Who is winning the spin wars?

As Labour found out with the tale of Jennifer’s Ear during the 1992 election campaign, or the case of Rose Addis, championed by, the then Tory leader, Iain Duncan Smith, two years ago, raising specific NHS cases like Margaret Dixon is a high risk strategy.

Usually such moves rebound on the party putting forward the case and the extraordinary thing about this week’s events is that the Tory spin machine has had the confidence to do it.

Whether they succeed or not we will have to see but the party is now seeking to control the news agenda in way that would have been unthinkable for the past 13 years.

And the Tories are being helped by a media hungry for a close election campaign that will be produce better stories. There is also a desire in parts of the media to discomfort the Blair government, a reaction, perhaps, to the war?

It is this backdrop rather than the state of the NHS in Warrington that is perhaps the most important aspect of the current issue. A sure-footed Tory machine should mean more votes. The big test will come with their reaction to Gordon Brown’s budget and this will be a much bigger challenge than Magaret’s shoulder.

Leave your General Election bets until after that.

SPAM ATTACKS. As regular users will know I am on holiday in Scotland at the moment and the only way I have of managng the site is through my mobile phone. Some comments have been held by our spam filters and I apologise for the delays in getting them published. I will be back a my PC on Monday.

© Mike Smithson 2005