Politics of media: what's Dave to do?

by Stephen Foster, Brand Republic 02-Jul-07, 14:30

It's tough being Tory leader David Cameron at the moment, writes Stephen Foster. There's the media almost drooling over Gordon Brown (yes, really) and sharpening its pencils to do over Tony Blair now he's stepped down.

Cameron, meanwhile, is slipping in the polls and trying to put out fires caused by the row over grammar schools and culture spokesman Hugo Swire's ill-judged remarks about museum admissions.

He also has his Europhobe MPs (a majority probably) biting the carpet over Blair's European deal. He's got to somehow channel this without coming over as a nutter himself.

Basically, he needs a bit more screen time and he's not getting it.

In this context, to mix our media, he needs some more supporters in the press.

Cameron hasn't done well at all here. The News International papers dutifully reflect Rupert Murdoch's view that he's a smoothie PR man, Mail supremo Paul Dacre seems to feel the same (and quite likes Gordon Brown, if not Labour) and the Mirror has declared all-out war on Dave and his Eton cronies.

Even the Telegraph (or Torygraph) has its doubts although newish Daily editor Will Lewis is more convinced than some of his colleagues.

Columnist Simon Heffer thinks Cameron isn't a Tory at all and fellow heavy hitter Jeff Randall (the BBC's former business editor) still bears a grudge from when Cameron, according to Jeff, told him a fib when Cameron was working as Carlton TV boss Michael Green's PR man.

It doesn't leave a lot really, does it?

Now Cameron always knew, and indeed said, that the handover to Brown would see Labour make a recovery of sorts but he probably didn't expect to sink so far and so fast in the polls.

It's also probably been a nasty surprise to see Labour "uniting" so apparently unanimously behind Brown.

Blair allies John Reid and Lord Goldsmith have kindly fallen on their swords and others will be quietly but firmly ejected by Brown.

All of sudden Labour looks almost electable again. So much so that Brown is apparently toying with a General Election next year.

Cameron has to find a worthwhile point to make and, just as pertinently, somewhere to make it.

His hope is "events". Events, as Harold Macmillan among others pointed out, can dash the ambitions of even the best-placed politicians.

And there's some evidence already that Brown, while strong on strategy, isn't as good as his predecessor at coping with events.

The clumsy attempt to recruit Paddy Ashdown is an example of this.

It may have been a good strategy to try to recruit a couple of Liberal Democrats but, once leader Ming Campbell had said "No Thanks" Brown should have left it there.

But Brown always thinks his strategy is right so he ploughed on with the offer to Ashdown.

The press let him off astonishingly lightly over this, some even saying it was a masterstroke aimed at marginalising the Lib Dems.

In fact it makes it much more likely that the Lib Dems will contemplate a deal with the Tories if there's a hung Parliament.

Waiting for more cock-ups from Gordon is hardly likely to get Cameron shooting up the polls.

But it's the best hope he's got at the moment.

Politics of media is a regular series of opinion pieces for Brand Republic about the way media shapes politics and vice-versa. Stephen Foster is a partner at The Editorial Partnership and can be contacted at:steve-edco@blueyonder.co.uk.