Notes on: Deborah Mattinson - how politicians stopped listening and why we need a new politics
Deborah Mattinson (@debmattinson) - personal pollster to Gordon Brown for the past 25 years.
Audio of her introducing book with Polly Toynbee at an RSA event here
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Over the past 25 years voters and politicians have stopped listening to, and trusting each other.
Voters are not however anti-politics (there is plenty of evidence to show there is a latent desire to get involved - Demoracy UK), they are instead anti-professional politicians, political media and political parties - basically the whole of Westminster Village.So what needs to be done differently???
1. politicians must be more ‘in touch’ with individuals and the national mood. In doing so they must be prepared to talk about stuff that is out their comfort zone. empathy - walk in their constituents shoes.
2. respond to people in a way that demonstrates what you believe in and how your values really translate into policies that affect peoples lives (see what a leader must do below)
3. bring an end to peter pan politics (where the voter never grows up)As Polly Toynbee says re. 3. --> the voter must take some responsibility and lift itself out of these almost-fashionable ignorance to political goings-on.Tessa Jowell says that politicians (if not everyone?) has to keep themselves open when they don’t know the answers. There are also to many private conversations between politicians and the media - should they all be offered openly through social media? They don’t have to be a spectacle, just there, accessible and approachable.A leader must do three things: 1. provide vision
2. translate that vision into action
3. convey that vision to a wider audience and inspire them to share it.
Voters are not however anti-politics (there is plenty of evidence to show there is a latent desire to get involved - Demoracy UK), they are instead anti-professional politicians, political media and political parties - basically the whole of Westminster Village.So what needs to be done differently???
1. politicians must be more ‘in touch’ with individuals and the national mood. In doing so they must be prepared to talk about stuff that is out their comfort zone. empathy - walk in their constituents shoes.
2. respond to people in a way that demonstrates what you believe in and how your values really translate into policies that affect peoples lives (see what a leader must do below)
3. bring an end to peter pan politics (where the voter never grows up)As Polly Toynbee says re. 3. --> the voter must take some responsibility and lift itself out of these almost-fashionable ignorance to political goings-on.Tessa Jowell says that politicians (if not everyone?) has to keep themselves open when they don’t know the answers. There are also to many private conversations between politicians and the media - should they all be offered openly through social media? They don’t have to be a spectacle, just there, accessible and approachable.A leader must do three things: 1. provide vision
2. translate that vision into action
3. convey that vision to a wider audience and inspire them to share it.
= show me, don’t just tell me
Have to be;
- Pertinent
- Plain
- Personal
- Positivesymbolic policies are emphatically importantleaders mustn't use focus groups to tell them where to go - people do like, need and want leadership - they like strong leaders, even Thatcher, because they know where they stood. And people don’t know what they want, but they can give you an accurate picture of what they have. Women are less interested in abstract political debate - only motivated by policies that affect their lives.Underlying message - - people don’t actually know what their elected representatives do. We need an open conversation about this. We need a job description for example.
- too much political jargon adumbrates whats is really going on.
- politicians must be more risky with themselves.*trust is strongly linked to personal relationships* -> draw ideas from customer serviceFurther ReadingMeg Russell - ‘Must Politics Disappoint’
Have to be;
- Pertinent
- Plain
- Personal
- Positivesymbolic policies are emphatically importantleaders mustn't use focus groups to tell them where to go - people do like, need and want leadership - they like strong leaders, even Thatcher, because they know where they stood. And people don’t know what they want, but they can give you an accurate picture of what they have. Women are less interested in abstract political debate - only motivated by policies that affect their lives.Underlying message - - people don’t actually know what their elected representatives do. We need an open conversation about this. We need a job description for example.
- too much political jargon adumbrates whats is really going on.
- politicians must be more risky with themselves.*trust is strongly linked to personal relationships* -> draw ideas from customer serviceFurther ReadingMeg Russell - ‘Must Politics Disappoint’
