Hard Times: The third way and a new dawn

Local Opinions

Our community reporter Spring Heeled Jack has written a series of short articles which we will share over the next few weeks.

Here is the latest installment of Hard Times.


The Third Way

Mandelson, Campbell and Blair managed to devise a new ideological strategy of the third way, which was different to the old order of the tired, right wing conservative government and the outdated, staid, left wing Labour Party with its old beliefs and values.

The third way became the new way, that New Labour would approach socio-economic policies in the fresh, updated political system.

However, this was a woolly concept with little real meaning to the average voter and it ended up confusing electors and prospective voters about the entire matter.

A new dawn has broken

The polls were correct and Tony Blair won a landslide victory in May 1997, where the party had a massive outright majority, becoming elected after 18 years in the political wilderness.

It was the two spin doctors, Peter Mandelson and Alistair Campbell who helped to lay the foundations and make the preparations for the general election victory.

The party was then re-branded as New Labour and fresh symbolic codes were used to attract new voters to the party.

For example, the rather harsh old fashioned, traditional red flag was replaced as a soft red rose, being more attractive and appealing to potential voters.

The Labour party was given a ‘complete makeover’ by the spin doctors, where everything was designed to be shiny and new, fresh and appealing to young people and particularly women who might never have previously voted for Labour.

Another important aspect was that of image, where politicians were always seen wearing fresh designer suits and clothing, seeming to have come from a tailor’s window due to their appearance.

Mandelson, Campbell and Blair used the music produced by D Ream with the lyrics ‘Things can only get better, now that I’ve found you.’

This was played repeatedly during the campaign and at the victory celebrations in May 1997, which encouraged voters that they were connected to the Labour Party and that this was a new beginning after 18 years of the old, staid conservative party in office.


Article submitted by Spring Heeled Jack.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not the Digital Sentinel.

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