Lucky viewers of BBC One this evening will have seen the Conservative party’s brand new political broadcast. Entitled ‘Securing a better future for your family’ — watch above — the saccharine video is designed to soften the hearts of even the most ardent Tory haters. Loaded with messages about abolishing the deficit, cutting income tax, investing in the NHS, creating millions of apprenticeships and extending Help to Buy, the PPB is targeted at one demographic: families.
The Tories are often accused of purely concentrating on the ‘grey vote’, with messages and policies designed to appeal to pensioners, who are much more likely to actually vote. But this broadcast features young families, explaining why stability, growth and jobs are so important for their futures. One family of note who make an appearance is the Camerons. At the end of this video, the Prime Minister is seen dining with his wife Samantha and their children. This is possibly the first time since he became Prime Minister the Cameron family have been filmed for political purposes. Usually, it is just David and Samantha.
Labour has also released a new political broadcast, which airs on BBC Two tomorrow evening, featuring the actor Martin Freeman. In another slick production, Freeman coincidentally says the Tories have ‘sod all to offer the young’ and explains he is backing Labour because ‘they start from the right place – community, compassion, fairness – I think all the best things about this country’.
It has taken just one day of campaigning for a PPB to unravel. Guido has been digging into Freeman’s tax affairs and found that in 2013, Freeman ‘allowed’ his partner to go bankrupt and thus avoided a significant tax bill. This episode was described as an ‘absolute disgrace’ by the Daily Mirror. It’s not quite the War of Jennifer’s Ear but Labour will take some comfort that the viewership of these broadcasts tends to be on the small side.
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