Essay: Evaluate the view that election manifestos matter less than media presence in winning elections

Question 1

Themes

Answer 1

1979 election
1997 election
2010 election

Question 2

1979

P1 – manifesto

Answer 2

• Thatcher’s manifesto – and the limited mention of privatisation – mitigated Callaghan’s warning of a mass lurch to the right if the Tories won – no real mention of the crusade against the state sector that would take – Thatcher would’ve likely lost votes from working class voters had privatisation been a significant part of the manifesto
• Thatcher turned down the opportunity to undertake a live debate – didn’t hinder her electoral appeal as no potential PM had ever done one before – media limited in this sense
• Contained traditional family values – relinquish state role in social housing
• Pledged to tackle inflation and TUs – stronger than labour party

Question 3

1979

P2 – media

Answer 3

• Political events at the time – such as the Winter of Discontent in 1978 – govt decision to impose a limit of 5% on pay increases  riots and strikes – influenced the media as a result
• Callaghan – series of disastrous interviews w/ the media – asked constantly about the state of the country after the winter of discontent
• Dismissing questions – particularly in the interview w/ the Sun newspaper in 1979 – alienated the public promoting the newspaper to run the headline ‘Crisis, what crisis?’
• Thatcher was also endorsed by most newspapers
• Somewhat limited weight – given that even without the media the disastrous political/economic events at the time still impacted the result – such as inflation and high unemployment
• Conservative billboard – ‘Labour isn’t working’
• Thatcher – photo ops – portrayed in media as strong woman
• Thatcher speeches

Question 4

1997

P3 – manifesto

Answer 4

• Labour – rebranded itself as ‘New Labour’ – Blair sought to move the party away from old-fashioned left leaning party policies that included: nationalisation, tax increases, strengthening of trade union power – influenced the middle-class vote (given that labour moved away from left-leaning policies in their manifesto
• Labour won w/ businesses in 1997 – Blair kindled relationships with the business world, more than Labour had done previously
• Constitutional reform – gained votes from Lib Dem supporters
• Somewhat less weight – arguably failures of conservative party instead of a labour success – which influenced the media

Question 5

1997

P4 – media

Answer 5

• Labour won the endorsement of the great part of the national press – in stark contrast to 1979 – including the Sun and The Times
• The portrayal of the Conservative Party by the media – economy recovering from recession inflicted in the earlier part of the decade – voters didn’t credit Tories for recovery – remember ‘black Wednesday’ – Sept 1992
• Media coverage may have influenced voters – given the ‘Tory sleaze’
• Major pictured on a soap box – booed in Brixton
• Cabinet divides – talked about by media
• Spin doctors

Question 6

2010

P5 – manifesto

Answer 6

• Reducing budget deficit main issue – had increased to £163 billion since the crash of 2007-08
• Conservatives – only party who called for immediate cuts, in 2010 – the other parties stated that this would jeopardise the economic recovery
• Hug a hoodie
• Big Society
• Safeguarding NHS
• Brown’s manifesto weak – 50% top tax rate – ultimately cost him

Question 7

2010

P6 – media

Answer 7

• First TV debates – gave Nick Clegg a boost throughout the campaign – ‘Cleggmania’
• Brown was presented, by the media, as a dictatorial PM who wielded huge power over his cabinet
• Conservatives backed by most newspapers
• Brown Rochdale – ‘bigoted woman’
• David Cameron – perceived as young new

• Less weight – Clegg’s success in campaign didn’t reflect on polling day – role of TV arguably exaggerated – however – the raising of Clegg’s profile may have helped to dent the Conservatives an independent majority – so had an indirect influence on the outcome