Andy Beckett's Blog, page 16

The left urgently needs to lose its inferiority complex | Andy Beckett

Pessimism shores up the false narrative that conservative rule is natural and anything else is an aberration

This week Joe Biden – few people’s idea of an outstanding candidate – won the biggest presidential vote in United States history. Seven times in the last eight such contests, the Democrats have got more votes than the Republicans.

You could see this latest popular-vote victory as further confirmation of a theory that’s been promoted by some political scientists and journalists for a quarter of a century, most notably in The Emerging Democratic Majority, a 2002 book by John B Judis and Ruy Teixeira. The theory says that American social trends, which are making much of the country more diverse, urban and better educated – all characteristics associated with voting Democrat – are slowly but inexorably shifting the US away from the Republicans.

Continue reading...

This is a moment of truth for rightwing populists – but don't celebrate yet | Andy Beckett

Populism can survive a Trump defeat and a disastrous Brexit. Even so, its best days may already be over

Over the four feverish years since the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s election, we have got used to thinking of populism as a movement whose time has come. Its loudmouth leaders, constant rule-breaking and seductive promises of national renewal have dominated democratic life in much of the world.

Many people who find populism appalling have also been fascinated, sometimes mesmerised. After the relatively predictable and cautious politics of the 90s and 00s, populism has provided electoral shocks, colourful ideologues, risk-taking governments – and also a potent sense of novelty.

Continue reading...

The Tories’ culture war is a reminder that the right isn't as fearless as it seems | Andy Beckett

Since Boris Johnson’s government has begun to struggle, it’s striking that its talk of a ‘war on woke’ has increased

Over the last few years, a new fear has been forming in the already anxious minds of liberal and leftwing Britons. The fear is that the right, made more aggressive by an injection of populism, is no longer satisfied by dominating national politics and defining the shape of the economy. It wants to dominate British culture as well.

Starting with the Brexit campaign, the right has launched a series of culture wars: against remainers, the BBC, the universities, the legal system, the big cities and seemingly anywhere that liberal or leftwing thinking still lingers strongly, despite a decade of Tory rule. These culture wars have mobilised and united conservative Britons, ensured that debates about patriotism and social cohesion are conducted on rightwing terms and helped the Tories win a big parliamentary majority.

Related: The virtual Tory conference was a gift to Johnson – he managed to avoid his party | Katy Balls

Continue reading...

Why Labour should not be seeking national unity | Andy Beckett

It sounds a noble aim, but in the end those bearing the brunt of inequality in this country need the party to be on their side

Keir Starmer and Boris Johnson are such starkly different politicians that one thing they do have in common has gone almost unnoticed. The vision of Britain they’re offering, and how it might be achieved, can sound virtually identical.

“We will build a Britain in which everyone has the opportunity to make the most of their talents,” said last year’s Tory manifesto. “I want … opportunities to be available to everyone,” said Starmer in his slick first party political broadcast last month. “Together, we can make [Britain] greater still,” promised the Tories. “Together, we can forge [a] better future,” promised Starmer.

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

Continue reading...

Can Labour rebuild its red wall without losing its cities? | Andy Beckett

The lost voters hate ‘scroungers’, liberal values and ‘political correctness’. Winning them back could come at a high price

Since Labour’s disorienting election defeat nine months ago, one political concept has dominated the discussion about how the party might find its way back to power. The “red wall”, a term coined by a Conservative pollster, James Kanagasooriam, a few months before the election, has been identified as the part of Britain central to Labour’s problems and prospects. Fail to recapture it from the Tories, the argument goes, and face being in opposition for ever.

It’s quite a significance to place on an uneven, broken line of constituencies across north Wales, the Midlands and northern England. Precise definitions of the red wall vary, and it includes seats still held by Labour. But the three dozen that fell here to the Tories last year add up to about 6% of Britain’s MPs. Even when the red wall was a Labour stronghold, more Labour MPs represented other places.

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak could soon be a problem for Johnson as well as for Labour | Andy Beckett

The coronavirus crisis has made a star of the chancellor. He’ll want to be in a different post when his policies are paid for

Every decade or so, someone appears in our politics who has an aura. They excite their party, and they scare its opponents. The public notices these rising politicians, and likes what it sees.

Related: Minister warns Rishi Sunak against tax hikes to cover Covid shortfall

Continue reading...

Nobody denies Johnson's government is incompetent. But do enough voters care? | Andy Beckett

Ineptness has brought down many prime ministers. But calling for ‘competent’ rule is not a rival programme for office

This government is a shambles. More and more people say so: not just Keir Starmer but Tory backbenchers, not just Piers Morgan but the Financial Times, not just leftists on Twitter but the Daily Mail. The list of Boris Johnson’s failures – over coronavirus and in just about every other policy area – gets longer every week. Ministers are objects of mockery and contempt.

Government incompetence matters, especially during a pandemic. But it’s also an easy charge to make – almost too easy. It comes naturally to disillusioned voters, who don’t trust politicians anyway; to civil servants, with scores to settle after government cuts; and to journalists, who enjoy judging the powerful and describing Whitehall meltdowns.

The Conservatives have gradually managed to detach their political fortunes from their failures in government

Related: If it's all about the economy, why are the Tories still polling better than Labour? | Larry Elliott

Continue reading...

Covid-19 has pushed Britain outdoors – but will the habit stick? | Andy Beckett

It remains to be seen whether our ‘alfresco revolution’ is sustainable or just another of No 10’s overoptimistic, short-term fixes

Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage

Britain is a wet, cold country that often wishes it wasn’t. So our relationship with the outdoors is complicated. We don’t trust it, but we long for it. In summer, we want as much of it as possible.

This year the pandemic, and the government’s response to it, have made being outdoors almost a national duty. With indoor contagiousness one of the few agreed facts about Covid-19, parts of our homes, villages, towns and cities have been turned inside out. Gardens have become living rooms, pavements have become pubs, roads have become seating areas for restaurants. Meanwhile indoor spaces that can’t be replaced, such as shops, have tried to blur the distinction between outside and in: leaving doors ajar, opening every possible window. It’s been a big change for a country that usually worries about draughts. In June, the government called for an “alfresco revolution”.

Related: Thanks for the free Pret, Rishi: but let's not make a meal out of it | Joel Golby

Continue reading...

Why Boris Johnson's Tories fell for a tiny sect of libertarian provocateurs | Andy Beckett

The combative contrarian rhetoric of the defunct RCP has long been all over the media. Now it’s in No 10 as well

So much seems unusual about this Conservative government: its constant disruptiveness; its preference for rhetoric over functional policies; its mixture of brazen U-turns and cult-like discipline; its flirtations with the far right alongside leftwing-sounding plans to “level up”; its deadly reluctance to curtail small freedoms in a pandemic.

It’s common to attribute some or all of these tendencies to the idiosyncrasies of Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings, or the effects of Brexit, or the rise of rightwing populism. But there is a less noticed and more surprising factor at work, too. Today’s Tory government has adopted some of the style, rhetoric and preoccupations of a defunct radical sect, the Revolutionary Communist party (RCP).

Continue reading...

This is the man in No 10 who inspired Cummings – and he didn't last long | Andy Beckett

John Hoskyns, Margaret Thatcher’s head of policy, also wanted to shake up Whitehall. He left, disappointed and frustrated

One of Dominic Cummings’ biggest successes, so far, has been convincing so many people he’s a political original. In important ways, he isn’t.

A decade ago, David Cameron’s government also featured a professional iconoclast who strode around Whitehall in ostentatiously casual clothes, demanding that the British state undergo drastic surgery. Steve Hilton, Cameron’s director of strategy, left Downing Street after two years, frustrated at his lack of progress. He now makes a living defending Donald Trump on Fox News.

Continue reading...