Time to communicate

Over the course of a dramatic weekend in May 2010, a coalition deal was hammered out between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. Although the talks were held behind closed doors, the media and the public at large were kept informed of the progress and of the principal points under discussion.

This time, communications from the Government are woeful. One of the main criticisms of Theresa May was that she kept too much too tightly controlled by a small group of Downing Street advisers. Her two closest aides, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, resigned at the weekend as the fallout from the election was felt.

Yet even though we have been promised a more open government there is little sign of it so far. The talks with the DUP are shrouded in mystery, so much so that the country was told last weekend that a deal had been done, only for that not to have been the case. The possible postponement of the Queen’s Speech was absurdly attributed yesterday to the length of time it takes for the ink to dry on the parchment on which the speech is traditionally written. In addition, the country is entitled to know what the Government now plans for Brexit.

In a world of instant messaging, social media and 24-hour news, it is more important than ever for a Government to get its message across quickly and coherently. But that does not mean superficially. If anything, it was the remorseless repetition of slogans by the Prime Minister that most irritated voters, while Jeremy Corbyn was at least developing a narrative of the sort of neo-marxist world he wanted to see. Mrs May is evidently not a great communicator; but she has no option but to up her game.