In politics the playbook of blaming others for what is wrong with our country is as old as the hills. Sadly it still appears to work. The tactic basically goes like this:
1) remind people of an imaginery ast when all was rosy;
2) pick out a group of people and/or some institutions to blame for why things aren't good now;
3) suggest we should be afraid of the menace from these people/institutions;
4) say you'll be tough on them to counter their menace to our way of life.
This morning an interviewee on a radio programme illustrated how this playbook will probably be used in the next UK General Election.
The BBC's Radio 4 Today news programme this morning had a slot on twitter comments by Gary Lineker, (former footballer, popular UK sport TV presenter), comparing UK Government ministers language on migrants with the language used in the 1930's in Germany.
Given Gary's position as a prominent star presenter at the BBC, the Today programme asked Richard Eyre, a former BBC Controler of Editorial Policy, and former BBC Trustee, for his view on whether Gary should have tweeted what he did.
In giving his view Richard highlighted in a startingly clear manner the probable culture war strategy the Conservative party has for the next general election. Here is what he said
" You can almost sense ... the start of a Government strategy - re-energise disallusioned Brexit voters, blame continuing immigration on lawyers like Kier Starmer (leader of the Labour Party opposition in the UK), blame it on the Supreme Court, blame it on, better still, the European Court of Human Rights, blame it on the Refugee Convention, blame it on woke media, blame it on woke metropolitan elites".
So at least now, if you heed his insight, you'll recognise this specific blame playbook when its rolled out
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