As we still await the official manifestos of all of the parties there is little meat on the bone in terms of what the parties are actually campaigning to do. Whilst there are a few policies we know parties have been talking about for a long time there is nothing to stop them being non-commital. Therefore at the moment there is a palpable sense of apathy when it comes to the choices before us.
The mood music reflected in the media seems to be quite simple. The Tories are unpopular and Labour are not a hopeful alternative. The other parties have yet to really set out their stall and breaking out from the yawning domination of air time to the two main parties means that this will not happen for a few days yet. The Tories seem to be content with bad optics and coping with another long-running Member of Parliament announcing he or she will not stand for re-election. Sir John Redwood, Micheal Gove and Craig Mackinley all announced that they would not seek re-election and these names are not insignificant. Redwood has been an MP for many years and was even slightly mentored by Margaret Thatcher. Micheal Gove ran for the Tory leadership a couple of years ago and had been a cabinet minister for a long time. Mackinley was a big name for the Tory right and had only just returned to Parliament after a terrible fight with Sepsis. Rishi Sunak also made what seemed to be a political gaff by delivering a speech outside of the Titanic museum; leading newspaper headlines to make sinking-related jokes.
The Labour Party are facing similar issues themselves with their last leader Jeremy Corbyn now standing as an independent candidate after being thrown out of the party for his part in the anti-Semitism scandal within the party in Islington North. Long-standing ex-shadow minister Diane Abbott is still waiting to see if she will be let back into the party in order to run again for Labour after an investigation into her allegedly anti-Semitic article in a newspaper. Kir Starmer is having to face a plethora of angry Labour MPs on the hard left of the party, many of them brought in under Jeremy Corbyn in the 2019 General Election, for his decision to throw Corbyn out of the party. Kir Starmer is trying desperately to show a united party ready for power despite the coalition of the left wobbling considerably yesterday.
All of this points to a growing feeling within the country that the two main parties are just not inspiring anybody. Labour are in the lead but that is only really regarding those who know who they want to vote for. For a growing majority of the country the answer to the question; “who do you intend to vote for” seems to be met with the answer “none of the above”. There is no Blair-like enthusiasm for Labour. There is exhaustion and dissolusionment with the Tories. The Scottish National Party have become a shadow of their former selves, Welsh Labour have a major problem at the top with the leader of the Sennedd in hot water over donations, and sectarianism makes Northern Irish politics worrying, along with the issues along the border with the Republic of Ireland and illegal migration. The United Kingdom is having a big problem with the establishment parties all over the place. The voters are rightly concerned that there is no real hope emanating from any of the parties that have or would like to show leadership, at least those with a true chance at winning executive power.
We still have just under 6 weeks of this campaign to go and 6 weeks is a long time in politics. Perhaps with the publishing of manifestos or concrete party promises we might see some movement but for now the largest majority of the country leans on the side of none of the above. The rushed calling of this general election plays into that; no party has really built up speed going into this election and with the issues of time and raising funds mentioned in yesterday’s article perhaps the maximum speed of any party is going to be limited to a cool 65mph. But there is a severe lack of personality, a severe lack of promises to dig down into and more importantly a severe lack of hope things will actually get better. Speculation about just what is coming up for the country outside of the general election is only ever really quite negative. We are not really expecting any dramatic interest rate decreases (perhaps only two this calendar year!), we are expecting a record-breaking year for illegal immigration and the small boats crisis, nothing will be done about health in the country, and aside from the olympics there really isn’t much to look forward to anyway. Maybe the Euros but people are not enthused about Gareth Southgate either.
Perhaps we are suffering form a very British pessimism. We haven’t really had something to be hopeful about or proud of for a while now. Proffessor Matthew Goodwin of the University of Kent called this era the era of “managed decline”. That is sort of what it feels like we are voting for; the party that will best assist with managed decline. There really isn’t any market dynamism in this country as most wealth-creation is retreating further and further into the city of London. Protests about events thousands of miles away litter the streets on a weekly basis and public hope in who can fix some of the major problems from the economy to immigration to healthcare is “none of the above”, with Labour coming in a distance second in all three. The idea of a country in managed decline seemed to typify the inneffective nature of the Tory party in the last few years. There hasn’t been much push-back as institutions, civil service departments, international organisations or the courts pushed politicians wherever they wanted to go. In a country where Parliament is supposed to be sovereign and we are all now engaged in voting to decide what the make-up of that parliament is, we have seen in the last few years parliament becoming more and more impotent as the country is run in many different directions from many different other places.
So perhaps that is what is needed; a party with a message that they will reverse the managed decline described above. A party might need to say “sod this outsourcing of decision-making to unelected officials, unaccountable organisations or groups of self-proclaimed experts. We are going to start making decisions and putting the hands of fate back in our hands, elected by you”. Perhaps we need a 1979-style ideological revolution in terms of a massive break from the past. The Tories and Labour propose trimming small split-ends but perhaps enthusiasm comes from a party that says “screw the perm, how about a buzz-cut?!” There needs to be something other than the “we will manage this decline better than the others” because in reality that is what the two main parties sound like. Public enthusiasm is not low because things are not going well, not working and not getting better alone, it is that no one is truly offering a genuine alternative outside of the main parties.
Honestly, this is really the time for a smaller party to say enough, or for a new leader to completely shift the direction of a main party. Rishi Sunak is not that person; he defends the record of the Tories. It is not really going to be Sir Kir Starmer who has basically indicated very little change outside of gender-issues and VAT on private schools. The Tories missed a trick by not removing Sunak and Labour failed to come up with policies to truly put distance between them and the government; or they did once and then changed their minds. Can a party re-invent itself in under 6 weeks? Unlikely. Can a small party break through and offer a genuine alternative? Unlikely under the First-Past-The-Post election system. Something has to happen or the Labour Party will genuinely win be default and we will have a government that no one voted for. There is a genuine chance that the Labour Party will win a majority with something like 20-29% of the vote if you count the non-voters. If that happens there is a large chance we will be back to the polls within a few years rather than five, and something much more radical might be on offer which could be a bit more scary. Who knows, but there is a gap in the market for a genuine alternative.
So, could someone please offer one? If not, there should be a box on the ballot paper where you can put a cross against “none of the above”.
This article first appeared on the TDL Times. For more information, articles, and more please visit www.thetdltimes.com.
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