Andy Beckett's Blog, page 18
March 6, 2020
The idea that Johnson is ‘moving left’ may be Thatcher’s final victory | Andy Beckett
Ever since Margaret Thatcher seized the Tory leadership 45 years ago, one of the few seemingly reliable facts in British politics has been that the Conservatives are aggressively rightwing on the economy. Sanctifying the free market, prioritising the wealthy, promoting competition throughout society, justifying inequality: in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, the Tories have pursued a particular, hard-nosed vision of economic life, even as they’ve softened periodically on social issues.
Yet since Boris Johnson eased into the leadership last summer, there have been louder and louder hints that a Tory economic rethink is belatedly under way – more than a decade after the financial crisis that undermined so much of their economic philosophy. There has been less talk of tax cuts and more of tax increases; an election manifesto that promised “opportunity for all” and “social justice”; an increase in the minimum wage well above the rate of inflation; the nationalisation of Northern Rail; and the possibility of state aid for other troubled but strategically important businesses.
Related: For Johnson’s new voters, the betrayal starts now | Aditya Chakrabortty
In last year’s Tory manifesto, the vaguely egalitarian economic passages don’t last long
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February 22, 2020
Boris Johnson may find that being ‘Brexity Hezza’ is not so simple | Andy Beckett
For a prime minister who has already been in office seven months, leading a party that’s already been in power for 10 years, Boris Johnson has come a long way on promises alone. One of the most effective, so far, has been his pledge to “level up” Britain. For many voters and commentators, this egalitarian-sounding catchphrase signals a new Conservatism: one that cares about the whole country, rather than just the comfortable southern areas Tory governments usually favour. For more sceptical observers, the phrase is primarily tactical but clever: a way for the Tories to pretend to prioritise the pivotal seats in neglected parts of the north and Midlands that they gained in December, and to further disorient a Labour party still dizzy from defeat.
What approach to levelling up Britain’s starkly unequal regions – by many measures, among the most unequal of any rich country – might the Tories take? Shortly after becoming prime minister Johnson gave a clue. Last September he told several of his cabinet that he saw himself as “basically a Brexity Hezza”. Since the former Tory grandee Michael Heseltine was (and is) a prominent remainer – and is estranged from the party as a result – Johnson’s self-description felt cheeky and not entirely reliable, even by his standards. Yet it has been latched on to by Johnson-watchers ever since, as they’ve otherwise struggled to make sense of his simultaneously evasive and hyperactive premiership.
Related: Is housing design and planning safe in the Tories’ hands?
Related: The Tories have evolved as the left plays the same old tune | Owen Jones
Continue reading...February 7, 2020
The centre can hold, but only if it challenges the status quo | Andy Beckett
There’s a sense that centrists are slowly coming to terms with today’s world – and the left should welcome this
Since New Labour lost power in 2010, one of the most distinctive sounds of British politics has been centrists saying what they’re against. Brexit, populism, identity politics, Corbynism, “extremism” in general – all have been loudly and repeatedly condemned.
Much quieter – in fact, barely audible – has been the sound of centrists saying what they’re offering instead. While the Tory right and Labour left have been bursting with ideas about how to transform Britain, the self-styled moderates of both parties and their many media allies have suggested few concrete solutions to the crises in the economy, the climate and Britain’s ever more divided society.
If they’re going to become relevant again, centrists need to come up with some new ideas
Related: The Labour leadership election only matters if the party breaks with the past | Martin Kettle
Continue reading...February 5, 2020
Twenty-First Century Socialism by Jeremy Gilbert review – an optimistic vision
Early 2020 is either a very good or a very bad time to publish a book about why socialism is the answer to the world’s problems. Bad for reasons that, if you’re British, don’t need rehearsing; good because with every awful news cycle capitalism looks less and less able to provide most people with a decent, sustainable life. Also, as even arch-capitalist publications such as the Economist acknowledge, there has been a recent upsurge of fresh thinking on the left, particularly in Britain and the US. The problem for socialists is not a lack of exciting ideas, such as the green new deal, but how to persuade voters that they are relevant and practical.
Gilbert’s daringly short book is an attempt to rectify that. In half a dozen quick chapters, with lightly sketched examples and a minimum of jargon, it covers three huge topics: how capitalism came into being, and what’s wrong with it; how socialism developed during the 19th and 20th centuries as an alternative way of organising society; and how an updated, contemporary version could be drawn together, successfully presented during and between elections, and then put into practice.
For Gilbert, socialism is a project for collaborating citizens as much as politicians – it's about freedom as much as equality
Continue reading...January 24, 2020
British politics is slowing down again, and that’s good for democracy | Andy Beckett
After several frenzied, unpredictable years, for the opposition this is a period for patiently building on far-sighted ideas
Over the past six years, British politics has become addicted to speed. Our often sleepy country has experienced a rush of events probably without precedent in its postwar history: two pivotal referendums; three general elections, two of them called early; countless parliamentary dramas; and dramatic changes of leadership, poll position and ideology in all the main parties.
The declared aims of Boris Johnson’s government are the work of decades, if they are achievable at all
Related: Boris Johnson is relaxed about poverty because he thinks voters are too | Polly Toynbee
Continue reading...January 10, 2020
Labour’s heartlands may be gone for ever. It needs to find new ones | Andy Beckett
The northern towns have changed. But in cities the party has adapted well to the shifts and disruptions of the modern world
A month after Labour’s dizzying defeat, there is unsurprisingly not much agreement, yet, about what the party should do next. But there is one thing on which the leadership candidates, many party activists, and political journalists and commentators of all persuasions seem to agree: Labour needs to reconnect with its heartlands.
Related: How Labour can make itself electable again | Letters
Continue reading...January 6, 2020
The age of perpetual crisis: how the 2010s disrupted everything but resolved nothing – podcast
In an era of bewildering upheaval, how will the past decade be remembered? By Andy Beckett
Continue reading...December 24, 2019
Our response to Tory promises? Credulity, deference and short memories | Andy Beckett
Beneath the surface disorder of modern British politics, there are steadier patterns to be found. One of them is so regular, and so central to the workings of the whole system, that it’s rarely noticed, let alone challenged.
This pattern is hugely to the advantage of the Conservatives. Here’s how it works. When the Tories are in power, as they have been for 27 of the last 40 years, they often struggle to govern effectively. An election follows. The Tories run a negative campaign, drawing attention away from their own failures and ineptitude to the potential problems of a Labour government. To the surprise of some, the Tories win: either decisively or just well enough to stay in office. They announce that they will govern differently this time. Much of the media believes them. The Tories struggle in government once again.
Faith in their credentials helps win tight elections. That they always find a way to rule is a self-fulfilling prophecy
Related: With its lurch to the right, Britain is no longer special in Europe | Stefan Bielik
Continue reading...December 19, 2019
A Labour defeat, yes, but this was not nearly as bad as 1983 | Andy Beckett
For the Labour left’s many enemies, there are few events more useful than a leftwing defeat. Not just for its immediate consequences, which have been graphic over the past week as Jeremy Corbyn’s messy but transformative four-year leadership has been reduced by his critics to a single bad election campaign. But also for the longer term ways in which such a defeat can be deployed: to attack leftwing politicians in general, close off leftwing policy options, and ultimately deny the Labour left’s right to exist. The left rarely gets to run the party and so is all the more castigated when it fails to capitalise on the opportunity.
On election night, the former New Labour minister Alan Johnson began this familiar ritual – describing the pro-Corbyn group Momentum, which has 40,000 members, as “this little cult”. “I want them out of the party,” he said on ITV. “Go back to your student politics.”
Continue reading...December 16, 2019
The age of perpetual crisis: how the 2010s disrupted everything but resolved nothing
In an era of bewildering upheaval, how will the past decade be remembered?
By Andy Beckett
People have long used decades to frame the past. Think of how potent “the 60s” has been. But the artificiality of the exercise means that the more you look at a decade, the more complicated it seems. A decade is experienced in an infinity of ways. It is made up of fragments. It blurs at the edges with other decades. Ghosts of previous ones live on within it, and premonitions of those to come gradually infiltrate it.
How will we remember the last 10 years? Above all, as a time of crises. During the 2010s, there have been crises of democracy and the economy; of the climate and poverty; of international relations and national identity; of privacy and technology. There were crises at the start of the decade, and there are crises now. Some of them are the same crises, unsolved. Others are like nothing we have experienced before. Some of them are welcome: old hierarchies collapsing. Others are catastrophes.
Related: How the news took over reality
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