The Battle for the Campaign Agenda in Britain (1997) The 1997 election was a struggle, not just for votes, but also to control the campaign agenda. Significant, but contradictory, challenges faced the media, parties and the public. For journalists, the problem was how to engender any zip into the campaign. Ever since Black Wednesday, in September 1992, Labour had seemed assured of victory while Conservative support floundered in the doldrums. For five years, perhaps it just seemed like …
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…in politics, but we can take a fairly safe bet that the techniques learnt by the Blair team for staying on-message in a more complex and diverse media environment during the permanent campaign are going to be emulated by all the other parties. In this regard the 1997 election did represent a watershed, not just in terms of the outcome for the fortunes of the political parties, but also for the process of campaigning in Britain.