When courting voters, opposition parties are forced to tread a fine line. Suggest the status quo is tolerable or even pleasant and there is little reason for citizens to opt for change. But describe the city or country as a dystopian hell hole and risk giving the impression of not actually liking the place or people they hope to represent. The Conservatives have plumped for the latter, with fairly predictable results.
Case in point: last week, the party was forced to amend an attack ad on Sadiq Khan which claimed that London was “teetering on the brink of chaos" and "gripped by the tendrils of rising crime”, replete with black and white footage of a stampede in a train station.
