It’s been a case of all quiet on the political front so far as the Opposition has been concerned over the summer holiday period. Day after day Government ministers have appeared on TV either berating Labour, blaming Labour, or anouncing some even more deeply unpleasant initiative quite unchallenged by Her Majesty’s excruciatingly loyal Opposition.
I had put that down initially to the alarming lack of balance that the BBC has been showing of late, but sadly I have come to the conclusion that the Opposition have arrived at the position that they think, well it’s all fluff over the parliamentary break and they simply don’t wish to trouble the voters and stop them enjoying their beach holiday or whatever. That is of course assuming that the voters can afford to take a holiday of any kind in a period of austerity. I am not here referring to the many thousands of voters and their family who have been having an enforced break from work. ! I have a suspicion that the absence of political opposition could well reflect an absence of leadership or at least be managerial incompetence. The trouble is that if government spokesmen are consistently allowed to get away with announcing damaging policies without being challenged and then compounding the situation by blaming Labour ‘for the mess they inherited’, then that will seep into the national unconscious, aided by salivating headlines in the likes of the Daily Mail, and become accepted as fact. Really some kind of strategy should have been put in place by the Opposition over this period. I cannot believe that Tony Blair would have allowed things to slide in this way.

If the Opposition take the view that it’s just Westminster chatter at this time, and it will soon fall out of the headlines, I hope they are right. But the problem then would be that they would be found guilty of not providing the vigorous support that their membership and likely supporters crave, and if for no other reason, the Government position should have been challenged wherever possible. To do otherwise is to discourage the Opposition’s natural supporters and risk throwing away possible victory at the Polls in 2015.
There is however another scenario, and here I’m crossing my fingers. And that is that following the strategy of one of their prominent supporters, a certain Tony Robinson, that ‘they have a cunning plan’ and that at a carefully selected time all will be revealed; all Government untruths will be countered and brilliant policies will be unveiled that will meet with rejoicing all round by an approving electorate. Of course, if that is the case then the last thing you do is give your opponents any inkling of your intentions. That’s what makes it cunning. And if that is the case then I mIght just have blown the gaff as they say, because naturally I will have been the only person to whom such a thought may have occurred. Certainly not that Australian chap employed by Messrs Cameron and Osborne.
The thing is Baldrick or Miliband, whatever, get on with it, hit the ground running, and NOW. Your supporters and more importantly the Country needs it and is demanding it.