Some things haven't changed much in politics…

Before TV broadcasts became the norm after the Second World War, parties – and particularly the Conservatives – made their own films and even had portable cinematic projection equipment which toured the country showing them.

I saw a clip from a 1930s Conservative propaganda film a few days ago. Its animated cartoon could still be used now with only minimal changes, as this screenshot shows:

It is this long record of being attacked for economic incompetence that helps explain quite why New Labour – with its fear of raising income taxes and its love of cuddling up to business – took the form it did.