Politics must fill hole at its centre
‘People are revelling in Us against Them.’’ The description of Boris Johnson’s government by former Conservative leadership rival Rory Stewart was on my mind when he spoke at a conference I attended last Thursday in London.
Johnson became prime minister because the UK suffered a deficit of realistic ideas. If he hasn’t gone by the time you read this, it will only be because he is too much of a narcissist to understand the consequences of his behaviour. One wag quipped that the only surprising thing about the sex scandal that appears to be the final straw is that Johnson is not involved in it.
His time in No 10 Downing St will be remembered for unusual cynicism and incoherence. His ideas about why he was in politics and what his government stood for were summed up best in a rambling speech where he adlibbed: ‘‘Yesterday I went, as we all must, to Peppa Pig World. Very much my kind of place.’’
There were legitimate grievances behind the UK’s vote to leave the EU, but the politics of division couldn’t solve the problems people faced. Six years on, Brexit has made those problems worse and strained UK politics further.
Rory Stewart, on the other hand, has never stopped articulating an inclusive vision for a politics of the centre. The power of the centre ground, he says, lies in the tension between the left and the right, the way it loads power into a bow as the drawstring bends its curve to the centre.
‘‘Combine the energy of the individual of one extreme, with the compassion of the other; the patriotism of one with the moral project of the other. Out of this you draw something that includes the whole of society.’’
Although the theme of the London conference was the Future of Britain, the call to a radical centre resonates in New Zealand: ‘‘To be radical isn’t to be extreme. To be exciting isn’t to be unrealistic. To be muscular doesn’t mean shutting out the vulnerable,’’ a paper accompanying the conference states.
As in many democracies, UK polling shows a realignment in politics. Voters still see the main parties through a 20thcentury lens where Labour is the party of unions and Tory (or National) represents wealth. But while voters are concerned with ‘‘security’’, in health, income and education, many are more likely to vote according to their views on diversity, ethnicity and culture.
The Conservatives’ voter base is less economically secure and less cosmopolitan than it used to be. Labour voters are more economically secure and more diverse than they were.
The middle class has grown by half in the past 40 years. The majority of new middle class votes go to Labour. The working class vote is a third smaller and more likely to vote Conservative, especially in small provincial towns. That sounds like Donald Trump’s support in the US.
Fissures are not as pronounced in New Zealand, but you can see the outline of culture wars in the tribal signals beginning to divide the country: Do you announce your pronouns at the end of your emails? Do you drive an electric car or a ute? Did you go and see Jane Campion’s Power of the Dog, or Top Gun? In the supermarket, do you look for what’s on special or what’s in season?
Athird of British voters agree with the statement that the country needs a strong leader who can make big decisions quickly without having to consult parliament. Two-thirds of Brits think most MPs are mainly out for themselves.
This is how democracy loses support. Things may get worse. ‘‘When a breadwinner in a family can no longer provide, you risk mass civil unrest,’’ said a popular TV figure, who advises viewers on how to make their money go further.
If voters don’t expect political leaders to come up with solutions any more, then politicians sort themselves by personality. You can’t persuade voters who think the other side is bad or has unlikeable people.
Concern to make politics relevant again brought Tony Blair to the stage in London, warning about ‘‘a gaping hole where new ideas should be’’. Unless we can articulate practical policies that speak to the stuff that people are worried about, and do it with conviction, he says, the political system will remain broken.
Politics is the only profession where you take an important job and give it to someone with no qualifications, so he urges leaders to reach out across political tribes and beyond parliament to find the best ideas.
Compromise isn’t a flaw in democracy, it’s a feature of democracy. So energise the centre, the place where around 50% of voters are, with new ideas, wherever they come from.
‘‘To be both radical and centrist, to be exciting and pragmatic, and to be muscular and compassionate,’’ the conference paper adds. ‘‘To offer a politics of hope, and a vision rooted in the lives of people.’’ That’s the kind of politics we need today.