I'm not personally sure there are any lessons to be learned from the 2019 General Election campaign itself.
The idea the Tories ran a bad campaign in 2017, and a good one in 2019, is not my recollection.
Even Theresa May did not snatch a journalist's phone, or hide in a fridge; and have Tory Ministers lie about a 4 year old boy being left to sleep on a hospital floor - abetted by senior journalists.
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
What I did see was two candidates.
One, a caricature of what people tend to say they dislike about politicians: crude, false, and self-serving.
One who was roughly what they claim to want from a politician: well-mannered, and trustworthy(ish).
One, a caricature of what people tend to say they dislike about politicians: crude, false, and self-serving.
One who was roughly what they claim to want from a politician: well-mannered, and trustworthy(ish).
And yet the electorate favoured the dishonest candidate, with a track-record of open corruption, and prejudice.
I don't think there's much for Labour to learn from that, other than perhaps a politician not being xenophobic makes certain British people feel uncomfortable with themselves.
The big issue has been Brexit. It has made the Conservative Party insurmountably popular.
It saw them leap from 36% of the vote under Cameron, to 43% under May, then to 45% under Johnson.
It saw them leap from 36% of the vote under Cameron, to 43% under May, then to 45% under Johnson.
People on either side of the referendum continue to insist that if only Labour had thrown itself 100% behind their position, they would have won; despite all evidence to the contrary.
Labour couldn't afford to lose voters on the Remain or the Leave side.
I don't think there's much to learn from that, unless somebody has a position which is all things to all people.
I don't think there's much to learn from that, unless somebody has a position which is all things to all people.
I've yet to see anyone who advocated the Second Referendum, or a pro-Remain stance, accept that they were wrong - when merely voting against hard Brexit saw Labour's support collapse by a third.
I haven't seen any of the Labour MPs, who supported Johnson's EU withdrawal bill, acknowledge how damaging that proved - when it resulted in a surge of support for the Conservatives, wiping Labour out.
Individuals from both groups tend to be prominent among those currently lecturing everyone else on the need to listen and learn, however.
And the idea that politicians should avoid unpopular positions - like refraining from anti-migrant sentiment - simply means that they will never try to change anything, unless it benefits them personally.
What kind of leadership is that?
