If you have ever been bored and on the internet, you may have played a “who said it?” quiz, in which you are asked to consider two comically similar orators – say, Donald Trump and Elon Musk – and guess which one really uttered the quote. I find myself playing that game a lot lately, except rather than choosing between similar-sounding celebrities it is the Labour party and the Tories.
Recent weeks have seen the Labour leadership give soundbites that could easily be mistaken for the words of a Conservative minister, most notably when discussing the social security system. In a speech to the centre-left Demos thinktank last week, the shadow work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, stressed “a life on benefits” would not be an option under her party. It is not simply that such a statement is clearly nonsense – if “a life on benefits” is even possible, it is less a life of luxury and more one where claimants can’t afford toilet roll – but that it is not even original. Kendall’s phrasing was almost identical to the words of the work and pensions secretary, Mel Stride, who, in November, said, “Benefits shouldn’t be there for ever if they’re not required.”
