I usually think the work that John Burn-Murdoch does in the FT is really good, but I question his analysis in an article this morning.
The left is losing its grip on ethnic minority voters
The first chart is this:
An analysis follows, but I think that it fundamentally misses the point that neither Labour nor the Democrats are on the left of politics.
Being to the left of neo-fascist adjacent parties does not make you left-wing. In both these cases, it makes you firmly centre-right and neoliberal in reality. No wonder people of any ethnicity are fed up with these parties: they lack a moral compass or any sign of empathy. Why should people be enamoured with them?
The FT should take note.
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Thank you and well said, Richard.
Readers and Richard may be interested in what Adam Tooze has to say in today’s Grauniad: https://www.pressreader.com/australia/the-guardian-australia/20241011/282269555839731.
Tim Rideout who often comments on this blog may pipe up as he has family and friends in the global south / zone b.
From the Adam Tooze article: “With regard to China, the revisionist strategy was clear from the start. In Ukraine and the Middle East, Washington has responded to events. But that isn’t evidence against strategic intent. Using your enemy’s aggression, the desperation of your friends and the ruthlessness of your allies to your own advantage is simply smart policy.”
“Strategy” “..smart policy.” It’s all just a game to those heartless bastards. Thousands of people exterminated so they can get a strategic or commercial advantage. They are sickening and, note, they are all men – sadistic, blood thirsty men. I hope there is a hell because those merciless savages deserve to spend eternity in it.
As for the countries that go along to get along with the USA. Wake up. Stop the killings. Stop the madness.
Plus: https://unherd.com/2024/09/kamala-harris-is-a-neocon-in-disguise/.
She’s not disguised at all. She has said she has been in lockstep with Biden all the way and can think of nothing that she would have changed. As in all things, follow the money. Who is funding the Democratic and Republican parties? The same billionaire oligarchs and corporate interests, e.g. military industrial complex. So expect more war, instability and carnage, with the American people losing out again.
There’s not much difference between Harris and Trump. Both will accelerate the decline of the western so-called ‘rules-based’ order.
I think there are differences
American women certainly think so
Quite. It was bizarre that in the run up to and including the election that Labour was referred to as left wing or progressive. They are not!
Quite right. I am a registered voter here and in the US, lifelong Labour and Democrat, but what I have experienced at first hand as an active member of the Labour Party in the UK, I recognise from afar, has happened to the Democrats in the US. Bernie Sanders and Corbyn got the same treatment, followed by a purge of anyone who supported them, followed by central control taking over and removing any internal party democracy.
It is deeply depressing. I take encouragement only from forums like this one and naked capitalism, where the shenanegans of Labour and Democrats are understood and exposed. I also take some comfort from knowing that in both countries there is a majority that is “left of centre”, and that the corrupted electoral systems give an undeserved majority to the minority on the right.
Labour have not been left wing since the 80s. The Libdems stopped around the same time.
The only way you could describe them as left wing is to state they are to the left of the Tories, which is not difficult.
But, nearly every poll of the populations of the UK over last decade, unless I’ve misunderstood tham all, shows that the UK population are left wing. They want nationalisation of certain industries and a fully functioning government with cradle to the grave care.
It’s why we need, but won’t get, PR.
Agreed and well said.
And is one of the reasons I voted LibDem at the last election, in that they are the least right of the 3 main British parties (and they believe in PR).
However according to political compass, even they are right of centre and way right of where I am.
It is really, really telling that when you read the article that Burn-Murdoch thinks that the Labour party as it is now is some sort of bastion of the Left. Laughable, that’s what it is.
In Britain – as in the States – there is a huge gap in politics because a true Left position is simply not offered as a choice. And look what happens when it is offered – it is smothered out.
I’d argue that it is the increasing growth in non-voters who represent the Left or what I would call ‘The Great Unrepresented’. A lot of those with Left-ish leanings I think are in that non-voting group and I count myself as one of them (but has anyone researched this non-voting this group?).
As long as the concerted effort not to represent this group continues in our polity, the Right will have a field day and there will no justice.
I still remember the Johnson election when Corbyn lost. I remember a number of young men and women coming to me crying because they knew what had happened and what it meant for them. Part of the boomer generation, I was stunned and did not know how to console them.
I’ll never forget that day and how the unnaturalness of our politics was revealed in all its ugliness.
Hindus have hardly ever been lefty voters. The refugees from Africa were middle class colonial apparatchiks, many from mainland India have been influenced by Modi/Hindutja. Muslims are deserting Labour over Zionism, as well as blatant “hierarchies of racism” as alleged by Forde, including wide ranging attempts to stop Muslims from becoming MPs. BTW Non whites may notice Mandela’s grandson barred from UK.
At the moment it seems the Left is silent. Over recent years it has been battered into submission . A concerted effort by all parts of the Establishment. These attacks are supported by foreign elements . Mike Pompeo of the CIA indicated that Corbyn would be prevented from becoming PM even if he won the election. The Israelis played no small part in the takeover of the Labour Party. The Party that was infiltrated by Right Wing entryists who took control of a Party created to represent working people who had nothing to sell but their labour. My Grandad,a miner who was sent down the pit at the age of 12 used to tell me the working class were treated as a race apart. He believed the Labour Party was the only hope for change. From the very beginning some leaders fought to prevent the adoption of democratic socialism. I have Michael Foots biography of Nye Bevan. His whole political career was spent fighting the Right Wing. Five times he was threatened with expulsion. At least twice he was expelled. At the end of WW2 the country was in such a mess that democratic socialism had to be accepted. The horrors of the 1930s were fresh in the minds of the voters. Thus ,I was lucky to experience several decades never seen before or since. Richard remembers those times with affection. Such a difference from the insecurity experienced today . Especially ,the young. Those days can be ours again. Millions want change. There are millions out there who crave better conditions . Socialism is a dream that cannot be killed. It will prevail.
There’s a crucial difference between Britain and the US: a range of other political parties, as well as independent MPs, are electorally viable in the UK (e.g. the Greens, Lib Dems, Reform, left-wing independents and the Scottish and Welsh Nationalists – plus the parties in Northern Ireland) whereas the US is still dominated by the 2-party duopoly. So they are two very different political systems, despite the fact that both use FPTP. And that’s reflected in the two graphs in the FT piece – Democratic support and Republican support are mirror images of each other, whereas that isn’t the case for Labour and Conservative support. BAME support for Labour has fallen substantially since 2017 but support for the Tories is more or less unchanged. Instead, BAME votes have gone to other parties (mainly on the left).
Indeed. As I would argue is shown by comparing vote numbers in the 2019 and 2024 General Elections.
Labour dropped from 10.3M to 9.7M
Green Party increased from 0.8M to 1.9M
Unfortunately our electoral system meant MP numbers in no way reflected that but the votes say a lot