Training | 2009.12.12
Dog whistle of the left | Fraser Nelson
The Eton taunts may resound at Westminster, but they have no traction among the wider public
For almost four years, Gordon Brown has stopped himself playing the "posh" card against David Cameron. The restraint must have been agonising. He is a tribal politician, and the Tory leadership contest sent him the ultimate provocation. Here is the ancient class enemy, an English Etonian with a history of strange Oxford drinking games – the type that Brown had thought vanquished in the 1980s. His instinct, from the first, was to denounce Cameron as a toff and invite the public to join in.
Many had thought this idea tested to destruction in the Crewe & Nantwich byelection , where Labour activists dressed in top hat and tails to the bafflement of the voters. But now, with the recession on and hatred of bankers rife, the tactic is being reappraised. It\'s fairly clear that Brown thinks it\'s time for the class war card to come out again.
On a personal basis, it clearly cheers him up no end. It cheers up Labour MPs, too, as we heard from the roars of approval and parliamentary questions about an "Eton mess". And, perhaps more importantly, it still stings the Cameroons. Because they care, all too much, about that Eton background. It is almost as much of an obsession for them as it is for the prime minister. The Eton card is a little flick of Kryptonite that Brown can ping across the despatch box.
Even now, Cameron and George Osborne are haunted – some might say trapped – by their background. Hence their embrace of the coming 50p tax , which independent studies show will see less money raised (and, ergo, a greater burden placed on the poor). Neither will they make too much of a fuss defending the City of London from the threat of EU regulation, for example, lest they are accused of being in league with their banker friends. Perhaps this is why Brown is encouraged: he scents fear.
To this we must add the Zac Goldsmith element , a genuine scandal. That someone should stand for parliament with non-domicile tax status does demonstrate the very aloofness that Cameron is so keen for his party not to exude. The image of young, rich boys is one that the Tories are desperate not to project. This is one of the reasons Cameron is seldom photographed à deux with Osborne.
So the Eton card works in Westminster. It forces the Tories into a kind of policy paralysis, evidenced in the me-too approach on taxation. Tory modernisers such as Oliver Letwin believed for some time that an Eton background was an insurmountable obstacle to winning the party leadership or the country. Nick Boles told Cameron as much to his face, and has only recently been forgiven for it.
But outside the political classes, it has nowhere near this effect. It is a dog whistle that cheers Labour and terrifies Tories but the general public remain unmoved. I write a column for the News of the World , read by the type of people who tend to decide British elections. I have received all manner of letters about their likes and loves. Poems about Gordon Brown. But never a complaint that Cameron and Osborne are toffs and don\'t understand ordinary people. Their view, broadly, is that you play the hand you\'re dealt in life. Choosing a prime minister is not about choosing a holiday companion, but hiring someone to get a job done. If he\'s well educated, is that such a sin?
Deciding whether to play the Eton card in an election is, ultimately, a gamble on the nature of the British public – whether they share the prejudices and reverse snobbery behind all this. And the electoral evidence is pretty clear: they don\'t. The British can rank among the most open-minded and tolerant people in the world. This is why the E-word will be useless in the campaign field. But Brown can have plenty of fun traumatising the Tories with it meanwhile.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/20[...]3/dog-whistle-left-eton-taunts
