Can we please have an emoticon for virtue signalling .
Now that the liberal left are on the run with nowhere to go we now need to kill them off once and for all
The movement no longer has a home. It has been caught in a pincer movement between Theresa May’s surprisingly radical Conservatism, where Cameroon liberalism suddenly no longer has a place, and Jeremy Corbyn’s regressive neo-Marxists, to whom Blairites are hated class traitors. As for the Liberal Democrats, led by the hapless Tim Farron, they are a broken-down vehicle, their reputation ruined for a generation.
It’s not just that the liberal Left are political orphans: their entire world-view is in tatters. They had a few big theories. One was that Britain had an inbuilt “progressive majority” and that the only challenge was how to unite the Left while tacking to the centre.
The establishment, including celebrities and entertainers, no longer sways voters; and attempts to demonise Eurosceptics as little Englanders, racists or bigots backfired spectacularly.
Another core theory was that history was on their side when it came to social change, the slow demise of nation-states, multiculturalism and the rise of the EU, and that the longer they were in power the greater their majority would thus become. Hence their ideological belief in “modernity”, which, according to them, was inherently Left-wing.
A third was that “soft power” was key in a post-industrial age characterised by dwindling trade union membership: the fact that creative types, actors, teachers, museum directors and charity bosses were on the liberal Left would cement their grip on society. Last but not least, they believed that they had the moral high ground, and that they could shame their opponents into oblivion.
It turns out that they were wrong on almost all counts. Over half the electorate voted Tory, Ukip or for Northern Irish unionist parties in the 2015 general election; 52 per cent backed Brexit in June. The electorate is sick of the EU and global institutions; it wants more democratic control, including over immigration.
The establishment, including celebrities and entertainers, no longer sways voters; and attempts to demonise Eurosceptics as little Englanders, racists or bigots backfired spectacularly. The backlash against the elites, now associated with the liberal Left, was spectacular.
A recent paper from the Social Market Foundation found that Britain’s two largest political tribes, who make up around half of the electorate and which it dubbed “Our Britain” and “Common Sense”, hold a range of what it described as “traditionally Right-wing views”.
On top of that, 7 per cent is free-market libertarian. Pure Left-liberals make up just 11 per cent of the electorate. Of course, there is a “progressive majority” on a few subjects – sadly, they include banning zero-hour contracts and renationalising trains – but these are secondary issues.
The reality is that the centre Left destroyed itself with Iraq, the financial crisis and then – for its Lib Dem component – when it backed tuition fees and went into coalition with the Tories. The only surprise is that it survived for so long.
Given all that, what can moderate Left-wingers actually do now? They certainly cannot do business with Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn is a hard-Left republican who believes in total state control, socialism, punitive taxation, a rejection of international organisations such as the EU for being too pro-capitalist, and radical anti-militarism.
His party is riddled with anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism; his Marxist view of international affairs means that he is soft on extremist groups. It’s a despicable brew that would destroy Britain and wreak havoc globally were it ever implemented.
But the Left-liberals cannot do business with the Tories either. Mrs May is turning out to be a radical revolutionary: she will take us out of the EU, destroying 60 years of Left-liberal foreign policy; she will restrict immigration, and even spoke out against economic migration in her maiden speech to the United Nations; she will bring back selection in state schools, undoing a central plank of the post-Sixties Left-liberal consensus; she even wants to bolster religious schools.
This is a political and practical cataclysm for the liberal Left: May has dedicated herself to unwinding central swathes of their project. She isn’t a Thatcherite but her impact, if she delivers and remains in 10 Downing Street for long enough, could be just as great.
Of course, some of her issues, such as combating modern slavery, rightly attract universal support. Others, such as her wrong-headed belief that workers should be appointed to boards ought to please the Left – but the genesis of this silly idea, from Mrs May’s perspective, is Christian democratic rather than social democratic.
Such policies chime with an otherwise pro-capitalist Middle England: they reflect middle-class discontent, not a thought-through, coherent Left-wing ideology. The Left-liberals understand this, which is why they are unimpressed even by those of the Prime Minister’s policies they ought to like.
They are now clinging to the hope that Mrs May will overreach, implode and be replaced by someone such as George Osborne, who recently lay claim to the role of leader of what he described, incorrectly, as the “liberal mainstream majority”; this is one reason why they are so desperate for the economy to tank as Brexit proceeds.
Another hope is that a breakaway centre-Left party is formed out of moderate Labour MPs and possibly the Lib Dems: a reprise of the ill-fated SDP-Liberal alliance of 1981.
The former is unlikely: my bet is that the Prime Minister will confound her sceptics and deliver a steely negotiation, with her Chancellor supporting the economy. But if Mrs May did fall, a hardcore Brexiteer could well take over. As to a new party, Labour MPs would need immense courage to defect in large numbers. The Labour brand is so strong that, come the election, it is hard to see many centre-Left MPs surviving if they have to fight an official, Corbyn-backed Labour MP.
After years of being in the ascendant, the centre-Left is being ruthlessly and methodically routed. Brexit is the most important incarnation of this revolution, of course, but Westminster is only just beginning to grasp the scope and scale of Britain’s coming transformation.
Now that the liberal left are on the run with nowhere to go we now need to kill them off once and for all
The movement no longer has a home. It has been caught in a pincer movement between Theresa May’s surprisingly radical Conservatism, where Cameroon liberalism suddenly no longer has a place, and Jeremy Corbyn’s regressive neo-Marxists, to whom Blairites are hated class traitors. As for the Liberal Democrats, led by the hapless Tim Farron, they are a broken-down vehicle, their reputation ruined for a generation.
It’s not just that the liberal Left are political orphans: their entire world-view is in tatters. They had a few big theories. One was that Britain had an inbuilt “progressive majority” and that the only challenge was how to unite the Left while tacking to the centre.
The establishment, including celebrities and entertainers, no longer sways voters; and attempts to demonise Eurosceptics as little Englanders, racists or bigots backfired spectacularly.
Another core theory was that history was on their side when it came to social change, the slow demise of nation-states, multiculturalism and the rise of the EU, and that the longer they were in power the greater their majority would thus become. Hence their ideological belief in “modernity”, which, according to them, was inherently Left-wing.
A third was that “soft power” was key in a post-industrial age characterised by dwindling trade union membership: the fact that creative types, actors, teachers, museum directors and charity bosses were on the liberal Left would cement their grip on society. Last but not least, they believed that they had the moral high ground, and that they could shame their opponents into oblivion.
It turns out that they were wrong on almost all counts. Over half the electorate voted Tory, Ukip or for Northern Irish unionist parties in the 2015 general election; 52 per cent backed Brexit in June. The electorate is sick of the EU and global institutions; it wants more democratic control, including over immigration.
The establishment, including celebrities and entertainers, no longer sways voters; and attempts to demonise Eurosceptics as little Englanders, racists or bigots backfired spectacularly. The backlash against the elites, now associated with the liberal Left, was spectacular.
A recent paper from the Social Market Foundation found that Britain’s two largest political tribes, who make up around half of the electorate and which it dubbed “Our Britain” and “Common Sense”, hold a range of what it described as “traditionally Right-wing views”.
On top of that, 7 per cent is free-market libertarian. Pure Left-liberals make up just 11 per cent of the electorate. Of course, there is a “progressive majority” on a few subjects – sadly, they include banning zero-hour contracts and renationalising trains – but these are secondary issues.
The reality is that the centre Left destroyed itself with Iraq, the financial crisis and then – for its Lib Dem component – when it backed tuition fees and went into coalition with the Tories. The only surprise is that it survived for so long.
Given all that, what can moderate Left-wingers actually do now? They certainly cannot do business with Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn is a hard-Left republican who believes in total state control, socialism, punitive taxation, a rejection of international organisations such as the EU for being too pro-capitalist, and radical anti-militarism.
His party is riddled with anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism; his Marxist view of international affairs means that he is soft on extremist groups. It’s a despicable brew that would destroy Britain and wreak havoc globally were it ever implemented.
But the Left-liberals cannot do business with the Tories either. Mrs May is turning out to be a radical revolutionary: she will take us out of the EU, destroying 60 years of Left-liberal foreign policy; she will restrict immigration, and even spoke out against economic migration in her maiden speech to the United Nations; she will bring back selection in state schools, undoing a central plank of the post-Sixties Left-liberal consensus; she even wants to bolster religious schools.
This is a political and practical cataclysm for the liberal Left: May has dedicated herself to unwinding central swathes of their project. She isn’t a Thatcherite but her impact, if she delivers and remains in 10 Downing Street for long enough, could be just as great.
Of course, some of her issues, such as combating modern slavery, rightly attract universal support. Others, such as her wrong-headed belief that workers should be appointed to boards ought to please the Left – but the genesis of this silly idea, from Mrs May’s perspective, is Christian democratic rather than social democratic.
Such policies chime with an otherwise pro-capitalist Middle England: they reflect middle-class discontent, not a thought-through, coherent Left-wing ideology. The Left-liberals understand this, which is why they are unimpressed even by those of the Prime Minister’s policies they ought to like.
They are now clinging to the hope that Mrs May will overreach, implode and be replaced by someone such as George Osborne, who recently lay claim to the role of leader of what he described, incorrectly, as the “liberal mainstream majority”; this is one reason why they are so desperate for the economy to tank as Brexit proceeds.
Another hope is that a breakaway centre-Left party is formed out of moderate Labour MPs and possibly the Lib Dems: a reprise of the ill-fated SDP-Liberal alliance of 1981.
The former is unlikely: my bet is that the Prime Minister will confound her sceptics and deliver a steely negotiation, with her Chancellor supporting the economy. But if Mrs May did fall, a hardcore Brexiteer could well take over. As to a new party, Labour MPs would need immense courage to defect in large numbers. The Labour brand is so strong that, come the election, it is hard to see many centre-Left MPs surviving if they have to fight an official, Corbyn-backed Labour MP.
After years of being in the ascendant, the centre-Left is being ruthlessly and methodically routed. Brexit is the most important incarnation of this revolution, of course, but Westminster is only just beginning to grasp the scope and scale of Britain’s coming transformation.
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