It’s 1987 and I’m standing in my parents’ kitchen, barely 5’ tall – an eager political novice, fascinated by news of the impending election (insofar as I can understand it), and by my father’s intense animation about the subject. Four years previously I’d cut my political teeth with a red crayon, imploring my neighbours to ‘Vote Labour’ through the medium of an A4 sheet of scrap paper affixed with masking tape to my bedroom window.
“It’s a shame that you threw away that Tory leafet,” my father says to me. “Why?” I ask, bewildered. “Because I was going to wait until your mother got home, light a bonfire, and we could all have danced round it,” comes the reply. Guiltily, I write “Vote Conservative” in large letters and proffer it, suggesting that we could burn that instead. “It’s all right” says my father, gloomily.
Such was the tribalism, the belonging, the passion of politics. My crayoned efforts stuck out like a sore thumb in South West Norfolk, which tends at election time to play host to a forest of blue placards, free-standing on heavy wooden posts at the end of long driveways. In 1987 in my best friend’s street, every single house bore a placard – two Alliance, the rest Tory. Even in a seat that was hardly a marginal, all of my friends parents were talking about the election, as were my geekier school friends. Witness the electricity fizzing and crackling through the Lady’s famous “I’m enjoying this” speech. See a barely recognisable Alex Salmond, lining up with Labour to spit bile at the outgoing premier, and wonder at Simon Hughes, eager to join in the fun.
The majority of readers will, I expect, be glad to know that I personally saw the light and put all of my eggs into the blue basket a few years ago. But what is remarkable is my father’s acquiescence. He was glad that I’d decided to become an activist at all, and it didn’t matter that it was for a party which he would have happily massacred for most of his adult life. It set me to wonder if political belief hasn’t become something of an oddity, viewed in the eyes of most as a ‘hobby’. A hobby which causes anyone who shares it to immediately feel a kindred with others who do the same. For the activist, the ‘tribe’ is no longer one’s own party, but rather activists of any colour, shade or hue.
At the last set of local elections, I arrived at a nearby polling station at 7am to act as a teller, blue rosette pinned to denim jacket, to find the Lib Dem candidate already in position. Rather than snarl at me, or spit out a pleasantry or two, he shook me warmly by the hand (on an extremely cold morning) and we proceeded to talk jovially about electoral politics at every level for the best part of 2 hours. Such fellowship is surely not new, but I would argue that it has now become commonplace, where once it was quite unusual.
Of course, Punch and Judy politics is alive and well amongst politicians, whatever Mr Cameron’s efforts to the contrary. But what about the Great British public? The same public who witnessed the miners’ strike, yelling at their televisions in favour of either the pickets, or the police, according to their political taste? The British public who only 20 years ago displayed their colours proudly on their lawns, windows and balconies at election time? Perhaps we’re too busy spring-cleaning our iTunes libraries; renovating our bathrooms; and managing the heavily-leveraged personal finances that make it all possible – our only concern being which party, blue, red, or aqua-marine, will make our accumulation of consumer fripperies as cheap and as easy as it can be. Which are we now more likely to hear? “Tory scum?” “Socialist scum?” Or, “nah mate, I don’t do politics?”
Maybe New Labour ended the ideological battle once and for all. Pleasingly, the centre-right seems to have won. But, if politics is ever going to enliven the public again, we need to establish points of difference. People like a fight. They’ll watch Man Utd v. Liverpool in their billions, but would they watch those same players if all they ever did was play headers and volleys in the park? I doubt it. The next election should be a derby game – not a kick-about in the park. And I’m well up for it.
17 comments:
Good piece that, well written and with a nice balance between the personal and the public.My family turned from Labour to Conservative in the 60s
It's because party politics is an irrelvance. It's about electing the next batch of crooks who will enrich their own pockets. The electorate have realised this.
Politicians unless in the cabinet are an irrelvance. They just troup like cattle into the lobby to vote as they are told.
Hence the move to special interest groups.
If you want to enliven politics, introduce referenda on the major issues. Then people will be interested.
I'm not sure you either get to the crux of the matter or put forward a persuasive argument. You talk about it in terms of political partisanship but not in the wider picture of international politics and general political performance.
So to extend the football analogy to explain my viewpoint lets start. In domestic and international competition, how many own goals have the likes of Blair, Brown, Major and even Margaret Thatcher scored (e.g. poll tax)in the last 20 years?
How often in the last 20 years have we seen the rules of the game changed to favour one side or another and how often have the political version of EUFA and FIFA interfered where they are not wanted without response?
How many times have politicians been up before their version of the FA for sleaze and malfeasance? How many red and yellow cards have been awarded? How many have been suspended if not outright banned?
How many times have our Government gone to the World Cup (UN) and European Championships (EU) and lost?
How often are we bossed by the big teams abroad?
How often do the public want to see exciting attacking play, and are promised it, only to get the same old dull dour defensive strategies that inevitably result in us sliding further down the table. Year by year we get closer to getting relegated from the Premiership (UN Security Council)?
Where is the leadership of a Clough, Stein, Paisley, Busby or Ferguson? It seems we have had too many Taylor's and McClaren's.
Name me one political Dalglish or Keegan, Best or Charlton, or even Lineker around today? There isn't one. Instead we have championship level players?
If you want to know why people no longer connect to politics, perhaps it's because too often in recent decades we have either been embarrassed or appalled by our politicians. Additionally, we're just sick of the same old unimaginative self-serving defensive play and all the time seat prices keep going up!
People don't like losers especially ones that continually deceive the public and seemingly continue to feather their own nests.
Politicians, need to find some attacking flair, put the ball in the opponents net and start winning against the real opponents (rather than each other)and perhaps people might re-engage with politics?
Very good guest blog. In contrast to Matthew I come from a tribal Tory family but joined the Labour Party when I was 15 (and am still a member). My grandfather was on Surrey CC as a Conservative and I still remember bumping into the wife of one of his colleagues on the council who asked me what I was studying for my A-Levels. When I mentioned politics, she looked delighted and asked if I had decided on an affiliation. On being told I had joined Labour, she managed to look over the top of my head to address my mother (quite some feat since I'm 6'2" and my mother is 5'9") with: "Well its a stage they all go through and I'm sure he'll grow out of it!" Old school tribalism at its best!
However, one of the things I enjoy about local activism is meeting other politicos on the street or while telling..not least because we all know that we can indulge ourselves in a good discussion without worrying too much about upsetting anyone. Furthermore, the decline of tribalism I think has been constructive. We should have a genuine debate about policy and a smart political party will assemble policy based on thinking from both sides of the debate. What I would like even more is if we could erode some of the personality politics that we have today (yes, I would say that wouldn't I) and encourage the electorate to look at the parties as a whole...rather than simply the leaders alone.
But when it comes to it, point of difference will be vital if we are to deliver the fight required at the next election to get the electorate motivated (it was the pace of 1992 that got me personally fired up). The thing I find most frustrating is the 'I don't vote' contingent, many of whom come from my (early 30s) generation. For democracy to survive, people need to be involved and if that a choice between someone staying at home or voting Conservative/Lib Dem, I'll take the latter every time.
Spot on. Political activists of opposing parties have far more in common than they do with the average voter for their own party.
I have found this to be especially true of Tory and Labour activists. The ones who I tend to be most tribal and the LDs, who I have found on occasion to be downright rude when sitting on a polling station with them for 2 hours.
Excellent piece. However, I think there's always been a great sense of cameradarie amongst tellers of all parties. To continue your analogy, a bit like Christmas football matches in the trenches, with a fair bit of mutual scepticism about party hierarchies.
The FPTP electoral system produces a strong incentive to fight only over the minutia of the "centre".
Beyond that politicians of all stripes shy away from issues that really matter - immigration, economic growth, crime & the death penalty, membership of the EU) on which there are real & serious choices. Instead it becomes a matter of personalities - Blair, Brown & Cameron - on which of these policies would any of them be prepared to say they disagree with another?
On the other hand the Iraq demos proved that people are interested in politics just not parties & politicians.
Agree with Newmania - a good post.
You almost answer your own question at the end. The problem is that political factions have gone from trying to win arguments to trying to win votes. (They are not the same thing.)
Spin, triangulation, focus groups and all the other darker arts of political marketing and manipulation having nothing at all to do with the argument. ( It has to be said that New Labour started most of this. )
People used to shout at the TV set ( or heat their houses with election leaflets ) because of the argument.
There were real things to worry about - the Cold War Mexican stand off could leave us all dead in very short order (as opposed to the talked up threat to polar bears that is tried today. If your under 35 search youtube for the Threads documentary to get a feel for the time.)
Socialism wanted to take your property and enslave you, the Conservatives, before Thatcher, thought the best they could do was slow the process down.
But today politics is all about winning votes, and perhaps suppressing the votes of your rivals. Only 40k of indecisive people who think the least about issues decide the colour of the next government and the political marketing exercise focuses on them.
The question is do we have a democracy when it is services by life long professional politicians who's only skills are in manipulation, deceit and marketing ?
Ian - I want to hear YOUR views not guest blogs - let them start their own
I understand that, but this week is an incredibly busy one for me and I won't be able to post so often. So far the reaction to the guest blogs has been very positive - rather more positive than I thought it would be.
I am only posting one guest blog a day and will try to do an average of two or three of my own.
The camaraderie of the political class has been well-noted; they indeed have more in common with eachother than with the rest of us. And that's one of the reasons why 16m electors don't vote at general elections.
When the great ideological battles have been fought, what are you left with? Three parties crowded together on the centre ground. The soccer analogy doesn't work. You've got three teams playing the same end. And they also supply the ref and the linesmen. The opposing goal is completely open, and the only certainty is that one team or the other will get a ball into the net.
Politics isn't a game. It's not a career. It's not a profession. Yes, we maintain the form of 'Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition' and customary human courtesies should always be maintained, but make no mistake about the extent of the anger, bitterness and cynicism in the country against politicians.
People see politics as a cosy club whose members always do OK; the swill is plentiful and regular, and the trough deep. Meanwhile real lives are shortened, degraded, ruined and our nation and economy beggared.
A few years ago a lamp post and a length of hemp was mooted as a humourous political solution; today there's more than a degree of real longing when one hears it said. That's a big change. Yes, the tribalism is disappearing but what's coming in its place is no game of soccer.
Of course, people involved in politics, whatever their views, share a common interest. Quite often when young we tend to be partisan but as we mature we learn to accept that those in other parties, whilst wrong headed, have similar wishes to improve the country or locality. In order to understand politics one has to have a firm grasp of the philosophies and policies of one's opponents.
Never forget the story of the young MP who referred to the opposition as the enemy. An older colleague took him aside and said; "My boy, they are your opponents, your enemies are sitting around you!"
The guest blogs have been excellent but its like foreign food on holiday .After a while you start to think yes thats very interesting but where is my bacon and eggs , my bland bread and sweet chocolate.I want something without an exciting sauce please.
Thats Iain ; M and S underpants,solid quality product that keeps the nation dressing right.Oh I do hope that we are not about to suffer...."change".....(shudder)
Just one thing - if Alex Salmond was "unrecognisable", it's because he was, in fact, Jim Sillars.
I'm not sure who would be more offended!
"It’s 1987 and I’m standing in my parents’ kitchen, barely 5’ tall"
You are William Hague and I claim my £5!
Steven - "they all look the same to me, you know!" :-) Sounds like him though, doesn't it?
jsfl - your rhetorical questions are excellent and mostly speak for themselves. I'm not sure the current crop are Championship material though. League One at best, I'd say.
The forst words took my mind back to 1987, and I think you're right. Only we were the only house on the Earlham Road displaying a Conservative poster! The Tory MP lost, needless to say.
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