Page 157 - An Introduction to Political Communication Fifth Edition

Intro to Politics Communication (5th edn)-p.qxp 9/2/11 10:55 Page 136

COMMUNICATING POLITICS
sell an updated product, not a new brand’ (quoted in Butler and Kavanagh,
1992, p. 39).
The success of John Major in the election of 1992 (if not subsequently)
indicates that in political image-management, as in other branches of the
style industry, fashions change. The subsequent rise of Tony Blair, however,
and the ‘making over’ of his party into New Labour (and all that has gone
with that in terms of party organisation and media relations) confirm that
the image managers remain at the heart of the political process. As this
edition went to press, the Conservative leader David Cameron had just been
elected to lead a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, and
was being compared to Tony Blair in his determination to transform the
Conservatives’ public image, and to present himself as a youthful, dynamic
contrast to his predecessors. To this end in the period before the 2010
election, he participated in a number of pseudo-events, such as visiting the
Arctic to demonstrate his commitment to green issues (accompanied by the
campaigning slogan, ‘Vote Blue, Get Green’), being photographed riding his
eco-friendly bike to work, and ‘hugging a hoodie’ in the name of presenting
a more liberal law and order policy. By contrast, the successor to Tony Blair,
Chancellor Gordon Brown, had an austere reputation. To overcome this
image of ‘dourness’, he spent much of the period between 2007–10 demon-
strating his warmth and accessibility to journalists (see above). This image
management strategy was unsuccessful, and Cameron emerged as the victor
in 2010, though with no overall majority.

Political marketing
The individual politician in a liberal democracy is, in theory at least, the
representative of a political party. Even leaders who became as powerful and
charismatic as Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair are ultimately sub-
ordinated to the party machine. While Thatcher came to embody the
Conservative Party in a way that few politicians have ever done, in the end
she was perceived as having become an electoral liability and was removed
from office. Despite having led the Labour Party to a record-breaking three
general election victories, Tony Blair spent much of his time in office fending
off criticism from within his own ranks, especially after the March 2003
invasion of Iraq and subsequent events in the Middle East. From 2005
onwards, speculation about internal dissatisfaction with, and challenges to
Blair’s leadership was a constant feature of political coverage in the UK and
overseas, fuelled by his declaration just before the 2005 election campaign
that he would resign as prime minister before the next election. For some,
this rendered him a ‘lame duck’ leader, and invited opponents to undermine
his position. Others welcomed the statement as a refreshing and honest
admission that Blair, unlike Margaret Thatcher, would not seek to go ‘on and
on’, as she put it in the late 1980s, not long before her party dumped her.

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