Labour Attack Ads - And Reality

A sudden descent into the gutter by whoever is overseeing advertising for the Labour Party has taken many observers by surprise. More surprising is that, when called out for the suggestion that Rishi Sunak was somehow soft on child sexual exploitation, there was no apology or contrition, but a decision to very publicly double down. It will not end well for The Red Team.

When the advert attacking Sunak appeared - no doubt the claims made by Home Secretary Suella Braverman last weekend had something to do with it - the initial reaction of many was, like Paul Waugh of the i Paper, “Labour’s latest attack ad on @RishiSunak is truly appalling. Nothing can justify it and I assume it will be deleted. Like the grooming gangs/Savile memes of the far right going mainstream, this stuff cheapens our politics”. It’ll get deleted.

However, Carl Shoben of Survation reminded us “As a previous Labour strategy director, I guess I have to comment on that ad. Labour would have known it would cause outrage and that would have been its purpose. Political messages in ads can only cut through if people outside twitter talk about it. That’s been achieved here”. Although he didn’t think it was a good idea.

Not when the Party is 20 points ahead in the polls, and more mundane issues like the cost of living are likely to dominate the upcoming local election campaign. Why are they doing it? Someone told Kevin Schofield of the HuffPost “They [Aus Labour and US Dems] told us to ignore the people who expect you to be kind losers and fight as viciously as the Conservatives”.

But, as Alex Nunns pointed out, “Labour put out a baseless attack ad blaming Sunak for not locking up all adults convicted of sexually assaulting children. But it appears Starmer himself sat on the sentencing council responsible, and minutes seem to show this issue was discussed”. Oh dear!

Worse, the dead giveaway is that Labour now has a Dirty Tricks operation which has a direct line to the Party leadership. Which negates the idea of Keir Starmer as being a bit dull and uninspiring, but not in a very positive way. Just who is behind this needless campaign I know not and care less, save to point out that handing them any authority was a most unwise move.

That is because, as I keep having to remind those who think Starmer and his team will walk into 10 Downing Street by default come next year’s General Election, the Tories can do attack ads too - plus they can call on the inmates of the Northcliffe House and Baby Shard bunkers to back them up with more knocking copy, coupled with faux outrage at those Dem Sayshlists.

As a taster of what might come back over the fence, the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog have already picked up on Starmer’s presence at that sentencing council, and have mocked up their own attack advert. That is just the tip of the attack dog iceberg. Imagine the Mail and Sun taking that and running with it. And all the others.

The increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph would fall into line, as would the Daily Brexit, still called the Express. The increasingly alt-right Spectator magazine would be a willing participant. And the BBC would feel duty bound (ha ha ha) to “both sides” the whole thing. All this is before someone gets that big bad skeleton out of Labour’s cupboard.

One Tweeter gave us a taster of what that may mean: topping and tailing an image of Starmer and Peter Mandelson, it asks “Do you think Labour should be advised by a friend of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein?” and signs off “Sir Keir Starmer Does”. Mandelson, press hate figure, sacked twice by Tony Blair, a pal of Epstein, and there he is at Starmer’s side. Oh dear indeed!

And that would just be for starters. There would be so much more, especially now that Labour has legitimised the dirtiest dirty tricks. Picking this as the hill on which someone at Labour HQ is willing to die could very easily mean the entire election effort takes a hit as a result. Voters will shrug their shoulders and say “they really are all the same” before not voting for them.

As Paul Waugh has noted, there is also Starmer’s lack of consistency: “One frontbencher says a current online video of Starmer’s flip-flops is a taste of things to come. ‘The general election campaign is going to be full of videos of Keir, “he said this, now he’s says that”.’” Labour can have no complaints if it gets vicious. Not when they were full participants in writing the rules.

One day, Starmer’s advisors will engage brain first. But maybe not just yet.

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