Saturday 9 April 2016

Dave, Panama, and the Press

As readers know, I'm not a politician and when I worked in politics, it wasn't at the spaddy level where you're actually listened to. Yet me, a lowly ex-bag carrier responsible for caseloads in an obscure constituency knows the first rule on resolving a political crisis is to wrap it up as quickly as possible. The longer a story is attracting headlines, the more it becomes a talking point in the broadcast media, and the greater the likelihood you and/or your party will suffer reputation damage.

These basics have proven foreign to our beleaguered PM and his coterie of expensively clueless advisors. The self-inflicted difficulties Dave has faced over Daddy's offshore doings was excruciating, and has proven to be his most painful week in office. Yes, worse and more damaging than budgetgeddon and their disingenuous hand-wringing about the steel industry. Dave knew his offshore offloading was going to look bad, so he should have dumped it all at the start of the week rather than let political enemies take chunks out of him. Some PR professional he's turned out to be.

There are a couple of things worth noting about the coverage. Over the last six years, the majority of the press and broadcast media have given the Tories a relatively easy ride, at least compared to that received by Labour. Because the environment was relatively benign to them, it has allowed top Tories - particularly Dave, Osborne, and Johnson - to inculcate complacent habits. Johnson thinks he can turn up to an interview unprepared and dribble oh-so comedic inanities and get taken seriously. Osborne can't resist kicking the poor and disabled, because he thinks the media are forever onside. And this week Dave made a similar calculation over his tax affairs and was found wanting.

What he doesn't get is the priorities of the Tory-supporting sections of media have shifted. They will always cheer him against the Bolshevists on the benches opposite, but right now, little else. Dave has forgotten there is a referendum about Britain's EU membership on, and the majority of the Tory press for their own sectional reasons want Britain out. They also know a good chunk of the electorate who don't pay close attention to politics, but lent their votes to the Tories last year quite like Dave and are inclined to take what he says at face value. He is the Prime Minister, after all. In this respect, his person is an asset to the Remain campaign. For the ragbag of outers, the Panama story is a God send. Damage Dave, damage the chances of us remaining in the EU.

Will it work? If it doesn't, it won't be because the far-outers like The Mail haven't had a damn good try. Yet their scorched earth approach presents them with not a few problems too. If the Tory press want to go hard on offshore stories and tax dodging, bring it. The people damaged by this line of attack aren't just Dave, but our chancy chancellor, a lot of Conservative MPs, the various interests who bankroll the party and, not least, the proprietors of the Tory press themselves. What can you say? Privilege makes you stupid.

If Dave is wondering when this is going to stop, someone will have to break it to him that it won't. Between now and referendum day he's slowly discovering what it's like when the gutter media have got it in for you.

3 comments:

BCFG said...

Let us be absolutely crystal clear, the Yvette Cooper loving centre left did everything it could to facilitate and help the super rich and wealthy to move funds offshore into tax havens where they could increase the Yacht fund and decrease the money going to, for example, Kidney dialysis machines. And let us be even more clear, if the centre left manage to get into power again they will continue to facilitate and help the super rich and wealthy to move funds offshore into tax havens where they could increase the Yacht fund and decrease the money going to, for example, Kidney dialysis machines.

The more time off from politics the Yvette Cooper loving centre left take is to the betterment of humanity.

Now onto Dave.

The Prime Minister, yes prime, not secondary or penultimate but prime minister, not simple minister but prime minister, and moreover British Prime Minister, not the Prime Minister of Gotham city or Westeros or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or Hyrule but of Britain, used financial trickery to move money from the British state, not 808 state or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or the state of the Seven Kingdoms but the British state, you know the state that among other things funds the equipment used by British troops, not the Orc army nor the members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant nor the alliance of Elves, Hobbits, Dwarfs and Humans on a quest for the ring but British troops.

Yes the Prime Minister of Britain used financial technicalities in order to avoid paying money to the British state. Just read that sentence and try to believe it!

The question is this, is David Cameron an operative of ISIS or Al Qaeda or a Russian agent? And if so what radicalised this man so much that he would put want British troops to be underfunded in the battlefield? Who exactly is this guy working for? I want answers, I demand answers! I say rendition and torture and let us get the truth out of this traitor.

And let us open the entire book on the finances of everyone, i want a list of those who are deliberately siphoning money away from the British state and I want this register published on the internet and moreover I want those on the register to answer to the people!

If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear!

jim mclean said...

By concentrating on famous individuals the corporate MSM divert attention from the billions the tax collectors are losing out on as they ignore some interestin cases in the Pananama leak. If international Capital want access to the nations internal market they should pay for that access. We are reaching a point when where there is no free capital to keep the market operating and the most dominate corporations are stifling the market. Although it is interesting the the "geeks" are doing more damage to the system than the "revolutionaries

Metatone said...

A bit of a tangent, but it seems to me that recent events (budget, Tata Steel & now Panama papers) show how much "the weather" is made by events + the media. I don't think Jeremy Corbyn is a great candidate for PM, but watching Cameron struggle is a great reminder that actually the individual is less important than a lot of the commentary would suggest. The tide of political ideology, overlaid by the sweep of events and the reaction of the media to them is a big part of what makes someone look "in charge" or "hapless."