Lynton Crosby is advising the Conservative party on its electoral strategy. Several newspapers and blogs this morning have reported, with some bemused scepticism, this from the Mail on Sunday:
Mr Crosby is said to have given orders that the party must produce ‘a new policy to curb immigrants and benefits’ every week.
This is poisonous, but I’m going to leave that aside for the while, and consider the issue solely from the perspective of the Conservative party. This approach hasn’t worked in previous elections, notably the 2005 election where Crosby advised a campaign led by Michael Howard. It is bad electoral politics: it preaches to the converted, it alienates millions of others, and it does not offer any advantage to potential voters who aren’t already persuaded.