Well its party conference season again and this week it’s the turn of the Liberal Democrats to breathe life into their flagging support base and deliver a rallying cry to all who are present, but the media are far more interested in wants going on London. As are the Labour party. Their conference is next week and whilst their many PR teams and advisors are working on their key messages, they have been handed a gift of a story from the chief whip - Andrew Mitchell.
Unless you’ve been locked in a cupboard for the last week you will know that the chief whip has been given a bit of a whipping of his own. Allegedly he accused a policeman of being a ‘pleb’ for not letting him cycle through the main gates of Downing Street. Whether he did or he didn’t is now the great debate amongst the broadsheets and the tabloids alike. But the point is this it has provided a gift of an opportunity for the opposition to stir as much trouble as possible and point the finger squarely at the government who they say are all ‘toffs’ and out of touch with the general public. Trying to stop this kind of runaway train of negative attack is very hard. Plus you have a competitor who can use it to their advantage - big time.
That’s why it is so important whenever a crisis hits to get your spokesperson to come out and apologise immediately. Mitchell only came out on camera yesterday to deny the allegations. Far too late. The public at large will have already made their mind up as to whether they believe a politician or an upstanding member of the police force! With much mischief making by the Labour party it will be even more difficult for the Conservative party to start their conference off on a positive note.
Rebuilding your reputation after this kind of public humiliation takes time and a great deal of effort. So if your key spokesperson does make some awful gaff, all is not lost – but engaging with the media is much better than handing your competitors that metaphorical stick (or whip!) to beat you with!