Why All Modern Elections Are The Same

The claim that all general elections are the same would be a bold assertion. The contest of 2017 is, arguably, far more significant than others held over the recent years. Whereas previous campaigns have seen party leaders bicker over marginal differences in their fiscal stance, the run up to the verdict this year is witnessing parties wage war over Brexit, socialism and national security.

But as the campaigning reaches a climax you can’t help feeling that this year's contest is just like any other. The same insults are still tooing, froing and bandying around. The same promises are still being fed to the general public to shut Jeremy Paxman up. The same contrived and staged public relations stunts are still sweeping national headlines.

The fact is politicians are willing to do anything to steal a poll point and this campaign has been no exception. Look at Theresa May’s contrived and staged stunt in Scotland. In a blatant bid for a headline reading “I’m so popular even Scottish people will vote for me,” she accompanied Ruth Davidson in her battle to oust the SNP from their heartland. A swarm of cameras were braced for the moment of joy a constituent is bound to feel when finding a wolf in leopard skin on their doorstep.

Unfortunately for Theresa May (and much to the amusement of the general public), she wasn’t prepared for a frosty reception.Coincidentally, the neighbourhood was very silent that chilly April morning and her husband Phillip was promptly called upon to chauffeur her back to West Minster. A milestone will be reached when the architects of these farcical grabs for a Daily Mail headline realise that they are destined to result in failure.

And then there are all those promises which are just lathered over the general public. Jeremy Corbyn has certainly gone to town with the “genie in the lamp” tactic by sounding the sweet and merry tune of socialism in the Labour Manifesto. Whilst the contents of the document are certainly equitable and socially just, there will always be a slight concern that he may have piled too much revolution onto his plate, and some of the contents will have to go in the bin.

Granted, these promises are more likely to become reality than those of the Conservatives. Their reliability was set in stone after Theresa May told the BBC she wouldn’t hold a snap election. Britain needed “stability” she’d implored with the iron fist clenched. We then ended up doing a U- turn one month later. Obviously. The chances of her parties pledges ever becoming reality are even smaller.

And, to make this year's contest even more commonplace, the same insults are still being spat towards the opposite side of the chamber: If you’re a Labour MP then you’re probably still being held to account for some obscure mistake in 1961; if you’re a member of the conservative party you’re being accused of everything unfair about Britain; if you’re David Cameron, you’re probably enjoying a hog roast on your yacht in Panama, grateful that you’re no longer being berated for sucking off a pig.

The times will change but the actual process of the campaign will always stay the same- insults, dubious promises and poses in front of a camera, carrying somebody to the door of number 10.

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