Walking a tightrope

A difficult task for Cameron’s Conservatives in between trips to the lap dancing joints this week. Whereas Gordon Brown was ‘gifted’ by nature with a stone-like face that automatically says ‘serious’, Cameron has that almost Blair-like visage which screams ‘smug’.
George W. has the same problem as Cameron, actually. When he is talking about the crash of a Wall St bank or a natural disaster like a flood or a hurricane, he seems totally unable to avoid looking as if he is smirking. Bush, to the sheer astonishment of most people I suspect, has managed to get away with it. The test for Cameron will be whether he can avoid looking like the smug kid in the playground, sticking his tongue out behind the teachers’ back and getting a few laughs and transform himself into a serious bloke you would trust in a crisis.
For that reason it would appear he is going to ditch the stroll around, hands in the pocket, casual speech to this year’s conference and resort to the more traditional preaching from the lectern. As usual the Tories will be policy-lite and I don’t think you can blame them for that. There could be a long time until the next election, and making firm pledges now can backfire badly if circumstances change.
However, it makes the job of looking serious all the more difficult. During a crisis people don’t want ‘yah-boo, you’re wrong’, they want to hear how you could do things better. A very tricky tightrope to walk indeed, and one trip can mean one hell of a big fall. For the Tories this week the best ‘bounce’ might come from as few headlines and as little coverage as possible.