Tuesday, 27 Jun 2017 14:47 GMT

UK Political Elite

Brendan Perring discusses how the UK political elite’s traditional approach could cause long-term damage

#getwiththeprogramme

The image of a cringingly awkward Theresa May chasing her speech notes down as they fluttered from her dais—while she and French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the world’s assembled media on the subject of Brexit—is a perfect caricature of the core ill that affects our green and pleasant land. She grimaced and tried to laugh it off, but somehow even this small action was blown into a bigger comment on the entire Brexit process and the attempt to define its scope—we really are just flailing while the world looks on with polite embarrassment and secret contempt.

‘Strong words’ I hear you say, yes they are, but true ones. The political and socio-economic machinery that has taken us to this point in our history as the United Kingdom is insufficient to deal with the magnitude of the challenge that is presented to us. It cannot even begin to cope with a digitally saturated and socially connected world that can pick up and run with any scent of blood in the water and create a shark-like feeding frenzy with minutes of any political misstep.

Long gone are the days when a newspaper had to ring the subject or representative of a story and wait for a full day before publishing it. No, this particular moment for Theresa May, was instantly captured, tweeted, Instagrammed, posted on Facebook, and run on rolling news. This meant all the focus and attention on the attempt to bring stability to the situation and create a show of cross-channel friendship and strength was for little. The irony is that she knew this would happen as soon as the notes fluttered tragically down to earth, which is no doubt why she reacted so painfully and awkwardly.




It is perhaps the same issue that so bogged down the Conservative election campaign, and conversely saw Labour underneath Jeremy Corbyn soar to an impressive recovery. If you understand that world and move with how media is being consumed then you can effectively get your message across and present a calm, strong, and positive face to the world—a strategy adopted by the Labour party. Ignore it, or underestimate it, then you will be dragged down at your peril.

If you understand that world and move with how media is being consumed then you can effectively get your message across ”


Industries such as ours that are based largely on the confidence of the retail and business sector need the economy to remain stable, for politicians to present a clear roadmap for its future, and for those politicians to be able to navigate the modern media mix and react to changing public opinion. Not ignore it and stick to meaningless stock phrases and scare tactics.

Brexit will be the most complex set of negotiations we have ever entered as a nation, so deep are the entanglements between us and Europe. To carry them off Theresa May needs to regain her composure, be honest and open at every turn with the country, drop the politics of fear, and draw on the strength of our fantastic nation to create a new vision and future for the UK. If she cannot, then for the good of the country she must surely stand aside and allow a cross-party minority Government to lead the way.


Public Notice:

  • We must embrace positive politics
  • Social media creates discourse and chaos
  • We must reject the politics of fear




Your text here...