The Business End of the Election Campaign

By Barry Johnston, Patrick Steen (and ChatGPT-4o)

We focused-grouped AI to see what the party manifestos might mean for business.

We’re less than two weeks from The Most Important Election in a GenerationTM. What a difference four and a bit years makes. Going into the election in 2019 the views of the two prospective prime ministers on business ranged from “f*ck it” to “tax/ nationalise it”. Neither represented a particularly deeply considered prospectus on the role of business in society. 

Several leadership changes, a pandemic, wars, multiple climate-related extreme weather events and one massive leap forward in artificial intelligence later, how will the outcome of the upcoming vote shape the future relationship between the private sector, the state and peoples’ lives.

As a thought experiment, we ran each of the party manifestos through Chat GPT 4o using a series of carefully constructed questions and follow up prompts to establish the priorities of the main UK-wide political parties across three domains of particular interest to our clients and partners: corporate purpose; sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion. We included the Conservatives, the Green Party, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and, sigh … yes, Reform UK.

TL;DR

Knowing the importance of a succinct message in an election, we asked our AI analyst to summarise each of the manifestos in a short, pithy sentence. Here’s what it returned:

• Conservative Party: "A pragmatic approach to balance economic stability with moderate sustainability efforts, while prioritising traditional values and meritocracy."

• Green Party: "Bold and visionary, with a deep commitment to achieving net zero emissions and social equity through radical environmental and social policies."

• Labour Party: "Ambitious and transformative, aiming for comprehensive social justice, economic reforms, and making the UK a green energy leader."

• Liberal Democrats: "Strong on ethical business practices and inclusive policies, striving for a fair, green, and just society with balanced, progressive reforms."

• Reform UK: "A nationalist agenda focusing on reducing government intervention, cutting immigration, and opposing 'woke' ideology to restore traditional British values."

It’s hard to see any party disagreeing with that characterisation of its platform. So we pushed a little further, beyond the descriptive, asking for an assessment of the relative ambition and boldness of the party’s offers. What came back was surprisingly nuanced. 

It ranked the Green Party highest on ambition, but characterised Labour as the bolder actor, citing proposals such as GB Energy and its Ethics and Integrity Commission as representing “significant and immediate changes that would fundamentally alter the current landscape”.

With Labour on the cusp of power, it’s worth digging into that change a little deeper. For that we’ve applied some old fashioned human grey matter.

Man on a mission

Labour’s love-bombing of UK business has been presented variously as a turning of the page from the Corbyn years, as selling out to the business community, or a marriage of convenience. Hedgehogs having sex is probably a better characterisation - cautious engagement with a recognition of the dangers of getting the approach wrong. You can see within this delicate dance, the contours of a grand bargain.

Keir Starmer appears to be striking the right balance between boldness and pragmatism with the scale of commitments he has set out as his first steps as Prime Minister. The financial and operational capacities of the state he will inherit place limits on what can credibly be promised - and delivered.

Will it be enough? 

Yet the scale of change the public will want - and which sits beneath the decade of renewal that is the basis of his political project - requires a far broader partnership across society. Here Labour is offering an open door to business, but the entry requirements are different to those granted to firms moonlighting as PPE donors or ferry suppliers under successive Conservative governments.

Our view is that those businesses seeking to engage with a new Labour administration will need to be able to articulate a compelling narrative of its social purpose, aligned with the five missions set out by Starmer, with the proof points to match.

On the cusp of change in British politics and society, businesses are being called to demonstrate they want to be part of a new project of national renewal. In the coming weeks and months, they must decide what role they want to play.

Purpose Union works with organisations to drive change, maximising their impact through innovative partnerships and creative campaigns at the intersection of business, politics and culture. If you’d like to find out more about how we could help your organisation, see our advocacy services or please get in touch.