Craig Ryan

Writer | Reporter | Editor

copywriting

  • MiP election briefing & policy research

    In the run-up to the 2015 general election, I worked with Managers in Partnership (MiP) to develop the union’s policy positions and produce a comprehensive election briefing for members. MiP is the trade union formed jointly by the FDA and Unison to represent senior managers in the NHS and social care.

    I researched and wrote two in-depth discussion documents for MiP’s elected national committee, which set out the policy options on areas such as NHS funding and reform, management practice and accountability, patient safety, staff pay, terms and conditions, workplace culture and equality. This involved extensive consultations both inside and outside the organisation — with political parties, NHS bodies and think tanks such as the King’s Fund and the Health Foundation.

    This work was boiled down into a shorter policy briefing sent to all MiP members early in the election campaign. The briefing document set out the key issues facing the NHS and MiP’s position and included short, clear messages and questions for members to use on social media, at hustings or in communicating with candidates.

    We updated these policy documents for MiP’s campaigning work during the 2017 and 2019 elections, and they will form the starting point for a more wide-ranging policy review planned for 2020-21.

    Download the 2015 Election Briefing

  • Three words that won it

    Ten reasons why “take back control” was probably the most devastatingly effective political slogan of modern times.

    Looking back on last month’s EU referendum, my hunch is that the “take back control” message probably swung it in the last week. As a political message it had everything — all packed into three words. I don’t know if this was a stroke of genius on the part of someone at Vote Leave or just a happy (for them) accident. Although it was never actually printed on their publicity material, here’s ten reasons why “take back control” was probably the most devastatingly effective political slogan of modern times. 

    1. It’s irrefutable

    How could you not want to take back control? What’s your counter-argument: “Less control, more impotence!”? “Better off with someone else in charge”? To argue against it you have to waffle on about “pooled sovereignty” or “sharing control”, or you have to say something that sounds downright peverse. Either way, you lose. 

    2. It’s tangible

    How clever to replace the abstract concept of “sovereignty” with the much more solid and immediate “control”. People have to think about what sovereignty means, and then you’re into a discussion. But everyone knows what it means and feels like to be in control.

    3. It’s flattering

    No one ever won an election by telling people they were shit. It says “you’re more powerful than you think”, “you can do this”. At a time when people feel increasingly powerless, telling them that they weren’t was incredibly powerful. 

    4. It’s optimistic

    Instead of assailing people with a lot of doomy statistics about how bad the EU is and how many migrants are going to arrive, “take back control” simply told people that a better future is in their own hands. John Lanchester has written brilliantly about how most working people feel bewildered and powerless in the post-crash world. “Take back control” seemed to offer both an explanation and a way forward. 

    5. It’s nostalgic

    The “back” was important. Nostalgia is very powerful because it’s reassuring. When proposing a radical change it’s much better to say we’re going back to something we had before. That way, it seems achievable and less of a leap in the dark. And it’s more tangible. For the same reason, “Bring Back British Rail” sounds much more attractive and doable than “take the railways back into public ownership”.

    6. It’s empowering

    It’s not us who will take back control, not the government, not even an abstract entity like “the British people”. YOU will take back control. This ties in very powerfully with the idea that the EU is remote and undemocratic, and carries the clear implication that individual people will somehow have more control over their lives. 

    7. It’s grown up

    It doesn’t promise free money, cheap beer or handouts. It says you are an adult, you can take responsibility for your and our future. It’s quite challenging in a way: “it’s up to you to make this work”.

    8. It blames

    No one was under illusions about who we would be taking back control from. The target was clear, and if you’re going to base a campaign on blame, it’s better to be clear about who you’re blaming: we had control, the EU took it, we want it back.

    9. It’s short

    There’s a saying in the copywriting world: “good things come in threes”. Many of most our most effective and memorable political slogans delivered their hit in just three words: “thirteen wasted years” (1964), “Labour isn’t working” (1979), “Labour’s double whammy” (1992) and “Britain deserves better” (1997) were all election winners. Although shorter (#TakeControl) and longer (“Let’s take back control”) variants were used on Vote Leave publicity material, it’s the three-word version recited by Brexit leaders that everyone will remember. It says just what it needs to say and no more. By contrast, can anyone remember the Remain campaign slogan? 

    10. It’s not an argument at all 

    “Take back control” doesn’t promise anything, doesn’t refute anything, doesn’t warn about anything. It doesn’t pretend to offer solutions. Like a mantra, it can be thrown back in the face of almost any argument, without making the speaker look too foolish. Probably the most effective way to sell anything is to make people feel good about buying it. “Take back control” was just a simple instruction to do something that would feel good. 

    Photo: ChiralJon/Flickr.com