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Sigh. We at Westmonster are growing weary of writing stories about the political tone-deafness of this government. Whilst the Tories take control of the political agenda, sound ever more sensible by the day, and feature a leader who's making transparent appeals to specific (and powerful) voting constituencies, Gordon Brown's government seems incapable of announcing a policy that even sounds good. A few weeks ago, it was organ harvesting, and now it's potentially offering direct payments to the obese to lose weight.

Now, Westmonster isn't here to argue that obesity isn't a major cause for concern in this country, nor do we not recognise that the fattening of Britain is a ticking time bomb when it comes to health care costs. A good portion of the plan announced yesterday by Health Secretary Alan Johnson is sensible. But we do wonder, in the corridors of power, if anybody even remotely considered the notion that cash incentive payments to the obese might be a political hot potato, or that it might further cement the suspicion in voters' minds that Labour won't keep the government's hands out of Britons' personal lives.

Hello? Is anybody over there listening?

The difference in political tone between the Tories and Labour at this point in time comes down to this: Cameron is telling voters what the Conservatives will do for them; Brown is telling voters what the government will do to them. Whatever possessed the government to pursue this approach is beyond us, but a blind man running for his life could surely conclude accurately which of the two voter appeals would translate into greater support in the polls. This is not rocket science, it's just common sense.

Common sense wins elections. Right about now, it doesn't seem there's much common (or even political) sense to go around at No. 10.

Written by Andrew Levy on 24 Jan 2008 9:57 AM. Permalink