Uh oh. Those Westminster think-tanks have been thinking again. This time an organisation called Labour Together has decided the next election will be decided by a group of voters they have collectively named ‘Stevenage Woman’.
Remember Mondeo Man? Worcester Woman? Workington Man? Old news. These days it’s all about Stevenage Woman, the lady Labour must woo if they’re to have a chance at the polls.
Last week the Shadow Cabinet were presented with the facts: in 88 of the party’s top 100 target seats, the largest group of voters fall into this category. According to Labour Together’s director Josh Simons, ‘the battle for the next election is the battle for Stevenage Woman’.
Who is this shadowy and uber-influential creature? She’s in her early 40s, has children, works, has money worries, lives in the suburb of a provincial town, is pretty socially conservative but more left wing on economic issues…
Hang on a minute: it’s me! I am Stevenage woman.
In case Sir Keir is reading and wants to know what would win over this Stevenage Woman, let me set it out
Living in a suburb far from London: check. Early 40s: check. Working mother: check. Panicking about the bills: check.
Suddenly I feel rather powerful. The next election hinges on my vote. The destiny of the nation is in my hands . . . although it isn’t, of course, because this practice of targeting made-up demographics is a load of unhelpful baloney.
Picture the scene: an airy office in SW1, a load of earnest political apparatchiks creating mood boards to capture different voter groups. ‘Stevenage Woman? Buys her weekly shop from Sainsbury’s. Likes a scented candle or two around the house. Does DVD workouts at home to save on gym membership. Wants more spending on the NHS and defence.’
These wonks claim to know what gets my political juices going, do they? What do they reckon I think about foreign aid? A waste of money? No, I’m all for it, if spent sensibly. Do they imagine I’d like to raise the salaries of teachers by 10 per cent to stop the strikes that will affect my children? No! We can’t afford it.
Do they think I’d quite like my taxes cut? Actually, I’d rather modest tax rises to improve the state of the public finances.
It is maddeningly patronising to think that you can lump hundreds of thousands of people together in one bracket, and safely predict what they will think on any given issue, yet politicians have been at it for years.
Uh oh. Those Westminster think-tanks have been thinking again. This time an organisation called Labour Together has decided the next election will be decided by a group of voters they have collectively named ‘Stevenage Woman’. Pictured: Stevenage town centre
Tony Blair’s campaign in 1997 was a love song to ‘Mondeo Man’. Boris Johnson’s victory in 2019 was put down to his appeal to the red wall’s Workington Man. In between we’ve had ‘alarm clock heroes’, ‘Aldi Mums’, ‘Bacardi Breezers’ and my personal favourite: William Hague’s Pebbledash People.
Between 2008 and 2015 I wrote speeches for the Conservative party. Though we didn’t have a picture of Essex Man on our office corkboard, there was no doubt it was the white van drivers we were out to woo. Cue lots of praise for those we would label ‘grafters’.
Stevenage Woman’ also falls into the trap of treating vast numbers of the population as similar people. Labour have form on this front. Before the 2015 election they sent a pink campaign bus around the country so that Harriet Harman, then Labour’s deputy leader, could ‘talk to women’ about their concerns, as though they were observing a little-known Amazonian tribe and not half the population.
When politicians target voters in this way it isn’t only patronising. It corrodes strong leadership.
Who is this shadowy and uber-influential creature? She’s in her early 40s, has children, works, has money worries, lives in the suburb of a provincial town, is pretty socially conservative but more left wing on economic issues… Hang on a minute: it’s me! I am Stevenage woman.
I doubt Margaret Thatcher’s reforms were driven by a desire to please Sheffield Woman, but they were essential to reviving our ailing economy. Even those who loathe Thatcher must admit her leadership was guided by her own strongly-held convictions, not by what she thought would play well in swing seats.
That made her bold, while Stevenage Woman-style targeting makes politicians timid, as they become terrified of irritating key voters, or taking a clear position.
This is why Sir Keir Starmer is getting into an ever-deeper hole over the issue of trans rights.
He said the other day that 99.9 per cent of women don’t have a penis, a bizarre fudge that was undoubtedly meant to appease both Stevenage Woman and what we might call the Earnest Student, Left-leaning 18 to 24-year-olds.
In appealing to different camps, you end up in a muddle. I don’t think most voters have a checklist of policies and vote for the party that offers the most boxes ticked. We go more on mood, tone, general impressions of a party and its leader. If that leader seems to be guided by focus groups rather than their gut instincts, it is a turn-off.
Remember Mondeo Man? Worcester Woman? Workington Man? Old news. These days it’s all about Stevenage Woman, the lady Labour must woo if they’re to have a chance at the polls. Pictured: a polling station in Stevenage
In case Sir Keir is reading and wants to know what would win over this Stevenage Woman, let me set it out. I’m looking for genuine leadership; the kind that makes tough decisions in the national interest, even if they are unpopular.
Forget what you think some imaginary voter wants. Consider from first principles what the country needs. Devise a plan accordingly. Sell it to us straight, whoever we are. Above all, treat us not as lemming-like ‘types’ but as intelligent individuals.
Excellent news that Justice Secretary Dominic Raab is planning to force criminals to stand in the dock to face those whose lives they’ve ruined, but sad that it comes too late for the mother of murdered 9-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel.
Auditioning for Ab Fab, Florence?
Isn’t the Rothmans vibe rather refreshing, amid all the holier-than-thou wellness guff most of Hollywood obsesses over?
Swathed in Valentino and sucking on a ciggie, on a modelling shoot last week, Florence Pugh looked like she was auditioning to play a young Patsy Stone in the next Ab Fab movie.
Isn’t the Rothmans vibe rather refreshing, amid all the holier-than-thou wellness guff most of Hollywood obsesses over? It is not hard to imagine Ms Pugh demanding more garlic sauce on her 1am doner kebab, and for that I like her.
Why arrest is Donald’s Trump card
The way the polls are looking, you’d be a fool not to put a sneaky bet on President Trump 2024
Yes, we are all meant to despise everything Donald Trump says, but his uncontrollable ego does make me laugh. Following his arrest, his supporters said his mugshot, even this fake one, would become ‘the most famous one in the history of the world’.
Given Trump’s genius for turning lemons into lemonade, I don’t doubt it. I have a hunch this trial may provide the springboard for the most shocking comeback in history. The way the polls are looking, you’d be a fool not to put a sneaky bet on President Trump 2024.
The pictures of Paris Hilton and her new son — born by surrogate — are delightful, but the trend for celebrity surrogacies is unsettling. When surrogacy is the only chance for a woman to have a baby, it’s a miracle.
But when it means wealthy women renting the wombs of relatively poor women because they don’t want to give birth, it’s deeply troubling.
Nine kids and still time for an affair!
Ee bah gum! Yorkshire shepherdess Amanda Owen has been having an extramarital affair for five years
Ee bah gum! Yorkshire shepherdess Amanda Owen has been having an extramarital affair for five years. While sorry for all wronged parties, I am also fascinated. With nine children, how on earth did she have the time to write love notes and send sneaky texts?
I’ve got a third of her number of children and barely have time to brush my teeth, let alone book hotel rooms for the next illicit encounter.
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