Beyond the Blunderdome: is optics in political PR a dying art?

Splash! Rishi Sunak calls a snap election getting drenched in a downpour outside 10 Downing Street. Ker-rang! The strains of D:Ream’s Things Can Only Get Better (aka New Labour’s 1997 theme tune) booming from a nearby speaker drowns out the PM’s announcement. Thud! Sunak asks some Welsh brewers if they’re looking forward to Euro 2024 – a sore point given Wales failed to qualify. Crash! Perhaps most damaging of all, Sunak slips away from D-Day commemorations in Normandy to do an interview with ITV. Not only did he miss out on campaign-boosting photocalls with Biden, Macron and Zelenskiy, but his failure to complete this civic duty comes days after Sunak promised to bring back national service. Ouch! 

The notion of ‘optics’ has been crucial to politics ever since the word became political jargon in the late-1970s. Sunak’s 2024 election campaign – which has been characterised by its gaffes, errors and PR clangers – has been one seemingly unconcerned about public perception or how the person-in-the-street may view things. At time of writing, the Conservatives are trailing 21% behind Labour in the polls, while Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform UK were rising up the ranks, stealing Tory votes. 

“It seems as if the Conservatives haven’t thought through a coherent, logical campaign,” says Dr Anne Gregory, professor of corporate communication at the University of Huddersfield (and former CIPR president). “There’s a feeling of ‘Hang on, have you really thought this through?’, whether it’s not checking the weather forecast or the optics of D-Day.”

The blunders made by Sunak’s team (see also using Belfast’s Titanic Quarter as a backdrop without anticipating the ‘sinking ship’ headlines/metaphors that followed) can seem like the rudimentary mistakes made by junior PRs. But the trend can be glimpsed outside politics too: during the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Caribbean tour in spring 2022, the royals faced accusations of neo-colonialism after being photographed shaking hands with Jamaican children through wire fences and riding in a military parade in a 1960s’ Land Rover with the pair dressed in white.

“Across all political parties, but also the royal households, there’s been an inability to shut down stories or think through the implications of things,” says Lee Whitehill, director of communications at political comms agency Whitehouse Communications. “They’re not doing the right horizon-scanning and identifying what might go wrong and go for it.”

Whitehill, who worked on Labour’s advance team in the 2001 and 2005 general elections, recalls conducting forensically researched recces for MPs’ trips. “One time we drove the route from Glasgow to Aberdeen – and back – in advance of a David Blunkett visit,” remembers Whitehill. “Everything on that route had to be fine-tuned; we’d needed to take photos for every place he would visit and find out who would be there.”

Sunak’s campaign is being marshalled by experienced strategist Isaac Levido. However, Whitehill points out “many experienced comms people [at Number 10] have left, because they don’t want to work for the tail-end of a government that looks it might get defeated.”

The rise of special advisers (spads) within government has led many to believe they now wield a greater power than comms teams. 

“Spads aren’t PR people or recruited for their comms skills,” says Gregory. “This inability to think about the wider perspective/context [as an experienced comms professional would do] seems to be characteristic of this campaign. Today it seems as if getting the message out there is the most important thing, rather than thinking about setting this in a broader context – what’s important to other people and going on around us?”

“In a governing party, you have an inherent tension between the Number 10 comms team and the party machine, which aren’t aligned,” adds Emily Wallace, managing director of strategic comms agency Inflect. “In the pace of an election campaign, the party machine takes over because they can do things the government comms team [being largely civil servants] can’t. Whereas Labour only has a party machine because they’ve been in opposition.”

The optics of Starmer’s campaign have played it deliberately cautiously. “Labour’s strategy has been ‘don’t drop the Ming vase’: if Starmer doesn’t put a foot wrong, they’ll win this election,” says Gregory. It also means Labour has so far been unwilling to engage with important-but-divisive issues which could alienate red wall voters the party wants to win back: ‘Brexit’ was only mentioned once in its 2024 manifesto. 

Still, the optics of neutrality and providing woolly answers can help you manoeuvre into the leader you want to become, especially if your rival is screwing up. Says Wallace, “When Rishi stood in the rain, Starmer immediately looked more prime ministerial by comparison [pointedly, the Labour leader stayed until the end of the D-Day commemorations, securing international statesman-like photos with veterans and Zelenskiy]. It’s also happening with [shadow chancellor] Rachel Reeves taking centre-stage and looking more like the chancellor than Jeremy Hunt.”

“Labour’s strategy has always been to look and feel like a government-in-waiting,” she adds. “A year ago, they were faking it. Now they’re making it. People are starting to view them like a new government.”

Whitehill also notes Starmer’s undergone something of a makeover too: “Within a couple of days of Sunak calling the election, Starmer was wearing a well-cut suit with a crisp white shirt, patterned Windsor Knot tie, new haircut and pair of glasses. He immediately looked more prime ministerial. I was like, “They’ve got the media consultants out’.”

By contrast, the optics of the Liberal Democrats’ campaign might seem like panto slapstick. Leader Ed Davey has been pictured falling off a paddleboard and attempting wobbly wheelies on a bike. Yet, there’s more to Davey’s clowning around than meets-the-eye: similar to Richard Branson’s PR stunts at Virgin, it can help challenger brands maintain a high profile. 

“I think the Lib Dems are playing a blinder,” says Whitehill. “Journalists/broadcasters are covering it because it makes interesting pictures/footage.” This initial foothold of media attention has since enabled Davey to broadcast personal videos of him with his disabled son to highlight the work of carers. 

There is a type of political party/leader, where optics are largely irrelevant. Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson have all emerged unscathed after incidents which could have derailed other politicians’ careers – think Trump being convicted of falsifying business records, or Johnson hiding in a fridge from TV reporters during the 2019 election.

“There’s something cultish about these leaders,” says Gregory. “Their passionate following means they can do whatever they want, and people will still follow them… In some ways, their gaffes are part of the brand. It’s what makes them human and allows them to resonate with people on an emotional level.”

The bad optics work for them because it syncs with the brand strategy, says Wallace. “Think about Farage’s strategy: it’s to create chaos, be a disrupter. If somebody throws a milkshake in his face, it’s brilliant as it plays into this. But it’d be embarrassing for Sunak/Starmer.”

What else can comms professionals learn from the optics of this campaign? 

“One thing different to the 2019 election is that this campaign is very message-led,” says Gregory. “It’s about throwing things out there – say, a message about taxes going up – and repeating them so many times, you hope they’ll get traction. If you’re a proper PR strategist, you’ll have more than one trick in your bag: don’t just focus on one message. Try finding issues that are important to people in their day-to-day lives and addressing them. People – whether they’re voters or consumers – always prefer if you’re honest with them.”

“Also, get your bread-and-butter right,” she adds. “If your client is delivering a speech, don’t send them out in the pouring rain without an umbrella!”

Christian Koch is an award-winning journalist and editor who has written for the Sunday Times, Guardian, Evening Standard, Metro, Director, Cosmopolitan, ShortList and Stylist.