The pandemic has hollowed out our politics – but that can't last forever | Andy Beckett

The current lack of political engagement suits the Tories. They should beware though: it’ll be back with a vengeance

In Britain today, politics feels empty. Some of the emptiness is literal: the socially distanced House of Commons, the absence of demonstrations and packed political conferences, the party leaders making endless speeches to cameras in deserted rooms.

As in the rest of life, the pandemic has postponed important events, such as last year’s London mayoral election, and allowed others to continue only in eerily reduced form. For almost a year now, the rowdy political crowds and huddles that usually reassure many people that Britain is a healthy democracy have been absent.

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

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