CONTROLLING THE NARRATIVE

1

History, it is said, is written by the winners. This is almost invariably true, but almost since it only tells half the story since now it can be equally said that history is shaped by those who wrest control over the narrative. Thus, the South lost the American civil war but managed to successfully re-frame the struggle as one between a proud and civilised people who nobly sought to resist an uncouth and bullying centralising state, that went down fighting for independence and state rights. Of the real cause of the war slavery there is little mention. This ‘lost cause’ narrative has lodged itself into American consciousness and is still there and is unlikely to be completely dislodged any time soon.

On a much more trivial level there is a classic example of who controls the narrative controls the way events are perceived. In the mid-eighties when the Conservative party was wiped out in much of England during local elections but managed to hold onto Westminster and Wandsworth in London Kenneth Baker, then Tory Chairman managed to turn the narrative into one of Tory success by trumpeting the fact that Labour had failed to take control there. The headlines regurgitated this narrative.

Aware of this  and in the shadow of twentieth-century totalitarianism, which had provided a masterclass in how to control pubic opinion,  the PR industry was born and manipulating public opinion went respectable and mainstream. We live with the consequences.

2.

As people struggle to make ends meet, cope with the psychological stress and even grieve for dead loved ones in this pandemic it seems crass to point out that there is currently an intense battle being fought by the government machine to control the narrative of events unfolding before our eyes. That just such a battle is underway should be clear from the fact that as the government strategy was exposed for what it was,- unplanned, uncoordinated and always playing catch up as the response, from PPE to testing, in short too little to late, - Johnson’s response was to re-hire his election winning team.

That the government have mishandled, even criminally mishandled the management of this epidemic should be self-evident, but clearly it is not. The grotesque right-wing partisanship of the press and the cowed response of so much of the rest of the media have ensured that the government has managed to duck the kind of scrutiny that it should have faced for its incompetence. Instead we have been presented with courageous ‘Boris’ battling to save himself and the nation and a government engaged in a ‘herculean’ task to combat an ‘unprecedented’ crisis.

So far so good for the government, but there are signs that this propaganda line is starting to crumble with even some of the right-wing press turning on the government for its failures on testing, ventilators, and PPE. Ensconced in Chequers the prime minister has managed to escape the changing mood, but how long can this last? For surely even the most die-hard reactionary Tory must realise that blaming the government but exonerating the PM is a ludicrous proposition. Of course, as we have witnessed over the last five years, anything is possible.

As I say it feels crass to talk in these terms. However, it is important, since if the government gets away with its mishandling of this crisis it will have dangerous implications for any future crisis. If governments do not face electoral consequences for their failures, then there will be many more failures. The government must be held to account. Lives are at stake.