How to win voters’ trust in 2015
How do the nation’s most trusted brands win their customers’ lifelong support ? Think of Apple, John Lewis, the National Trust? First, they set out in the form of values or precepts the things that are most important to them. Then (and this is the bit that few organisations get right) they make sure that everything they do, from the products to their media releases, can be seen to link directly to their precepts.
A political party is no different. Trust is its oxygen. Values and not policies generate trust. Values and not policies mark out how a distinctively Conservative approach is right for the future. And policies, unless they are unusually hated or exceptionally popular only register with the average voter where they reinforce values.
Disregard this pyramid and you have incoherent policy making which at best merely confuses and at worst alienates the voter.
The 1951 Election Poster ‘Socialism Doesn’t Pay, You Do’ was effective because it distilled a complex web of policy fact and fiction down to a simple matter of values. ‘The Conservatives’, you were prompted to think ‘care more about sound money. They can be trusted not to let my family down.’
So, everything in the Conservative policy world needs to be driven by values and no policy (big or small) should see the light of day unless it directly links to one or more of them.
Talk to a grass-roots conservative activist and they have a pretty good understanding of what Conservative values mean. Talk to a voter and the position is much less clear. Eliminating this gap is the challenge for 2015. If Labour lost the 2010 General Election because we had successfully ‘decontaminated the brand’ we will only win in 2015 if we can generate more positive trust in it.
Try it for yourself . Take a spreadsheet and on the top list the key policy areas which will resonate with voters. Down the left side write out in each row a slogan which sums up a core conservative value. Here are my five :-
1. ‘Set the people free’
2. ‘Public safety, personal liberty’
3. ‘Strong communities, strong families’
4. ‘A ladder of opportunity for everyone’
5. ‘We’re all in this together’
Now in each cell apply your values to each policy area to work out a distinctively conservative Approach. Apply ‘Set the people free’ to ‘Housing’ and your approach might be ‘Local needs, local decisions’.
Take a copy of your matrix and replace each Approach with one or more policies which embody it. Now go and sell your policies but never mention them without also mentioning the values they connect to.
And when you need to validate your matrix, the CPF can help. They’re not a think-tank, but they contain some of the most able people in the voluntary party who have their feet firmly on the ground. Entrust them with the pyramid. Use them to inform your policy submissions and harness their skills to make sure that policy-making stays firmly connected with the hopes and aspirations of the ordinary people
