5. Narrative Collapse and the Teller Without a Tale

This chapter is an analysis of the 2013–2015 period and of the May 2015 General Election from the perspective of the performance of leadership and party, particularly vis-à-vis leadership and the presentation and deployment of policy proposals and the Party Manifesto and, in the examination of the period leading up to the General Election, an appraisal of the performative and rhetorical choices made (and not made). Within the framework of our overall theoretical discussion, this part of the chapter includes analytical comment on the General Election campaign itself. The thrust of this chapter is the analysis of Miliband’s leadership performance during the election campaign and his relationship to public opinion.