POLITICS: Tamsin and Timpson
Fund, John H.
P o l I t I c s Tamsin and Timpson by John H. Fund Cl ondon lass warfare has often been a campaign elixir for left-wing candidates in America, but its rec ord has been spotty at best....
...Timpson was indeed wealthy, but unlike Dunwoody wasn?ft listed in Burke?fs Landed Gentry, and his family was known in the area for having taken in more than 50 foster children to raise and educate...
...The rise of David and Boris shows that more voters are willing to look past one’s background,” says former Spectator editor Charles Moore...
...Conservatives gained 17 points from their 2005 showing in the seat, winning 50 percent of the vote over all other parties...
...They are now listening to their ideas on crime, overspending, and families as much as scrutinizing where they came from...
...We found most bluecollar and ethnic people still lived by the old ethic that ‘my son will own the factory.’ ” While only about a third of Americans tell pollsters the government should pass laws to reduce income disparity, it’s considered axiomatic that in Europe most people favor redistribution policies and that class warfare works as an enduring campaign theme...
...gWe are about the issues.?h Two elections do not quite make a trend...
...I don’t think the rhetoric of class warfare rings true in this country, because I don’t think we’re a country conscious of economic class,” says Michael Barone, editor of The Almanac of American Politics...
...Three weeks after Johnson easily toppled socialist Kenneth “Red Ken” Livingstone from the mayor’s 8 2 t H e a M e R I c a n s P e c t a t o R J u l y / a u g u s t 2 0 0 8 J o H n H . F u n D job, class warfare took it on the chin again in a byelection in Crewe, a railroad junction town filled with union voters and a Labour Party stronghold...
...being ridiculed in the pubs...
...gThe difference b n l i m 2 . 1 1 a v a h t o n o d I e m ng t r o p u s e n u t r fo etween us p is th i at I do . not have a ?’ e 53 ?’ mi llion fa l m io ily mansion...
...Other leaflets showed images of the candidate?fs ?gmansion?h and a spoof Conservative Party application form that falsely accused him of owning ?gexotic llamas?h on his property...
...But the campaign quickly went bust...
...Democratic adviser Ted Van Dyk, who worked for Hubert Humphrey and was a policy adviser for George McGovern’s 1972 presidential race, agrees...
...But now there’s recent evidence—at least here in Britain—that such appeals are also falling flat on this side of the pond...
...P o l I t I c s Tamsin and Timpson by John H. Fund Cl ondon lass warfare has often been a campaign elixir for left-wing candidates in America, but its rec ord has been spotty at best...
...This year, Barack Obama seemed to sneer at “bitter” lower-class voters, but he never took on upper-income voters in personal terms—perhaps because so many of his fundraisers were filled with them...
...Labour candidate Tamsin Dunwoody also went on the attack, highlighting the class distinctions between herself and Timpson...
...We don’t have people who think Bill Gates has all that money because he took it away from us...
...gThe class warfare stuff was ridiculous, out of date and made the If even in Britain, where everything is marinated in class-consciousness, the tactics of class warfare aren?ft working, Democrats may be in for a rude surprise this fall if they attempt L m a b k c a a B t t e m ls l t g n i h t e m o S . h c a o r p p a i ng i r a c e , n i e r e w s l u s e r n o i t c e e e h t e r o f e b selves from l the class w t arfare app d roa l ch even t a rude su rprise this fa e ll if they ha attem r pt a O simila a r f n i e b y a m s t a r c o m e D , ng i k r o w ?f n e r a e r a f r w abour party leaders began distancing themm a arinated in c t lass-consciousness, the tactics of cla o ss r a ?gstunt?h that wasn?ft meant to be central to the cam- knows that, and one reason he hasn?ft emphasized paign...
...But the results in London and Crewe.one is a world capital and the other a salt-of-the-earth union town.are revealing...
...But perhaps not so much in politics anymore...
...But Cameron now leads Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown by some 20 points in personal approval...
...Labour slipped back to a humiliating 32 percent...
...We’ve always believed, true or not, that this is a classless society,” he says...
...Reeling from the loss of London and disastrous local election results, Prime Minister Brown is said to have personally approved a class warfare attack on Edward Timpson, the Conservative candidate in Crewe...
...If even in Britain, where everything is old reliable.beating up on foreigners for perfidious trade practices that supposedly steal American jobs...
...Labour Party look stupid,?h he declared...
...Timpson (left) and Tamsin (right) J u l y / a u g u s t 2 0 0 8 t H e a M e R I c a n s P e c t a t o R 8 3...
...One of the most disastrous mistakes McGovern ever made was talking about economic redistribution...
...gThere are too many people in the area who such themes to date is that he knows they may be a are aspirational,?h a Liberal Democratic Party strate- part of the ?gpolitics of the past?h he keeps suggesting gist commented in explaining why the campaign was voters get beyond...
...Cameron was jubilant, riding into Crewe the day after the vote to wild cheering...
...Conservative party leader David Cameron is the same age as Johnson and went to the same schools with him...
...Johnson was attacked by Labour as a flighty celebrity and an unrepentant “swell,” a member of the privileged British elite...
...Both Richard Gephardt in 2004 and John Edwards in 2008 ran explicit “class-mongering” campaigns against the rich and powerful, and both failed to excite even Democrats...
...Many voters told reporters they found the approach ?gpathetic.?h It turned out that Dunwoody owns a large estate in Wales and was the granddaughter of Baroness Norah Phillips...
...It is impossible to explore the rules of English life without constantly bumping into big class dividers...
...The first scent of change came in May when London, a Labour Party stronghold, elected as its new mayor Boris Johnson, a Conservative and former editor of the political magazine The Spectator (an inspiration for the publication you hold in your hand...
...Class pervades all aspects of English life and culture,” writes Oxford University social anthropologist Kate Fox...
...When the results of the by-election came in on May 22, they were shocking...
...Indeed, when Cameron arrived in Crewe for a campaign swing with Timpson, he was ambushed by two figures in top hat and tails calling themselves the ?gTarporley toffs.?h More was to come...
...John H. Fund, The American Spectator?fs Politics columnist, is author of Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy (Encounter Books...
...I am just a single, unemployed mother of five fighting hard for a job,?h she told reporters...
...Leaflets featured a doctored picture making Timpson, a member of a wealthy shoemaking family, appear to be wearing a ?gLord Snooty?h top hat...
...Instead, Obama has decided to switch to another a similar approach...
...That would indeed be news...
...Oh well, only so much progress is possible in a single election campaign...
...What’s more, he even attended Eton, the ultimate private school for “toffs,” before going on to Oxford...
Vol. 41 • July 2008 • No. 6
