“…the consensus established in the New Labour years, of relying on arms-length, extra-governmental bodies staffed by fellow travellers to help push through policy choices under the guise of independent expertise”.
They love to give the veneer of democracy through “Have your say” and “evidence” through opinion polls. They have nothing but absolute contempt for the electorate.
Saul D
7 months ago
The focus groups and polling was, at one point, based on the idea of listening to people’s needs and concerns so politics could fix things and make the world better.
Unfortunately it developed into a process of testing how to sell and package backroom policies that were already decided. Find the best nudges, talking points and persuading methods (eg labelling or name-calling). Ignore what people actually want or were worried about.
A bit like these ‘citizens’ assemblies’ arranged to include just the right people to give the ‘right’ results
AC Harper
7 months ago
A fine analysis. The progressive consensus
…confers a sheen of novelty and optimism onto the actions of power: of technocracy, quangofication and the ongoing project of using progressive identity politics to organise the state.
… and the risk with populism is that it that people might democratically prefer something else, something the political elite might not be comfortable about.
Which is why ‘populism’ is being spun as low brow and objectionable. By both major parties. Which is why Brexit, Boris Johnson and Liz Trust (and Trump, Meloni, and so on elsewhere) had the Establishment stacked against them. Populism by its very nature is anti-Establishment.
Andrew R
7 months ago
“in doing so it turned against its own democratic spirit, bypassing the people it was meant to serve. Rather than seeking to do what people want, centrists of the New Labour stripe generally seek to manage them away, imposing their own preferences and presenting them as the only sensible, reasonable approach”.
Brilliant analysis, we see this process currently with Welsh Labour. They’re securing their hold on the Senedd with increasing the number of members to strangle the independents, who they fear more than anyone else.
There is no opposition in Wales. The Tories don’t stand for anything and Plaid Cymru has only one policy.
Jonathan Nash
7 months ago
Please understand this: Blair is the dominant figure in Starmer Labour now. Starmer had no real political programme, and as the terrifying prospect of actually being in charge has become real he has bought in a ready-baked programme from outside. Vote Starmer get Blair.
Alex Carnegie
7 months ago
Correct. At present, it looks like Labour will win the next election with a big majority. It will be a restoration of New Labour without the elan; a technocratic administration living in a bubble and probably unable to respond to the popular – populist? – currents in society. Ironically, the ruthless centralised disciplined campaigning model that is enabling Starmer to win power risks being his downfall once in government. If one wants parallels, think of the SNP government in Scotland but without the sense of mission or Obama without the ability to inspire.
In particular, I see no sign that Labour have a thought through solution to the corrosive effects of real wage stagnation or decline for a large chunk of the electorate. If this challenge is not responded to then U.K. politics may follow the US pattern. We will get Starmer next but perhaps the British version of Trump populism in the following election – after Labour technocratic rule singularly fails to inspire.
MGBGA in 2030?
Last edited 7 months ago by Alex Carnegie
Walter Marvell
7 months ago
This analysis is correct. Labour is now the servant of the more powerful ruling anti democratic permanent Technocracy established by Blair and the EU. A victory simply restores their full power and sees of the first great peoples revolt against their failure (Brexit). And there will be another rumble and revolt. Why? Because the underlying progressive ideologies of this New Order are ALL creating economic chaos – mass migration and population growth, suffocating taxes, an aggressive and broken NHS monster, heavy legal Vetocracies crippling housing markets and employment and the total insanity of Net Zero which will end the era of cheap power and usher in permanent recessionary degrowth. The Tories bowed to this System so return in full it will. So our fate is sealed.
Caradog Wiliams
7 months ago
Moral of the story:
Populism is good if the right person is popular.
Tyler Durden
7 months ago
New Labour was an exception because the key debate was not about the euro with Britain having been flung out of the ERM earlier in the 90s.
Instead, this deceitful group of people maximised the number of labour migrants who arrived from the former Eastern Bloc. Then Brown refused to hold the promised referendum on the new EU Lisbon Treaty.
Cameron followed suit until he was held up by the real British populist in the 2010s.
Cameron called himself “the heir to Blair” and referred to Blair as “the master”.
Dougie Undersub
7 months ago
An excellent article. At their conference this week Labour seems to have nothing to say about the existential issues facing the West, while concentrating on its traditional tinkering with private schools, borrowing “to invest” and refighting Brexit.
Hugh Bryant
7 months ago
Starmer gave the game away when he let slip that he prefers the company of the Davos elite to that of elected Parliamentarians. After that, none of his attempts to appeal to popular feeling over topics such as immigration can be taken at all seriously.
“In effect, they therefore reject Hegelianism as a continuing process of thesis, antithesis and synthesis.
So … the self declared identification as End of History and the Last Man. Marvellous. We all know what happened to the Last Man, too.
“…the consensus established in the New Labour years, of relying on arms-length, extra-governmental bodies staffed by fellow travellers to help push through policy choices under the guise of independent expertise”.
They love to give the veneer of democracy through “Have your say” and “evidence” through opinion polls. They have nothing but absolute contempt for the electorate.
The focus groups and polling was, at one point, based on the idea of listening to people’s needs and concerns so politics could fix things and make the world better.
Unfortunately it developed into a process of testing how to sell and package backroom policies that were already decided. Find the best nudges, talking points and persuading methods (eg labelling or name-calling). Ignore what people actually want or were worried about.
A bit like these ‘citizens’ assemblies’ arranged to include just the right people to give the ‘right’ results
A fine analysis. The progressive consensus
… and the risk with populism is that it that people might democratically prefer something else, something the political elite might not be comfortable about.
Which is why ‘populism’ is being spun as low brow and objectionable. By both major parties. Which is why Brexit, Boris Johnson and Liz Trust (and Trump, Meloni, and so on elsewhere) had the Establishment stacked against them. Populism by its very nature is anti-Establishment.
“in doing so it turned against its own democratic spirit, bypassing the people it was meant to serve. Rather than seeking to do what people want, centrists of the New Labour stripe generally seek to manage them away, imposing their own preferences and presenting them as the only sensible, reasonable approach”.
Brilliant analysis, we see this process currently with Welsh Labour. They’re securing their hold on the Senedd with increasing the number of members to strangle the independents, who they fear more than anyone else.
There is no opposition in Wales. The Tories don’t stand for anything and Plaid Cymru has only one policy.
Please understand this: Blair is the dominant figure in Starmer Labour now. Starmer had no real political programme, and as the terrifying prospect of actually being in charge has become real he has bought in a ready-baked programme from outside. Vote Starmer get Blair.
Correct. At present, it looks like Labour will win the next election with a big majority. It will be a restoration of New Labour without the elan; a technocratic administration living in a bubble and probably unable to respond to the popular – populist? – currents in society. Ironically, the ruthless centralised disciplined campaigning model that is enabling Starmer to win power risks being his downfall once in government. If one wants parallels, think of the SNP government in Scotland but without the sense of mission or Obama without the ability to inspire.
In particular, I see no sign that Labour have a thought through solution to the corrosive effects of real wage stagnation or decline for a large chunk of the electorate. If this challenge is not responded to then U.K. politics may follow the US pattern. We will get Starmer next but perhaps the British version of Trump populism in the following election – after Labour technocratic rule singularly fails to inspire.
MGBGA in 2030?
This analysis is correct. Labour is now the servant of the more powerful ruling anti democratic permanent Technocracy established by Blair and the EU. A victory simply restores their full power and sees of the first great peoples revolt against their failure (Brexit). And there will be another rumble and revolt. Why? Because the underlying progressive ideologies of this New Order are ALL creating economic chaos – mass migration and population growth, suffocating taxes, an aggressive and broken NHS monster, heavy legal Vetocracies crippling housing markets and employment and the total insanity of Net Zero which will end the era of cheap power and usher in permanent recessionary degrowth. The Tories bowed to this System so return in full it will. So our fate is sealed.
Moral of the story:
Populism is good if the right person is popular.
New Labour was an exception because the key debate was not about the euro with Britain having been flung out of the ERM earlier in the 90s.
Instead, this deceitful group of people maximised the number of labour migrants who arrived from the former Eastern Bloc. Then Brown refused to hold the promised referendum on the new EU Lisbon Treaty.
Cameron followed suit until he was held up by the real British populist in the 2010s.
Cameron called himself “the heir to Blair” and referred to Blair as “the master”.
An excellent article. At their conference this week Labour seems to have nothing to say about the existential issues facing the West, while concentrating on its traditional tinkering with private schools, borrowing “to invest” and refighting Brexit.
Starmer gave the game away when he let slip that he prefers the company of the Davos elite to that of elected Parliamentarians. After that, none of his attempts to appeal to popular feeling over topics such as immigration can be taken at all seriously.
This year Starmer pretended to be a new boy at Davos, but he had been a member of the Trilateral Commission for several years.
https://labourheartlands.com/sir-keir-starmer-the-establishment-candidate-the-labour-leadership-race-and-the-trilateral-commission/
“In effect, they therefore reject Hegelianism as a continuing process of thesis, antithesis and synthesis.
So … the self declared identification as End of History and the Last Man. Marvellous. We all know what happened to the Last Man, too.