A new social contract in the offing?

Wednesday, 21 April 2010 07:53

For some time now there has been a whiff, just a faint one but still a discernable whiff of social rebellion in the British air. Something has changed or is changing in the social contract in this country - people seem far more open to not only challenging the old order, but actually consigning it to the dustbin. Where is the evidence for this? Look at the rapid rise in popularity for Nick Clegg and by default for the Liberal Democrats - is this down to better presentation, policy or simply the fact that the electorate have actually had enough of the existing systems?

Nick Clegg is winning the PR battle hands down, not because he is using the polished tactics of Mandelson and Campbell or the well groomed performances of Cameron; no he's winning because he is connecting with his target audience in a way that the other two parties have completely forgotten how to do. He is comfortable with his message, his style and conviction whereas Brown and Cameron look polished, professional and stilted. They look, and indeed are, the personification of what people are turning against.

Tony Blair’s success and his use of public relations techniques is well documented. People wanted a fresh Britain, one that looked at ease with the end of the 20^th century rather than the middle of it. Andrew Marr clearly made the case in his book A History of Modern Britain that Blair, and Margaret Thatcher before him fails to spot the danger signs of taking the public for granted and believing that if you tell people the same thing often enough, not only do they believe you but it becomes truth. The plain fact is that people are not as stupid or willing to put up with spin as many practitioners would have us all believe.

Take a look at the outcry over the Parliamentary expenses scandal. Unprecedented in its scale, the actions of the elected representatives became abhorrent to the general, tax paying public. Never in the history of politics have politicians been held in such low esteem – and rightly so. The electorate were not only being turned away from the elected MPs, they started asking questions about the whole sorry mess that is British politics.

And then there is the public reaction to the banking fiasco which saw massive dissatisfaction with the current systems that were not only balanced in favour of executives getting huge bonuses, but was upheld as right and proper by industry leaders. When Brown and Cameron had the chance to connect with the electorate on this they both failed. People began to ask why on earth they should put up with a status quo that suited fat cats while others were losing their homes and businesses – they lost contact with their target audiences. When RBS was bailed out and started making profits thanks to tax payers’ money, how were people to react when the old system of massive bonuses was brought back to pay those who had so miserably failed before?

If you add in to this mix the public’s anger over the Afghanistan and Iraq peace keeping mission and compare it with the huge support Help For Heroes receives on a daily basis, you get a picture of a public that is, if not has, lost faith with the way things have been and are being run for them.

The three issues above are central to the running of our society and they are all held in the hands of a few, select and very privileged people who are in the main supposed to represent the people. I have thought for some time that we may be seeing a sea change in the way the British people regard their elected leaders and representatives. Nick Clegg may indeed be the man of the moment with his openness and appeal to the public with a fresh approach, not simply because he is neither Brown nor Cameron, but because he has looked at the public he wants to connect with and understands why they are so disaffected.

If there is a new social contract being drawn up in the homes, offices, workplaces and clubs around the country then Labour and the Conservatives have no one to blame but themselves. The Liberal Democrat’s rise in popularity may not turn out to be a bubble, it may actually be the interjection of a public consensus with a set of policies people may actually want to see replace not just the old guard, but the whole system – lock stock and barrel.