"Labour are relying on diversionary tactics - continual lies and smears"

Those words come from a Tory briefing from 1979 highlighted by Alistair Cooke on the BlueBlog. Nothing much changes, eh?

Click here to read more of Alistair Cooke's post and scan through the archived documents.

Comments

[Pink Tory]

Funny!

[The Rifle]

"As Labour become increasingly desperate, they may well intensify their smear campaign...".

History repeating itself. Labour get in, make a mess of the country's finances, and the Conservatives come in to clear it up.

[FredrikI]

Labour of today is totally hopeless....

Labour must go !

[Freddy]

I don't agree that nothing changes, this Labour party is far worse than Harold Wilson's. I find it hard to even be polite when discussing the modern Labour party - they are really sleazy and nasty and anti democratic!

My late father loathed Harold Wilson - I wonder what he would have said about Damian McBride et al! Labour just don't seem to realise that what happened was totally unacceptable in a democratic society. They are in denial!

That is why they have plunged in the polls and are unlikely to recover before the GE - the electorate are totally brassed off with them!

Even the BBC mentioned their plunge in the polls on yesterdays 10pm news!

[Norm Brainer]

Wasn't someone this week suggesting charges should be made to see the doctor?

..but if that was the worst smear they came up with then, things have definately changed, but agree the pattern doesn't.
Labour break, conservative fix, conservative get blamed for fix having to hurt, labour get in and break again.

[James Burdett]

There is nothing new under the sun!

[Ross Warren]

"History repeating itself. Labour get in, make a mess of the country's finances, and the Conservatives come in to clear it up."

Of course the sad part is that so many people are suffering and will suffer as a result of the mess they have made. I have met a number of people recently who have lost their Jobs. Many of these people are in their 50's. Whilst Labour could have been sorting things out they have been spending money hand over fist. So now when we really should be increasing JSA we cannot. When I left school Unemployment benefit was around £10.00 per week, by today's standards around £130.00 not generous but far better than the £70.00 people are now expected to subsist on.
These people have paid into national insurance and really should have been able to expect a lot more from what is an expensive commitment. Labour (some might say rightly)have deliberately allowed JSA to fall to an historically low level in an attempt to starve the long term unemployed back to work. Of course we are going to be hard pressed to raise their benefit much, (thanks to labour spending every penny they could lay their grubby hands on) and I imagine they will be all to ready to blame us when we are in power. Labour's dishonesty is of course the least of the problems we will have to cope with but it will certainly be a factor. I really do feel for the vast majority of the unemployed, who have paid NI for years only to be let down when they are in real need. Labour was bad but Nu-labour was worse. Its now time for a change in direction that only the Conservatives can really bring.

[Ronald McDonald]

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[jon dee]

Has not Kevin Maguire staked his claim to be the mainstream link for the forthcoming smears?

[Jack Stone]

Labour will latch on to any silly comment and magnify it. That is why the leadership and MP`s should be careful what they say. The language of politics is extremely important. Spending restrant people may buy, cuts they will think twice on. Taxes on pollution they may buy, green taxes they will think twice on.
It is important the way you sell yourself and that you don`t give your opponents weapons to attack you with.
People should now speak as if they are in an election campaign because for all intents and purposes we are.

[Concanvasser]

Re "Mrs" Shirley Williams. How quaint that sounds now.
Wouldn't it be nice to reinstate the old courtesy of giving people their titles, even if they are our opponents. The perfect antidote to the McBride/Balls type of politics. DC carries off politeness very well and I believe the British people remain very open to anyone (even Toff's!) with nice manners.

[Cleethorpes Rock]

Very good points Jack Stone. It's not always what you say, but how you say it.

We need to rise above this. The budget is coming up and people want the politicians to knuckle down and sort out the mess.

[Span Ows]

I second that Cleethorpes, there are a number of stories out there re conservative sleaze and we are lucky the tsunami of Labour sleaze washes it out of sight, this won't continue so I suggest all Conservative MP's sort yourselves out ASAP...you are being watched! You are not immune, you MUST do and say what would be expected of the people's representatives. MP's are letting the people down and the best thing the Conservatives can do is promise (i.e. really promise...i.e. something that WILL be done) to change the rottenness pervading Westminster AS WELL AS sort the mess out.

[David Sergeant]

It is worth pointing out that NuLab from the word go has used a policy of making out the Tories would be worse. Didn't they run three elections saying the Tories would cut schools-n-hospitals? That really was smear. (I still don't understand how they were allowed to get away with it.) Even our useless speaker keeps telling Labour ministers to stop talking about Tory policies.

Given Jack Stone's comment about being careful now I am sure we all noticed Labour piling in about "Tory cuts" right after Osborne's speach about government spending - all sorts a allegations were set off and this is what needs watching. They have got away with it for 15 years it has got to be stopped.

[David Galea]

I swear I heard someone mention scrapping free TV licenses for pensioners on the television news today.

[MG]

The really interesting part was the end of that article from 1979 which wisely pointed out that while Labour lies must be rebutted, the Conservatives must not lose sight of setting out a positive platform of what it is going to do.

[Ross Warren]

" don't agree that nothing changes, this Labour party is far worse than Harold Wilson's. I find it hard to even be polite when discussing the modern Labour party - they are really sleazy and nasty and anti democratic!"

I agree, there was even a time when I admired their leaders Wilson and Callahan being the most obvious of these. I cannot imagine such nasty tactics being endorsed by Foot either. Of course there has always been a side of the Labour movement that played dirty ie the Unions.It may even be that it is Labour's Union paymasters who are encouraging Labour's drift into nastiness. Like many, I thought things would improve once that awful Tony (sell out to Rome) Blair was off the scene, the fact that its got worse is a testament to the changed nature of Labour, from being a working class and therefore moral party. To one of professional politicians who will do anything to hang onto their place at the trough.