The Commons: “a toxic environment”
Has British politics become so toxic, even MPs can’t take it anymore? In the past few weeks, they’ve been resigning in such droves, you start to wonder if there are going to be any left to fight next month’s election, said Isabel Hardman in The Spectator. So far, 65 MPs have said they won’t stand, double the number in 2017. But while it sounds a lot, if “you combine these two snap elections, the figure only just passes the number that stood down in 2015, which was a fairly normal year”. There’s always a churn, as MPs retire after decades in politics, or slink out, having realised their careers are not progressing. So what we are seeing is not a mass exodus; and though many women are among them, their number (19) is actually proportionate to their representation in the Commons. Yet it is unusual all the same. Many of the outgoing MPs – and of the women in particular – are young and in their political prime; and several have cited the “toxic political environment” as a reason for them quitting.
Being an MP has always been a tough job, said Polly Mackenzie on UnHerd.com. It’s well paid, but the hours are anti-social, and many MPs have to split their lives in two, as they shuttle between London and their constituencies. People go into politics because they want to make a difference; they are willing to make sacrifices for the sake of a rewarding job. But lately, our politics has been so consumed by Brexit, many no longer feel they are making a difference. Factor in the torrent of abuse and death threats levelled at MPs, female ones in particular, and no wonder so many are throwing in the towel.
But it’s not just the culture that has changed, said Stephen Bush in the New Statesman. Many of the Tories standing down joined the party in the Cameron era, when it was economically and socially liberal, committed to the single market and fiscally prudent. Now they’re expected to swear fealty to a party that is authoritarian on crime, committed to a hard Brexit, and borrowing and spending freely. In short, they no longer agree with their party’s aims, said Peter Allen in The Spectator. Their new boss doesn’t rate them (a feeling that is mutual); and their prospects look bleak. Of course they want out. Still, Boris Johnson may come to regret driving off the moderates, said Rachel Sylvester in The Times. In an election campaign, the aroma a party gives off can be as important as its manifesto. The Tories’ scent – a mix of alpha-male blokeyness and public school banter, with a hint of Farage – risks repelling crucial voters.