All things come to those who wait...and wait
| Published date | 29 June 2023 |
| Publication title | Journal, The |
So, in the same way that newspapers are now in the habit of producing lists of say, the 20 best Paul Simon songs ever, it would be interesting to see a list of the top 20 political slogans.
'Read my lips, no new taxes' is one from the history books that younger readers may be curious about. 'We're all in this together' is a slightly more recent example that attracted its fair share of criticism and disdain when millionaire
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, uttered it, initially before the 2010 general election. He then 'doubled down', as the saying now goes, when speaking to the Conservative party conference in 2012.
For those seeking wry amusement - and perhaps bitterly disappointed so far at the fare on offer here - I could at this point direct you away from this column to a video extract from the latter speech. It can be found easily on the Guardian website. But if you are prepared to stick with me, here is a short extract from it that might just bring a smile (albeit possibly a slightly grim one) to your face. (Emphasis has been added.)
"We made a promise to the British people that we would repair our badly broken economy. That promise is being fulfilled... the economy is healing... but let the message from this conference be clear, we will finish the job stop that we have started … (Applause) … and there's another promise we made... On the eve of the election,
I told this conference we're all in this together, it was more than a slogan, it spoke of our values and our intent, that there would be sacrifices and cuts that would be tough to make, that everyone was going to have to play their part and that in return we would build an economy that works for all."
It would be interesting to hear what Gorgeous George would have to say about that now, some 10 years later. I don't doubt that he would have a slick and possibly quite plausible explanation.
And in fairness, he may well have thought, at the time, that he was telling the truth; in much the same way that Mr Putin does nowadays. Or perhaps more charitably, in the way that any of us does - now or ever.
On the subject of slogans (and...
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