The speech by Labour’s Shadow Immigration Minister, Chris Bryant, was a masterclass in how Blair style spinning can miscarry. Pre Briefing the newspapers before a speech is a Mandelsonian technique to try to secure more press coverage. It is often a double edged sword. It is key to check your facts! This was a spectacular boomerang which hurt its sender.
On Sunday we were told that Labour would launch an attack on companies that used recently arrived migrant labour in place of local talent to drive down wages and worsen employment conditions. This is a serious charge if true. By Monday morning, still before the speech, the author was telling us that he had no intention of fingering named companies for bad labour practices, and admitted he got his facts wrong, before later changing tack further and praising Tesco as a good employer. What this highlights is the lack of an argument on the issue of immigration. Unable to agree with the government as this would be instant death in a Labour opposition they scrabble around to find an alternative. The floundering on this occasion was one of the worst I have ever heard of. It is rare indeed to hear a Shadow Minister criticising his own speech before he delivers it!
The reality is that Labour was very keen on giving our borders over to the EU and allowing in many more people over a prolonged period, people who wanted and needed jobs. Is Bryant / Miliband going to follow this about turn with apologies for the policy of uncontrolled migration? I doubt it. Many others have written extensively about the sloppiness and mismanagement of this incident. I want to use it to reiterate a point I have blogged about before. Mr Miliband’s Labour team has only one gear: oppose everything regardless of whether you agree with it, or it was in your Labour 2010 manifesto, or because you accept that there is no money ..... in order to attack the Coalition government.
I fully admit the Coalition have not got every decision right these last 3 years. But opposition to everything by Labour merely deprives them of any credibility. Come up with realistic alternatives or support the government through these tough times. Sniping for fun, with no alternative, does them, nor politics, any good.