On the Progress Online website former General Secretary of the Labour Party, Peter Watt, is looking for a new form of campaigning.
Beyond Voter ID http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/09/10/beyond-voter-id/
Peter Watt is an intelligent politician with a lot of experience of running election campaigns. And in his piece he covers all the important points. But somehow he fails to spot the obvious flaw in his reasoning.
He talks almost exclusively about the Labour party telling the electorate, not about the Labour party listening to the electorate.
This is a failure most politicians make.
They fail to realise that telling is not selling (this is so important I am going to write it again in capitals: TELLING IS NOT SELLING).
There is no need for over-complicated segmentation of constituencies. Certainly no need for obsessive use of social media. All a politician needs to do is personally call at every household in the constituency, personally meet every elector (perfectly possible in a five year period), and listen to what they say.
Then represent those opinions, so far as they are able to within the constraints of the party line.
Anything that distracts politicians from calling on their electorate must be considered self-defeating.
This holds true for all parties, not just Labour.
Peter Watt ends his piece with a remarkably candid expression of self-knowledge: "In our heart-of-hearts we know they do not trust us".
Too true I'm afraid.
They do not trust politicians because the politicians seem incapable of doing as they are told.
Beyond Voter ID http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/09/10/beyond-voter-id/
Peter Watt is an intelligent politician with a lot of experience of running election campaigns. And in his piece he covers all the important points. But somehow he fails to spot the obvious flaw in his reasoning.
He talks almost exclusively about the Labour party telling the electorate, not about the Labour party listening to the electorate.
This is a failure most politicians make.
They fail to realise that telling is not selling (this is so important I am going to write it again in capitals: TELLING IS NOT SELLING).
There is no need for over-complicated segmentation of constituencies. Certainly no need for obsessive use of social media. All a politician needs to do is personally call at every household in the constituency, personally meet every elector (perfectly possible in a five year period), and listen to what they say.
Then represent those opinions, so far as they are able to within the constraints of the party line.
Anything that distracts politicians from calling on their electorate must be considered self-defeating.
This holds true for all parties, not just Labour.
Peter Watt ends his piece with a remarkably candid expression of self-knowledge: "In our heart-of-hearts we know they do not trust us".
Too true I'm afraid.
They do not trust politicians because the politicians seem incapable of doing as they are told.
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