Prime minister wants cabinet ministers to move on from policies that have tanked with voters
Before the 2015 UK election, the Australian political expert Lynton Crosby devised a strategy for the Tories that became known as “scraping the barnacles off the boat” – shedding unpopular policies that hindered the party’s electoral appeal.
Instead, the party focused on core issues it believed would help win over floating voters: the economy, welfare, the strength of David Cameron (and weakness of Ed Miliband) and immigration. Everything else was deprioritised and the Conservatives stuck to their messages rigidly. It worked.
Keir Starmer now appears to be doing the same, talking relentlessly about cost of living in cabinet meetings, with Labour MPs and in the media, despite international events from Venezuela to Iran regularly pulling him in.
The prime minister has also sanctioned a series of policy reversals on issues that have become lightning rods for the government’s unpopularity. The most recent of these is digital ID cards, which faced a loud and angry campaign on social media and tanked in polling. There were also internal concerns over cost and complexity.
