August 14, 2010

Dave and the Price of Beer

Posted in Cameron, Conservatives, Labour, Politics at 11:00 am by Paul Sagar

Liberal Conspiracy and Political Scrapbook have been poking fun at David Cameron’s belief that “tins” of larger cost 25p each:

“I think if what you’re trying to do is stop supermarkets from selling 20 tins of Stella for a fiver that’s what we’ve got to go after.

Where I want to try and help is ending the deep discounting on alcohol”

This incident recalls the old “what’s-the-price-of-a-pint-of-milk?” question politicians are supposed to answer to show how “in touch” they are.

But how significant is it when a top politician fails the ordinary knowledge test?

There seems to be a good reason for saying “not very”. After all, the Prime Minister (of all people) has much more important things to do than trundle around Tesco buying the weekly groceries. This fact extends backwards to when s/he was leader of the opposition. The truth is, top politicians don’t know basic facts about how the rest of us live because they are busy running the country, and that’s probably to be expected and somewhat welcomed.

And I’m not sure we should pressure politicians to know myriad facts about “ordinary” life, either. For that – in the modern age of 24 hour media spin – might just mean ministers rote-learning pre-prepared lists of factoids, designed to manufacture an image of being “in touch”.

But nonetheless there is something significant about Cameron’s ignorance over the price of beer.

Dave thinks 20 cans of larger sets you back a mere £5; what a nice world that would be for many! For better or for worse, alcohol is a major source of recreation for many Britons. Yet alcohol is expensive, and takes a significant chunk of many people’s disposable incomes. If 20 cans really did cost just a fiver, many people would be effectively richer than they are at present because they’d have more money left over to spend on other things.

Cameron’s 20-for-£5 gaffe illustrates that he – and presumably the politicians who surround him – lack any accurate conception of the cost of living for most Britons.

Minimum wage is currently a paltry £5.80. If you know the price of beer, the complete inadequacy of that sum is especially clear. If, however, you think that beer (and presumably other basic goods) is as cheap as D-Cam does, then suddenly minimum wage looks a lot more satisfactory.

Furthermore, the present round of Tory cuts is set to disproportionately affect Britain’s poor, as this graph stolen from the FT shows:

If you’re under the impression that 20 cans of Stella cost a mere £5, then a 7% reduction in yearly income might seem an altogether manageable reduction. Thus if you’re a Tory who doesn’t care about inequality anyway, ignorance about the basic cost of living will make it much easier to push-through measures likely to make the poor poorer.

Of course, it’s almost certainly true that Gordon Brown and Tony Blair were equally ignorant about such things as the cost of beer. The latter, especially, was probably more partial to a vintage Merlot donated from a wealthy chum, than a can of Carlsberg piss-water from Asda.

But nonetheless, Labour’s relative – albeit heavily imperfect – concern for both absolute poverty and inequality, especially compared to the Tories, meant that such ignorance was less likely to provide support for policies that penalise the most vulnerable. So when people say there’s no difference between top Labour and Tory politicians, although at a superficial level that may be true, the consequences are nonetheless likely to be different.

And that’s why lefties are entitled to laugh at Cameron’s ignorance about the price of beer, whilst having a serious axe to grind.

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