Raconteur's Rhetoric

Holding their annual conference in a city well versed in tales of the tall variety appears to have rubbed off on the Conservatives. As the frontbenches jostle for the morning's headlines, evidence has given way to anecdote across the board – culminating, of course, in Theresa May getting in a pickle over a Bolivian cat. Speaking of Pickles, wheelie-bin champion Eric has been peddling his own brand of rubbish, in an often-bizarre speech bemoaning ''clipboard-wielding inspectors...nosing about your bathroom''. Never ones to let the truth get in the way of a good story, Tony Wilson, Frank Gallagher and all would no doubt approve. But is the rhetoric of the raconteur masking a deeper problem within the party?

Naturally, colouring fact with fiction is hardly new in politics. Neither is the use of eye-catching examples to translate the plodding language of policy to the electorate. May's exposure, however, is particularly dangerous to the government as it adds weight to a growing critique: that for all the heft of their presentation, the Conservatives remain worryingly light on detail. For Cameron in particular, this is risky territory. Having been described in the past as 'like a butterfly', a tendency to flutter a little too far away from the facts has, at times, undermined the Tory party leader's effectiveness at Prime Minister's Questions – and voters seem to have started taking notice. With public confidence key to the continuation of the cuts programme, appearing competent in the eyes of the electorate is absolutely crucial to Cameron as the Conservatives seek to keep their vote afloat through the choppy waters of deficit reduction. Each time a Minister flounders over the facts, the party's credibility credit decreases – along with Cameron's already-thin economic mandate.

All of this should make opposition an easy game for Ed Milliband. Safe in the knowledge that there will be no general election until 2015, and with no obligation to provide the levels of policy detail demanded of government, he and his team have the space to develop a wider argument – and the resources to skewer Cameron for his mistakes whenever they arrive. Cameron has no such luxury, a problem that commentators on both sides of the political divide have been quick to pick up on. So long as storytelling holds sway over serious discourse, the Conservatives will always be one fabrication away from crisis. Having bet the house on his personal credentials, the devil remains in the detail for the David Cameron.

U-Turn If You Want To...

For a party so keen to be associated with strength that their logo features a mighty oak, the current Conservatives are proving to be a surprisingly bendy batch of Blues. Following on from reversed decisions on school sports funding, NHS Direct and the Booktrust programme, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman was next to crunch the gears as she announced the scrapping of widely criticised plans to privatise state-owned forests in the UK­, in the face of quite considerable public opposition. A sign of weakness to some, perhaps. But as Spelman's open and apologetic statement showed, the political U-turn does not need to mean political suicide – and Labour would do well to remember it.

Indeed, U-turns are fast becoming one of the coalition's stronger points. With all parties squabbling over who best represents the ‘new politics’, being seen to have listened to the public’s demands over policy is no bad thing – particularly when a couple of flagship concessions helpfully distracts attention from other, more fundamental, changes. By framing such strategic sidesteps as part of a wider public consultation, the government can present itself as mature and in tune with its people, who in turn feel empowered by their contribution to the debate. The accusation that greater care should be taken before such ill-thought policies are published is a strong one – and in part, the Coalition is simply hedging its bets here – but ultimately, this is government acting as most people would wish: respondent to public pressure, unafraid to accept its failings and happy to think again.

All of this makes being in opposition tricky. The temptation, particularly after 13 years in power, is to gloat over what they know to be difficult decisions. There are subtler points to be scored for Labour, however. The U-turns themselves should be praised; the ideology behind the original policies should not. Labour must make the case that every decision reversed by the government is an argument won by the opposition – while simultaneously criticising the direction of a political compass that could make such decisions in the first place. Winning the argument with the public is the key to any election. With that in mind, Labour must take heart with every Conservative climbdown and recognise that increasingly, it is they who are giving the public what they want – however the government tries to portray it.