I am writing at 7.50am. Current local election results show big wins for the Tories, losses for everyone else and the complete wipe out (literally, total) for UKIP in all seats that they held.
It's always dangerous to draw early conclusions, but the UKIP result suggests one. It seems that right wing populism is alive and well in UK politics. It's just that it's gone mainstream.
Cameron called a referendum to see off the right wing of his party. It's left them in the ascendency. And we will all pay the price for that.
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We have a real journalism problem in my view.
The popular press, the local press (and the latter in particular is still read by the C2DE groups) are Tory dominated and have deliberately failed to hold the Government to account, whilst delighting in every opposition stumble.
This ends up feeding into discourse in pubs and workplaces up and down the country. Where shifts are encouraged and positions reinforced.
Social media is increasingly an echo chamber where people with similar views gather in specific rooms and reinforce each other’s prejudices.
And whilst in the past we might have looked to the Beeb to maintain a balanced approach, they themselves have in my view joined the pile in, whilst soft pedalling enormously on the far right.
More than ever, the governing party needs to be held to account, but nobody serious is doing so.
Agreed
I think you’re spot on with this but would place much greater emphasis on the social media element of your post. Hardly anyone really reads the printed press anymore – local or national, so opinions are formed and enforced in these small groups on social media. People on the educated centre-left (readers of this blogs, etc.) are more likely to actively seek out reason and try to understand the bigger picture in a much more inclusive way, Unfortunately, the vast majority of people just vote for themselves nowadays – hence the Tory dominance. It’s interesting that social media which was lauded as being a force for good and inclusivity is actually doing the exact opposite.
People may not newspapers as often anymore but The Mail and The Sun are still doing way better than any of the others.The tabloid press in this country have a lot to answer for. I think we should face facts. As a nation we are really dumb politically, but have also been deliberately dumbed. Since the war, we have peddled the same stupid narratives about what it means to be British and nobody ever questions any of it.
The latest being that the poor are responsible for their own poverty and none of them are really poor anyway. They all have plenty of money for lottery tickets and wide screen tvs. That’s the kind of stuff I hear from Tories when I ask them why they would vote for May. And here we all are again. Talking to ourselves.
“Hardly anyone reads the printed press anymore”? Sales have certainly diminished but please don’t exagerate.
Agreed
Looks like that Richard -this is a dark time where dumbed-down debate (BBC) economic illiteracy and a ruling elite that are grooming the populace with ghastly flag-waving and obscenely superficial concepts about ‘strength.’
I knew it was going to get worse and it has, but I refuse to despair -let the wind of ignorance howl, I will continue to oppose what is happening and keep my spirits raised to do so.
This is the sign of a populace that is tired, stressed and plied with poor journalism after decades of dumbed-down T.V.
My son’s future, my mother’s social care and the roof above my head will now be in serious jeopardy for the ‘sin’ that I am not financialised.
In five or ten, twenty years time the populace will discover the false idol they have been following as the scorched earth of the rentier wealth siphoners is fully revealed to them. It may take war and/or climate disaster to get the message through to a zombified, sleepwalking mass.
We will need the voice of good people like Richard and the fellowship offered on this site and a few others -good luck to you all and don’t despair-this is a long moral arc!
“Don’t despair. This is a long moral arc.”
Love that. I’m in for the long haul.
Grace
Me too
I recall reading Thucydides’ history of the Peloponnesian war and him writing that wars happened every 30 years as then those that were to fight the war had been too young to understand the terrors and horrors that war held.
That being so I fear it may not be until 2040 that we have another socialist government and I will be long dead by then.
Not that long.
The economy falls over the cliff in 2018.
If you wrere being macchiavellian you’d say better it falls off with a Tory pilot.
It seems like South Wales – at least the Valleys , that old coal mining and steel industrial area, once solidly labour – is switching over towards the Tories. Bizarre. Jeremy Corbyn and his acolytes have managed to drive the anti toff anti elite working class vote from the working class movement to support the toff and elite party. What is the likelihood that this pattern of transfer of allegiance will be repeated in all the other old industrial districts in the north of England. Will the Corbynite wing of Labour accept the reality of their total and unnutterable failure? And will the populist voting masses benefit in terms of greater equality, more jobs, economic growth etc in the regions, from a Tory Brexiteer government? Big fat loud NO to both questions.
I’m glad so many people in South Wales are so confident of their economic prospects that they’re confident that they’ll be able to pay for their children’s education & their own healthcare under Theresa’s Govt.
An immediate reaction. It’s predictably bad news – for all the reasons raised and discussed on your blog for the past few years. As Simon says there will be an intolerably high price to pay down the line. But saying ‘I told you so’ won’t alleviate the suffering of the victims of Conservative economic policy. I daren’t contemplate the outcome on 8 June. His defenders will say otherwise but I hold Jeremy Corbyn primarily responsible for the scale of the move to right-wing popularism.
At least the Green Party appears to be achieving modest gains. Sadly hardly likely to register on the Richter Scale, but better than the alternative. We’re in it for the long haul – hehe!
His defenders will say otherwise? come on John anyone with the ability to read and comprehend would say otherwise. The biggest driver of anything is the media, if you follow this blog you’ll know just how much rubbish they publish about economics. Go back for decades and you’ll find a press that broadly comes down in favour of the neo-liberal view. Currently Corbyn is the only viable non neo-liberal option, the media have crucified him from before he was even elected.
I make no claims about Corbyn being great but if you think that any leader/party that isn’t neo-liberal won’t get the same treatment then you’re deluded. Personally I’d even take a true Conservative party over a neo-liberal, it’s a poisonous ideology.
There won’t be aold-school conservative party ever again. The only person who seems t understand that free-market economics is not compatible with true conservatism is Peter Hitchens. He’s locked in a box somewhere howling about the church of England accepting gay vicars.
eriugenus – very true Peter Hitchens is at least straight forward and is perfectly correct on many assessments. He loses me when he gets to liberal values, religion and drugs. But he nails the neo-liberal problem very well.
John D, I don’t think we can lay it all at the feet of Corbyn. The failure of the Left is a global phenomenon whose roots go back 40 years and linked to the rise of Monetarism and Global Capital which, unfortunately, has not been coherently challenged by the Left with a clear narrative. People like Tony Benn were challenging globalisation and the Likelihood of the EU being a vehicle for global banking in the 70’s -those voices fizzled out and as the culture moved to an everyone-for-themselves, fragmented society where fear and stress dominate the possibility of anything else has been forgotten.
I don’t want to get into a spat over this. In general I agree with what you and Alastair have posted. It’s my fault for not being more specific. The relentless rise of neo-liberalism goes back over 40 years when the Republican Party (Big Business) wanted to roll back the New Deal, which they did with ruthless efficiency starting by changing the economic syllabus in Academia. Clearly none of that has anything to do with JC!
What I meant was that in recent UK political history the Labour Party has not only failed to offer a positive, realistic alternative for future generations but has elected personalities that quite simply lack the managerial, leadership qualities that are necessary, especially in view of a hostile MSM.
It has enjoyed a critical mass of voters who are either traditionally opposed to the Conservative Party or ‘progressives’ who can see through their lies and understand their track-record.
In spite of the neo-liberal forces stacked up against them there have been, and there is, feasible opportunity to start the process of demolishing Tory economic ideology and the LP has shied away from it. I’m not a Labour supporter so I don’t know about nor understand the inner workings of the party. But there were lessons to be learned from Mandelson’s extra-ordinary success in media management, that was the envy of the Tories and has since been adopted by them. I’m talking purely ‘management’ and ‘game theory’ if you like. The LP has been rudderless for over a decade and is paying the price.
No matter what your message is if you don’t have an effective delivery system for it, you could be saying anything. Plenty of social experiments have been done with people giving away cash in the street and people refusing it, because they don’t trust the donor! Being ‘progressive’ doesnt mean turning your back on established management systems.
With the Tory party in almost total disarray when the Co-alition took over, the LP should have been on the case like a rat down a drainpipe. Open goal after open goal was missed (excuse the mixed metaphors). Difficult to beleieve but I suppose it’s possible the leadership back then didn’t know how a modern fiat monetary system works. They only had 30 years to find out – lol! But there has been no such excuse since JC took over. He & John McD have had access to whatever advice was needed. Instead of which they took the ‘easy’ route and spent valuable time in internecine squabbles.
Good leaders unite, they don’t divide. They have a clear message, a practical plan, objectives and a strategy plus a thorough grasp of the tactics required to combat opposition, wherever it comes from. Social marketing is little different from commercial marketing in terms of methodology. Whatever the LP rules are, choosing JC to lead them waas like re-enacting the Charge of the Light Brigade. He has no leadeship qualifications whatsoever, aside from his supposed integrity, which isn’t enough.
This has gone on much longer than I intended. Let me finish by confirming I accept all that you guys have said about the media, the corrupt foces of Neo-liberalism, ‘fake news’ etc. etc. I’ve posted numerous times about the seemingly intractable problem of shifting the public mind-set away from the household budget analogy. Regrettably, for the country, Corbyn just isn’t up to the struggle both intellectually and managerially. At least the Green Party leadership makes the effort with nothing like the critical mass of support that exists for Labour. As does the SNP – which has a clear message for the future of Scotland and a plan, like it or not. Phew … it’s not easy is it!
Absolutely Simon. And here in the UK we even endured 10 years of a warmongering neo-liberal Labour government.
I believe the Labour movement once had a national newspaper – the Daily Herald? Somewhere alternative political discourse and analysis got lost in the Labour Party and we end up with costed manifestos and an ignorant, alienated electorate.
This has been a very long process, and an international one as you say. How quite to explain it? It’s worthy of a book length study in my view.
John Fitzpatrick – I think Bill Mitchell is about to publish a book on the history of the Failure of the Left going back to Healey and Labour in the 70’s, he’s been trial running drafts of chapters on his blog over the last year or two. Worth a read when it comes out ( if i can afford to buy a copy).
He is the leader of the party. One of his responsibilities is to select his shadow cabinet and keep them on message. Diane abbot is a liability, his inability or unwillingness to fire her despite her continual errors says much about his leadership skills
My local Labour candidate delivered an election flyer which read, quite frankly, like a political suicide note. Besides being poorly structured over two sides of A4 it contained statements such as these on its front page:
– “Most of us know that however much we campaign, our protests are eventually ignored, and the things we oppose are implemented after elections, possible now after the coming General Election!”
– “As a Christian I am happy to support the Labour Party providing it sticks to the principles set out on the reverse page.”
and remarkably
– “My aim is not to be elected, but to keep you informed of the problems we face, and some possible answers”.
I was amazed. It embdied, for me, all that is wrong with Labour.
In contrast, the Tory flyer which came later the same day was a model of clarity and was worded to show party loyalty, and offered hope and solutions to local issues. It was on one side of A4.
I voted Green.
Time may well be the revelator.
But there is also time for this state of affairs to become the new ‘normal’. And the Tories have been hard at it since ’79 rolling back what small post war gains were made.
In which case there is maybe nothing to be revealed.
C’mon – we knew the Tories were going to benefit from BREXIT didn’t we?
We also know that New Labour chased Tory swing voters which led to them ignoring the concerns of their former supporters who increasingly turned to UKIP and now that their work is done – the Tories because of BREXIT above.
It is hard to know what to say but I do not blame the voter. The Tories know how to manipulate people very well that is for sure. And a lot of it (if not all) is pure lies and illegal to boot.
To progressives one could say “Read my lips: its the interregnum, stupid”.
The Left – all progressives – need to come out united and fighting after the main election if a fairer society is to be born. And a better democracy too (PR).
I still believe that the Tories will mess it up in the long run. They are planting the seeds of their eventual demise even as we see them rise.
Holdfast progressive folk, holdfast.
“The Left — all progressives — need to come out united and fighting after the main election if a fairer society is to be born. And a better democracy too (PR).”
May I say that the progressives in Scotland could come out BEFORE the election and join forces with the progressives in the SNP (there are very many of us) But will they? No chance, despite the fact that they lost so many seats today. Kezia Dugdale needs a strong talking to.
You certainly may Grace.
But ‘May’ is an increasingly dirty word at the moment for obvious reasons.
Not long after Camoron was elected (circa 2012) I was in Lambourne visiting friends – we had dinner in a charming local pub. There was a local newspaper lying around complaining about reductions in money for local nurseries/closures etc. The paper did not make the link between Tory budget cuts and theses closures. I helped by writing in bold letters: “then don’t vote tory”. People still do – suggesting that a large part of the population is both prone to delusions and to grooming – or maybe they are just thick.
It’s largely ‘grooming’ Mike plus the serotonin reuptake inhibitor effect of a Union Jack wave.
I’m just back from observing the count at our local elections with our esteemed local MP (West Surrey, the Twunt…) and the local LibDem team which includes several Labour migrants as well as ex-Tories. Not quite as depressing as the national result with a gain from Tories in deep blue territory and another pushing them into 3rd with a doubled vote, and a 35-40% turnout across the area. Also a fighting chance of an alliance candidate standing against Twunt in the general election
We were discussing the utter lack of a compelling, thought through vision for the economic and social world we face in future. The Tories are making vague promises they will not keep about an economy for everyone, and Labour are stuck with policies and thinking that are backward looking.
When McDonnell invited that impressive team including the infamous R Murphy to help develop a fresh and more radical economic strategy and policies, I was hopeful that they were on the right track. Sadly those hopes were dashed when it became apparent that Corbyn and co were not serious, as Richard has explained on these pages. But why wait to be invited? Perhaps that same team or similar could develop that vision, strategy and policies, working with other cross party groups and then challenge parties to adopt it? I suspect there might be an appetite amongst the enough of the public to support and fund such an initiative. Might group’s like More United, Compass, Open Britain be supportive? With all these different groups, there is the risk of the centre-left fragmenting further. Something like this might provide a basis for people to coalesce, rather than waiting for some messiah to emerge in the firm of a new party leader
What do you think?
Robin
I am working with two others on ideas….
I assure you I am not going away
All three are Green New Dealers
Whether there are others to add I am not sure as yet
Richard
A big win for the Tories? But hardly a swing in the West Of England Metro Mayor election, because our new Mayor won with only 27.3% of first preference votes, (no second preferences in the General Election.) Here are the percentages.
Con 27.3%
Lab 22.2%
Lib/Dem 20.2%
Green 11.2%
Ind 15.0%
Ukip 4.2%
If this is repeated in the general election, the Tories will certainly have a landslide.
If we, the people, can’t get together and produce a Progressive Alliance, to beat barely more than a quarter of the electorate, we deserve everything that the Tories will be throwing at us.
And that’s the problem
Apparently we can’t
But UKIP being absorbed by the Tories means the Right can
If being ‘progressive’ comes over as ‘anti-tory’ then for many this appears in part to be a vote for a world in which the likes of that arch democrat and tax evasion hater jc juncker continue to exercise great influence.
We’re all Tories now…
Which, TBH, fits with the comments sections in Metro & also less onto;
we all deserve what is shortly going to happen to us. No excuses, we voted for recession, we voted for misery, we voted for this
I swear to God I could see civil war here.
Still, on a brighter note, my boys in WI beat Pakistan,
Just read an interesting article that suggests there is a Left alive and well within the populace its just that it has only poor representation in a divided Labour Party that has not yet found its proper voice. It is, perhaps, becoming clearer that Corbyn is part of a transition for the Left and indicates the need for better leadership and a distinctive narrative. What happens next with Labour will be interesting.
Johnathan Freedland in the guardian suggested that Corbyn shouldn’t blame the press and quotes Enoch Powell saying ‘blaming the press is like a sailor blaming the sea’ but the sea is a naturally occuring phenomenon, the press isn’t as it’s connected to ideology and power structures. The wretched and disingenuous Freedland seems to think that views of Corbyn have nothing to do with the press and have sprung up intuitively in the minds of the populace! As if media does no spread by osmosis and percolate through a culture.
The Grauniad with its Blairite views has added to this. Down to the next generation I think. I have always been disgusted with my own generation (with the exception of Richard and others on this sit of course!) for it’s glib acceptance of Thatcher’s ‘loads o’ money’ world and the fragmented society of ‘I’m-alright-Jack’ that took over. My generation swallowed that and is still holding on to it tightly, despite the suffering, the climate disaster awaiting and the crass, superficial and vacuous ‘culture’ we are left with. Over to you under 25’s, my lot have left you in it!
I agree with you on neoliberalism
But let’s be clear Corbyn’s problems with the press is of his own making
His press management is dire
The media mismanage Corbyn because he gives them nothing to work on
And that is his fault
I agree to a large extent, Richard, there has been a failure to get a real narrative across as well as no real macroeconomic literacy to challenge Tory nonsense like ‘bankrupting’ the country -this could have easily been countered.
I agree it is poor-BUT when we read reports about 75% of press reports misrepresenting Corbyn and the policies and only about 10% considered accurate then the press IS an issue and would have misrepresented things EVEN if Corbyn had been better at articulating the economic clearly.
But I accept the messaging has been very poor.
I agree with Mr Cohen on this.
Back in 2010 the Tories went big on the idea that Labour had “left no money”, an idea so ludicrous that it could & should have been made fun of. As though we could run out of sterling. Like me saying that with McDonalds Happy Meals & Coca-Cola on tap, I’m obviously worried about the health issues but my biggest concern is that if we keep getting bigger we’ll soon be running out of Kilograms!
(For older readers stones are available).
Most recently Theresa has made great play about how hard Brexit negotiations will be & has wrapped herelf in the Union Jack like a less sweaty & more suburban Mo Farah. This is surely the time to point out that large parts of the Tory party & press blatantly LIED to the population. It’ll be easy, they said, the EU won’t play hard-ball they want a trade deal. May is, essentially, saying, everything the other parties said was true,everything that most of my own party said was rubbish. Is anyone picking up on that?
I agree with Mr Cohen that the main problem is not specific policies but that the left accepted the right’s doctrine whole & sought to work within it. Lots of it, when you think for a moment, are utter bollox. The idea that a teacher or nurse is non-productive, because they are a state employee, even though improving the health & education of the populace must improve overall quality of life, whereas a private sector worker is productive. What? If they’re an estate agent? I beg to doubt it.
Its probably too late now to change minds. Things can no longer get better,
“Get out as quickly as you can & don’t have any kids yourself”
Far too pessimistic
And my grandmother said this in the 60s
She was wrong and so are you I am afraid
Sorry Eriugenus – speak for yourself.
I have never ever been a Tory and never will be.
I’ve never been a sheep either.
A NOTE FOR ALL PROGRESSIVES (OR THOSE THAT THINK THAT THEY ARE)
There is a Progressive meeting taking place today in my town and I’m going along to it to test the water. I think that the Greens are involved but their website is short on updates. Anyhow, something for me to cling to………..
What I really wanted to say however was that I (as a progressive) am deeply uncomfortable with the levels of what can be seen as opprobrium being levelled at those voting for the Tories in particular.
Now I don’t want to come across as Jesus asking God to ‘Forgive them Father for they know not what they do’ (the Bible is full of good stories about human frailty that we should all be acquainted with – religious or not). But please hear me out.
I say again that many voters are being manipulated and misled by the Tories and their MSM allies. The Tories are happily playing with fire in order to gain for themselves.
And the media does not help. Look at the subtle and mendacious way in which the loss of Glasgow City Council by Labour has been portrayed. All we are told by the BBC is that Labour ‘lost control’. They did not tell you outright that they lost to the two SNP votes (and yes one Tory was involved too). All the portrayal did was to say that (1) Labour had just lost yet another seat and (2) let the viewer assume that it was say to the Tories perhaps? Creating of course the notion that Labour are finished and the Tories are the winners already? Stuff like this is really not designed to help people is it?
But seriously now: how can any progressive who is so and who claims to want to help other people to live a better life in a better world negate the misled weak whom they say they care about? Now come on progressive folk – think about it.
It is an intellectual contradiction that is not sustainable and must be avoided. We saw its consequences when New Labour poured scorn on peoples’ concerns about immigration and ‘white man van’.
If we want to reach people in order create a fairer society, we do NOT look down our noses at them like the good old fashioned British class system
teaches us to do. No feeling superior, no feeling sorry for anyone, no correcting of pronunciation. Is that understood?
We do not focus on the voter. We focus on the Tory party – its lies, its tactics, its sophistry, its corruption and its vandalism of our society and how life is going to get much harder for people as we go ‘the American way’. And we focus of course on the alternatives WE have to offer.
The problem that needs to be worked is not the voter as a person; it is what is in their heads that needs to be dealt with. And we deal with that by listening, empathising, being patient and then trying to put forward alternatives to change views.
My journey from being a working class lad to a middle class professional (and I still describe myself as ‘transitionally middle class’ even now at 51) has taught me a lot about the topic. If people even get an inkling that you are sneering down at them or not taking their concerns seriously and are told (for example) that they are racist simply because they are worried about immigration then you can forget about winning them over. Period.
I’m no big player on this blog or in the progressive movement by any means and may never be but please take heed of what I have said.
I agree PSR, that sneering is not helpful and I have to keep a lid on my anger at times when I want to castigate that part of the populace that didn’t have the strength of mind to see through the Tory grooming and lies. But people KNOW that housing is unaffordable, that homelessness has increased over the last few years that Food bank use has soared, that social care is collapsing. To vote Tory after all of that….hmm…..well, I’m sorry I do have some hard words for those in the ‘I’m -alright-jackist’ camp I’m afraid, especially the middle classes. Certainly not supercilious sneering, that’s arrogant but some honest words about what they have done, I don’t see a problem in that.
But I also accept that there are many who are:
stressed and tired
Don’t have the time or head-space to work out what is going on
Are abused by a trashy media
Have been failed by the Left for years.
Fair enough Simon – in my darker hours I would agree with you but if you ever want to vent your spleen to me about your frustration you are welcome to do so.
I will listen and like a good friend let it go through one ear and out the other in order provide relief but remember two things:
1) Unreason is cunning.
2) Even though we desire the world we live in to be rational, it seldom is in
reality.
May I also suggest that the ‘honest words’ you speak of need to be handled with the utmost of care and creativity to get your points over. That is because I want you/WE want you to be successful in getting you point over and inviting people over from the dark side of the force.
Mr Cohen
Everyone can see it. As far as the Tory?UKIP voters are concerned;
1 Te reason there is a housing shortage is that too many immigrants have been allowed in
2 The reason social care is collapsing is that immigrants are given preference over white English people &
3 Lots of the poor & homeless are rich, really, & are dropped off at their begging sites in Ferraris
Yes, its idiotic, yes, it would be funny or, at least, pitiful, were it not so malignant, but thats how people think.
There is, almost certainly, no way back from this. Have a drink, have a spliff, give up.
Politely, you’re wrong on this one
For those who haven’t seen it, Sunny Hundal has written a thought-provoking piece in today’s Indie, which sheds new light on why some traditional Labour voters are either abstaining or even voting for the Tories (UKIP). Apparently it’s not “the economy , stupid” – http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/marine-le-pen-france-election-emmanuel-macron-far-right-nationalism-a7721886.html.
Actually it’s not exactly a new trend. Greens, anarchists, left-libertarians etc. don’t vote on purely economic grounds either. We just don’t buy into the prevailing growth-based capitalist model. However, progressive socio-economic values probably aren’t the ones driving those mentioned in the article.
Interesting article and perhaps helps me understand my own ‘frustration’ with the voter:
‘Yet in the face of all this evidence the economic left remain unmoved and dogmatic. It sticks to its belief that people are (and should) only be motivated by economic policies. It doesn’t understand someone who votes against their economic interests because it cares more about identity issues; it cannot comprehend why Jeremy Corbyn, despite an economically popular programme, is so unpopular in the polls. “The polls must be rigged,” it says. I wish it were so, but they’re not.’
So this is overriding the abuse of the disabled, the homelessness, the food banks, the underpaid nurses, the collapse of social care, the unaffordable housing…..?
Then we are moving towards fascism because the belief in abstractions leads there.
perhaps the Left need to relocate national Pride so it is connected to economic issues. I suppose Corbyn’s internationalism ( which was hijacked by neo-liberalism and became globalisation) is his downfall.
I admit I have never been too sure what populism is. Is it listening to the population and giving them what they want? Is it championing the little man against the elite?
Is it only right wing populism that is bad?
It is all very confusing!
Hi John D. I read your comments with great interest. I was wondering which political leader at the present time has the intellectual and managerial abilities to lead their parties? I personally don’t think that Theresa May has these qualities in abundance but it doesn’t seem to matter.
The answer Jane in my view is none of them as individuals.
But the other answer is all of them – all the Progressive leaders working intelligently together in some form of coalition might be the way forward – a pooling of ideas and talent and large doses of compromise and swallowed pride and a realisation that they are not here for themselves but here for the people.
And as for ‘leadership’ in the Tory party I suggest that May is no leader.
All she is a wooden figurehead for a ship full of greedy, self serving, misguided people who would sell their own grand mothers for a pound and whom fully intend to earn their future wealth from the privatised State.
I agree May is no leader
Of the rest Caroine Lucas is easily the most human and is incredibly astute
Nicola Sturgeon is as astute and manages the SNP well. They have the most competent politicians in the UK.
Of the rest? The affliction is inexperience and wonkiness. And the fact that they just have not seen the real world
Good morning Jane –
Good question to which I don’t have a short, simple answer. Good management is hard to find! I’m not a management consultant but, in my previous life (now retired) of working with many different European and North American companies, I’d say there’s broadly a deficit of good – i.e. progressive – management in the UK. While there are some excellent management schools here, the UK still adheres to hierarchical pyramid structures which is possibly cultural.
Richard would be better able to comment on Caroline Lucas, who appears to lead from the front and has a well co-ordianted team behind her. By definition, the Greens have always had a focussed vision and a well-articulated plan – which is why they are still around, even though many of their policies have been adopted by the major parties. But they are not trusted on the economy or defence.
Theresa May ‘comes across’ as managerial despite all available evidence to the contrary (i.e. her political track record). I’ve just read this article in BuzzFeed: https://www.buzzfeed.com/emilydugan/this-town-has-been-labour-since-1919-its-about-to-switch-to?utm_term=.vue4YLj47#.bcw7AN071, which underscores how high ‘trust’ plays in the voting booth. For better or worse, ‘strong’ leaders project trust. “She’s educated and seems to be a nice lady” will be the reaction of many previous Labour voters, when comparing her to Corbyn.
I don’t know enough about Nichola Sturgeon and the SNP to comment. But it seems to be quite a well organised and managed party.
When one looks back, most politicians who made it to the top of the greasy pole had some experience outside of politics be it in commerce, the armed forces, trades unions, local government, teaching etc. Today many go straight into politics from Uni or college and there always seems to be an abundance of lawyers – who don’t necessarily have good management experience or even training.
Good management is as much a team effort as a leadership issue. Neither May nor Corbyn seem to be adept at building a well co-ordianted team.
I’m sorry this isn’t as good a response as you deserve, Jane. But you raise a complex and interesting point. ‘How to be a good manager’ is the subject of literally thousands of books. I doubt that either May or Corbyn has ever opened one even out of curiosity!
See my reply to another comment on the issue
Labour is still messing around promising economic bits and pieces. But with the Brexit majority (yes it was) people showed they were prepared to sacrifice economic security for controls on immigration.
But Labour still doesn’t get it and still has no policy on this issue that is obviously of great importance to people. Even when Keir Sturmer was centre stage on Brexit, he said that this is not a main issue for Labour – but it clearly is for a lot of people.
Without foregrounding this issue, May has been smart enough to ensure that she has given background reassurances on it but without any definite commitments that she can be held to esp when there is freedom of movement belligerence from Brussels.
This is probably a factor in the ‘strong and stable May standing up to Brussels’ image that is on offer and is proving such a good sell, the implication that she will hold out against free movement.
The only chance Labour has got now is to show that the Tories immigration limits are pretend, and to show the strong line that people want on this AS WELL AS the socialist policies being proposed. That could be a winning combination.
But there is little chance of that. Because even if Corbyn could see the light, Momentum wouldn’t allow it.
So – The End
Linda, I suspect that Corbyn’s rather outdated, leftist internationalism is at the core of the problem. I have occasionally found his harking back to the ‘glory days’ of his fights for socila justice in the 70’s somewhat embarrassing as he fails to point out that neo-liberalism took on the internationalist argument-South Africa is a good example, after the fight against Apartheid, neo-liberalism rolled in and now we have a country with greater inequality than during apartheid.
What should Labour have done:
1) talked of strengthening borders and increasing British Jobs (steel, infrastructure, socila care)?
2) Combined this with a positive vision of how international relations could foster strengthening foreign economies so less immigration is necessary?
3) Point out that the Tories were the real global capitalists over the last 40 years and helped create the market for cheap labour and supported wars that increased immigration ( I count Blair as a Tory here).?
Any further suggestions, Linda?
Anyone who might be interested reading any objective facts about he SUPER TORY TRIUMPH in Ferguslie Park will find them here.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2017/05/astonishing-tory-ferguslie-park-super-triumph/
He’s on the ball with that one
A fair point Richard about the quality of ‘management’ in politics. Not only have they not seen the real world though, I still think that some of them are working out how to interpret it – which is no bad thing.
And John D’s point on management is relevant too. But tell me do the best managers always get to the top? I’ve seen better ones left behind as the more pliant ones get promoted on the basis of loyalty rather than ability.
If Corbyn has been using loyalty as a metric of management talent, the forthcoming election may well lead to a night of the long knives for Milne and Co. But what then?
All those Blairites/Blue Labour MPs who Andrew Rawnsley seems to ignore in yet another overpaid and self-important ‘stating the bleeding obvious and it isn’t even the whole picture’ piece in the Observer today are going to flock to you for advice are they and start reading Progressive Pulse ? Somewhat doubtful don’t you think?
More likely, those more talented who were not listened or were pushed aside may come to the fore again and they may not be Blairite or Cobynistas. And all other parties may have such people in their midst.
And tell me – in modern politics are the leaders of parties actually managers? Or are they managed? Certainly in the Tory party they are – even Thatcher was waved on by the City of London and used as the poster girl for mendacious political objectives by pin stripe suited men with dishonest motives.
And given your heroic much under-valued and misunderstood intervention on GERS, can you be sure that Sturgeon is in control of her party? Hmmm……….
But what are we supposed to do now? Sit here reading your blog? Going on Progressive Pulse? And then what…………?
I don’t know, it is definitely too late perhaps for this election but some form of alliance maybe ready for 2022 when we will know with more certainty what the effects of BREXIT will be?
As I have intimated elsewhere I now seem to be part of a grass roots effort to get the progressive parties to work together and listen to those who are frustrated and disenfranchised by our democracy (we have all the politics we need but not the democracy to deliver it as yet).
So I agree with Linda K above. In the short term we progressives are f****d. Now we must think about the next fight in 2022 or maybe even be ready for yet another snap election which will maybe become the norm for the future by the Tories who wish to keep us on our toes.
This will not stop me reading your blog, your books and venturing onto Progressive Pulse or considering what others who are roughly aligned with you say. Indeed I widely circulated these resources (and others) at the meeting I attended yesterday in the hope that people consider them. I mean – what else can I do Richard? What else can one do? You continue working at your end and I’m going have a go at this end and hopefully others will too.
You make strong, compelling, intellectual arguments for a better world. I think that another significant role that your blog has created as a result is the need for offering strong encouragement for those who want to have a go at realising it?
I am all for encouraging those who want to realise it
I never rule out being part of that
So far the time has never seemed right
About a week ago Andrew asked:
“Do any of those parties — the Scottish and Welsh nationalists, and the Northern Irish parties — espouse forms of sectarianism or national supremeism (if that is that a word)? Their forms of nationalism are OK?”
I gave a robust answer saying that the SNP would be actively opposed to and deplore such attitudes.
However I would draw his attention to the Scottish Sunday Herald today. Seems it’s the unionists in Scotland who espouse the kind of bigotry and sectarianism that we, as progressives deplore.
This is exactly the kind of thing extreme right wing populism encourages and legitimises and it’s just vile, wrong and anti-democratic.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15270068.Orange_Order_elected_to_councils_as_Labour_and_Tory_members/
I have to admit the Orange Order make me shudder
So too do the Masons I might add