Dan Hind Profile picture
Occasional publisher, writer, and podcaster.

Sep 8, 2020, 5 tweets

Fond memories of canvassing for Labour in East Kent last year, and being told by people with money that, while it was true that they were for remain and leaving was very unfortunate, in the end they were Conservatives and that was more important.

And being told by older working class voters that they just wanted Brexit over with, and Johnson had a plan if he had a majority. And what had become of Labour, anyway? So, while they weren't usually Conservatives, that was enough for them.

And people in the 20s, almost unanimously able to see through the lies about Corbyn and Labour, and the Brexit psychodrama, telling me, beaming, that they were all registered and ready - often for the first time - to vote, and to vote for change.

Labour's position in December was impossible. Not because of Brexit, but because of the party's weakness in the communicative sphere. Most of the voters we needed to reach had been marinading in anti-Corbyn attack lines since 2015. The young weren't.

The lesson the Party took from December was to stop competing for power in ways that challenge the media-political consensus - to focus on competence and decorum, West Wing style. In truth, we should have grasped the need for massive internal reforms, in media and comms.

Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.

A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.

Keep scrolling