Labour's attack ad on Sunak is straight out of the Vote Leave playbook

Labour’s attack ad on Sunak is straight out of the Vote Leave playbook

Apr 07, 2023

There are two ways to think about Labour’s latest attack ad concerning the jailing of child abusers.

The first – as many on Twitter have declared – is that it’s a factually dubious post which cheapens political debate to the detriment of us all.

The second – as Labour HQ has presumably concluded – is that it’s a rather effective tool to get people talking about the number of paedophiles who have not been sent to prison during the last 13 years of Tory-led government.

Labour accused of ‘gutter politics’ – politics latest

The advert can of course be both these things too.

It’s certainly factually dubious, because the 4,500 figure is a total since 2010.

Labour accused of ‘gutter politics’ as tweet row continues – politics latest–

Rishi Sunak was elected as an MP in 2015 and only became prime minister six months ago, so pinning this all on him is a stretch.

There’s also an uncomfortable parallel to when Boris Johnson wrongly accused Sir Keir Starmer of failing to go after Jimmy Savile while Director of Public Prosecutions – an allegation met with howls of outrage from Labour.

And that’s not the only similarity with the style of the former prime minister.

This tactic is taken straight from the political playbook written by the 2016 Vote Leave campaign and executed on the side of the big red Brexit bus.

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Broadly speaking, this works by disseminating dubious and inflammatory content, waiting for a backlash that amplifies the message before sending out spokespeople to stand by the campaign and give it a longer media shelf life.

The result is that amid the maelstrom of outrage and the process of journalists picking apart the accuracy of the suggestions, most ordinary voters only really perceive the core message.

In 2016, that message was that the UK sends a lot of money to the EU.

In this case, it’s that the Tories have gone soft on crime.

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Yes, there is a legitimate argument to be had about whether these tactics coarsen political debate and dent the democratic process.

In the end, Vote Leave won in 2016 and we are talking about what – without the tweet in question – would have been a highly underwhelming trail from the opposition.

So for Labour in 2023, the conclusion may be that they can put up with a degree of outrage and ethical dodgy-ness if it means landing their message and getting into power.

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