, sensibly, been given to charity but Labour should have been able to have had a bit of fun with this to suggest that Cameron thinks he is a celebrity and that being paid for these interviews smacks of Cameron cashing in on his position. Journalists, who don’t like the idea of public figures receiving a fee for an interview, would have been receptive to this line of attack. Meanwhile, The Mail on Sunday reports that an old photograph of Cameron and one of his children was being used to promote Smythson products. Stephen Pound, the Labour MP, does provide a quote for the story. But in these financially tough times, the idea of a man who aspires to be Prime Minister promoting Christmas cards that, according to the Mail, retail at £409 for a100 is not something that is going to go down well with voters. (To be fair, it should be stressed that the image of Cameron was an old one and that the Camerons were not aware that it was featured on Smythson’s web site and accept that its use is “inappropriate”).
None of these stories are a magic bullet for Labour. But a Labour party that wasn’t led by someone who is a busted flush and which was more interested in fighting the external enemy than the internal one would have won the news cycle today.
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