Dog Whistle Politics

I've noticed a rather unpleasant trend in political circles these days - a 'dog whistle' invite to party supporters and sympathisers to 'monster' their political rivals at public events.

I heard Johann Lamont - the Scottish Labour leader - try this out last year against Scotland's First Minister - Alex Salmond - by suggesting that the SNP leader couldn't appear in public without getting booed and shouted down.

In fact I wrote about it at the time which was on the day Scotland's proud Olympic champions paraded their medals in Glasgow - accompanied by the First Minister on an open-top bus.

Now I was there and I didn't hear any heckling or boorish behaviour on the day - though that was hardly the point - the point was to create the impression that Alex Salmond inspired a hostile reaction from people on the streets.

I heard the Labour leader - Ed Miliband - say something very similar the other day in the House of Commons during the budget debate.

When he 'warned' the Chancellor (George Osborne) not to go to the FA Cup Final - that is if  Chelsea get through, of course - because of the hostile reception that he would receive from football fans.

Now if that's not a self-fulfilling prophecy - I don't know what is - because it's really all about encouraging people to behave in a particular way - while dressed up as an innocent comment, an observation from the sidelines.

But to my mind it's a 'dog whistle' invitation to your own supporters - to act like yobbos and hooligans whenever political opponents make a public appearance.

Not my cup of tea - thank you very much - more like cynical bullying behaviour by people who are only brave when hidden away amongst a crowd.

Now the reason people behave this way is quite obvious - it's to create a hounded image of a person that denies reason and brooks no debate - yet it strikes me as strange that a Labour politician should actually join in and play this nasty game.

Because Tony Blair who won three successive elections for Labour as party leader - suffers more than most from these self-appointed nutters - who dog his every step in the UK and try to make it impossible for him to appear in public without massive and costly security.

For sure politics is a rough old game at times - but trying to turn politicians into hate figures is a very dangerous game - which can get out of hand all too easily.

As can be seen in Greece and Cyprus, for example, where the German Chancellor - Angela Merkel - is regularly depicted wearing a Nazi uniform and sporting an Adolf  Hitler moustache.