With so much change and turbulence in global politics it’s good to seek more than one opinion and UnHerd’s new political jury provides readers with the perspective of four big brained political observers from both sides of the Right-Left divide (with apologies to Henry Olsen for not using his arguably superior In/Out explainer).
From the Right we have recruited two of the most potent campaigners and strategists to have emerged from Canada and Australia:
- Patrick Muttart; a former strategist for Canada’s Conservative Party and as key to Stephen Harper’s early victories. He has worked as a corporate affairs consultant and executive in the United States, Hong Kong and Australia.
- And Peta Credlin; Chief of Staff to former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and now an anchor for Sky News Australia and political columnist for the Sunday Sun-Herald, Sunday Telegraph and Queensland’s Sunday Mail.
And from the Left, we have two very thoughtful Brits:
- Sunder Katwala; the director of British Future, a non-partisan think-tank focused on integration and immigration as well as identity and opportunity. Sunder was previously General Secretary of the Fabian Society from 2003 to 2011 and a journalist with The Observer.
- Steve Richards; a distinguished political commentator, now a lead presenter for BBC Radio’s Week in Westminster. He also hosts a one man political show, Rock’n’Roll Politics.
Ever so often we’ll ask each of them to answer a handful of big questions. The first three are:
- Are advanced nations at a political turning point, with public moods favouring bigger state, bigger spending, more economically interventionist policies?
- Is the advance of left-wing politicians like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders down to economic issues or are we seeing the long-term fruits of a gradual left-liberal ascendancy in education, arts and entertainment?
- Is voter volatility, reflecting general dissatisfaction with the way politics has long been conducted, more significant than a shift to left, right or any other ideological direction?
We’ll post the answers on a daily basis, beginning today with their contrasting answers to question one, on whether the rise of the Left is a turning point. Click here to read them. [Update: answers to question two on the culture wars].
Tim Montgomerie was most recently a columnist and comment editor for The Times of London. Before that journalistic turn he was steeped in centre right politics, founding the Conservative Christian Fellowship, then the Centre for Social Justice and, just over ten years ago, ConservativeHome.com.
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