The morning after problem

In seeking to present as small a target as possible for Tory attacks, Labour may be making it harder to actually govern should they win.

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I have started this post with the most famous example I can think of, of visceral ‘morning after’ terror. The panic on Gove and Johnson’s faces when they realised not only that they had one the night, but would then have to deliver in the day was palpable. What happens when you throw everything at winning and haven’t put enough thought into what you’ll do when you get there?

This is the question that I’ve been considering about Labour at the moment.

I think I may have come across a bit grouchy about Labour of late. I have known too many people who have a tendency to do that when their party is looking close to power. Partly it’s a defence mechanism. We know they won’t give us everything we want so we start telling ourselves nothing good will happen instead. It’s a self-defeating approach, but a natural one.

Another reason for this is the “Better on the radio” pose. Some people like to be purist fans in small cliques. If a band they like becomes too successful, they go off them - unwilling to share them with the boring old masses. This can be annoying in fandom. It’s absolutely toxic in politics.

So when I write these posts about what I think Labour could and should be doing I am trying to guard against that sense. I come from a place where I am enjoying Labour doing well. But Labout is doing well again would be a boring weekly newsletter. These are thoughts that I have - honed through political instincts and informed by two decades of working in political communications - that I think will help Labour. Becuase I want them to win big and to then govern well. It’s the latter this post is about today.

It’s noot that I don’t think that policy development is happening - I see some of it and hear about more. We aren’t in the same place as the Brexit Buccanneers who had literally no plan for what came next. And however much the narrative push from the Tories is that Labour hasn’t sealed the deal feels like just the latest line-testing at times, it is - frankly - always true that this is the job of an opposition in the year before an election.