Focus on the share of the vote not the lead
Yesterday news broke Sir Robert Worcester, founder of MORI, had passed away. He used to post on PB in the early days, advising Mike Smithson and other PBers to focus on the share of the vote for the parties and not to fixate on the lead.
PBer Viewcode, like myself had the pleasure of meeting Sir Bob, this is Viewcode’s anecdote, ‘I met him briefly. He was gracious, informative and didn’t have any “side” to him, despite the fact that he was incredibly rich and I was incredibly…not. I liked him.’
Sir Bob was influential in British politics, from the Telegraph’s obituary and how he shaped key moments particularly in 1978
Harold Wilson, always a sucker for fads, invited Worcester to contribute modestly to the 1970 election campaign by assessing the mood of voters. The relationship survived Edward Heath’s victory – a surprise to Worcester as much as anyone else – but when Heath called the first of the two 1974 general elections, Worcester repaid Wilson’s trust.
The Conservatives were standing on the issue of “who governs Britain”, but Worcester told Wilson that the voters were more interested in policy matters, such as the social contract, the economy and Northern Ireland. Each day Worcester told Wilson what issue was of most concern to the public. The next day Wilson would campaign on it.
Worcester claimed that 17 per cent of voters changed their minds in favour of Labour during the election campaign. Polls were now a fixed part of politics. Though some political leaders professed to ignore them, all commissioned them.
In 1979 Worcester advised James Callaghan, for the handsome fee of £100,000. He was held responsible, however, for persuading Callaghan to delay the election from October 1978 to May 1979. The decision allowed the unions to create political difficulties with the “Winter of Discontent” and Worcester was never regarded with quite the same awe in Labour circles.
In the 1980s he was sacked as the party’s pollster by its communications director Peter Mandelson, yet he continued to offer advice from a distance.
TSE