The 'salesman' error
At the time, I thought last week's Commons confrontation between Gordon Brown and David Cameron was finely balanced. Cameron was against raising the limit on detention without charge to 42 days, but sounded as if he didn't really believe his own argument; while Brown defended 42 days - and sounded as if he didn't really believe in his own argument. Cameron won on style, Brown on substance.
But towards the end Brown suddenly declared:
This is the man who is a shallow salesman and never addresses the substance of the issue.
I thought it struck a wrong note, but couldn't put my finger on why. Now I can.
1. It was out of character. We know Brown doesn't do vulgar abuse, so it was just a line someone had suggested for him to use.
2. It was offensive to people who work in sales.
3. It was just "tone deaf", as Jon Cruddas, the left-wing former deputy Labour leadership candidate, puts it in an interview with Francis Elliott in The Times today. Cruddas's analysis is worth thinking about:
There is a shift in Conservatism. It doesn’t fall out the sky with a couple of posh boys. They are talking the language of relationships and fraternity and we are talking about precision-bombing messages to specific cohorts of swing voters – it’s so old-fashioned.
Cruddas is important, because he has a proven body of support among Labour MPs, 49 of whom nominated him for deputy leader, and he could be a player in the next leadership contest.
I think it is silly to say that calling someone a shallow salesman is an insult to slaesman. That is like sayinfg that calling someone a bottler is an insult to people who work in bottle factories or anyone who has ever filled a bottle.
Shock tory insult blood donors.
After all people who fill bottles of blood for blood donation would be utterly devastated (yeah right) that the tories use the phrase bottler as an insult. I fakely demand an apology form the tories now to all blood donors under fake moral indigantion.
Posted by: irty european socialist | Wednesday, 07 May 2008 at 12:15 PM