Labour’s shame and Tory delusion: how mediocrity took power

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Why are Britain's politicians so hopeless? From Tory fantasists to Labour deniers, Westminster has driven out the talented, the imaginative and the honest. The Conservative Party destroyed itself with Brexit and a cult of property and privilege. Labour has buried its belief in care, collective purpose and truth under Treasury orthodoxy. Both parties repel intelligence in different ways, one by demanding belief in the impossible, the other by denying what's obviously true.

In this video, I explain how mediocrity became the political norm, why ideology now drives out ability, and how belief in truth and public purpose could still renew our democracy.

This is the audio version:

This is the transcript:


Why has the UK got such poor-quality politicians?

Everybody now knows that the politicians we are being presented with, whether by  Labour or the Tories, and to some extent, but much less, by other parties, are by and large utterly useless. I can't beat around the bush more than that because there is no point in doing so. That's what everybody knows. These people aren't up to the job. Why do they not have an iota of talent for the tasks they take on? Why is that? Why do we have such poor-quality politicians? That's what I want to talk about in this video.

Our political parties are trapped in hopeless ideologies that contradict the best interests of the people of this country. As a consequence, they have no hope of recruiting anyone of talent to promote or implement the policies to which they're dedicated. When the ideology that they're promoting is rotten, only mediocrity will be attracted to serve it.

The Conservatives are suffering from a delusion. Their delusion focuses on  Brexit. The party has been broken by Brexit above all else, and Brexit has drained the Tories of talent.  It's almost impossible now to believe that any intelligent, thoughtful person could still claim that leaving the EU was a good idea. To do so requires an act of denial so complete that it should, in fact, disqualify just about anyone from serious political office.

And the party has shrunk far from the  idea of being the sound steward of the nation's assets to simply becoming the agent for the protection of property and privilege.  And the two, of course, are nothing like the same thing, even though those who are left in the party seem to think they are.

There are no bright young people left who believe that tax cuts, deregulation, or desperate trade deals can now save Britain, and unsurprisingly, the Tories are devoid of talent from top to bottom.

The idea that marketisation is going to solve everything has failed.

Those who stay in the Conservative Party now do so because they can't imagine another world. That inability to imagine better is the surest sign that there is mediocrity, and that is what now fills the Tory benches.

Labour's failure is different, but as complete. It's not so much deluded as ashamed: ashamed of the fact that what it once believed in is now being consigned to the party's history. To believe in public purpose, collective provision, and a caring state was once what it was to be a Labour supporter and a Labour MP, of course. Now, its leadership acts as if those convictions were their youthful mistakes. It bows to Treasury orthodoxy and calls it virtue.

Intelligent people know that this makes no sense.

They know that governments spend before they tax.

They know that austerity shrinks economies.

They know that privatisation has failed and will fail again.

And they know that the planet cannot bear another century of growth at any cost.

But Labour demands disbelief in such realities, and as a consequence, it is drained of those who think, question and care.

Both parties now repel talent.  The Tories exclude intelligence by insisting on belief in the impossible. Labour excludes integrity by demanding disbelief in the obvious.

One asks for loyalty to fantasy. The other demands silence about the truth. And as a result, neither can nurture those who might renew public life.

Across Westminster, dogmas are defining serious politics at cost to all of us.  Things like the government must balance its books as if it were a household, which is, of course, not true. And the idea that markets are efficient, and that the state is wasteful, and that growth is always good, however destructive it might be, and that private ownership is always superior to public provision, and that fiscal rules are a measure of virtue.

These ideas repel bright people for the same reason that Brexit does.  They require disbelief in reality.

The parties are therefore managing on autopilot. With all conviction gone, both parties are left to carry on literally in managerial roles, but without innovation.

Labour's talk of growth and stability sounds different from the Tories' talk of discipline and responsibility, but the truth is that they're much the same. The government in these roles is acting as a caretaker and not as a creator. And there is no reward in caretaking for those with imagination and courage. So, of course, they don't want to be politicians.

The most capable, the most imaginative, and the most compassionate people no longer see politics as a career option. They are building movements outside the political parties precisely because that is where ideas still matter and reality still counts. They've not abandoned politics. Politics has abandoned them.

So if talent is to return, and that is a precondition of rebuilding the democracy that we desire, belief must return first. Belief in truth, in care and in possibility. Politics must again admit that government creates the conditions for prosperity, and that markets need boundaries, and that people matter more than balance sheets. Whilst the economy must sustain life and not exploit it .

Until those things happen, the Tories will keep their fantasists, and Labour will keep their deniers. Britain will remain a country led by people who no longer believe in anything at all that is true.

But we can change that by demanding honesty, purpose, and courage from those who are seeking power, and by building movements where those values still live on and which put pressure on politicians to deliver them.

What do you think? Do you think I'm right?

Do you think that we are governed by people who have lost all ability to actually undertake that task because they're fantasists or deniers of the truth?

Do you think it's time that our political parties were renewed?

Where do you think Reform comes into all this?

Do you think it is possible that we could have a movement for political renewal in this country?

Is there still politics that is possible, even if it's living outside mainstream politics now? Let us know. Your comments matter, and there's a poll down below which focuses on some of these issues.

But we will take note of what you say because they do influence our future videos on this channel.


Poll

What’s the biggest reason Britain’s political parties have lost their talent?

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Taking further action

If you want to write a letter to your MP on the issues raised in this blog post, there is a ChatGPT prompt to assist you in doing so, with full instructions, here.

One word of warning, though: please ensure you have the correct MP. ChatGPT can get it wrong.


Comments 

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