Suburban Lib Dem Mums and Centrist Starmer Dads take back control
Rejoice, Rejoice, Rejoice Greatly. Jason tells of his ethnographic field trip to Clacton-on-Sea.
As it is written in the Good Book foreshadowing this Independence from Neo-populists Day:
‘The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of Brexit, upon them hath the light shined.’ (Isaiah 9, v.2 with only one word changed.)
In retrospect, the melodies and lyrics of Handel’s Messiah appear quite appropriate for this most non-Messianic of Messiahs, the man of our moment, Sir Keir. Therefore, despite Alex and Jason’s fear about the large Reform vote and their trepidation about Biden’s remaining in the US Presidential race, we still make time to ‘Rejoice, Rejoice, Rejoice Greatly’ on our recent episode because British democracy does work. And so does French democracy when you consider the miraculous coalition of Republican forces that have kept Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen out of Parliamentary power. It has truly been a great week for democracy. And it is completely acceptable for us centrist Starmer Dads and suburban Lib Dem mums to toot our own horns once and a while. (Please Listen to us doing so right here)
British Democracy operates via a system of checks and balances -- where every action causes a counter reaction: every Sunak Rwanda scheme, Truss tanking of the economy, and Boris-y lie elicits a shift in public opinion. Despite the positive news of Britain’s Independence from Neo-Populists, the Enduring Disorder still prevails in many corners of these resplendent Isles. On the episode, I tell more of my undercover ethnographic field trip to Clacton-on-Sea, where I discovered that Reform are actually in certain aspects the UK branch of the MAGA movement.
On the Pod, Alex and I debated if: 1) Britain is in a phase of post-populism or proto-populism; 2) if the wave has crested or if Britain is just at an earlier stage in development than France or the USA; 3) What we can extrapolate about how the British electorate’s protest votes over Gaza or immigration bode for the American election; and 4) the power of the anti-system and anti-incumbency pressures and how these two factors might be the big difference btw the British and American elections -- as in the US both anti-system and anti-incumbency tendencies are working for the Republicans and against the Dems, whereas in the July 4 UK election the anti-system vote worked against the Tories and for Reform while the anti-incumbency vote worked for the Tories and against Labour.
Lastly, we make fun of one of our reviewers on Apple Podcasts for giving us a one star review for doing exactly what we set out to do in our pod:
hahhahaha at least we know we have hit our targets if even our critiques agree we are fulfilling our mission!
If you haven’t already pls give it a listen here
Here is the recent clip of Jason on Al Jazeera English (promised in the pod) about Sir Keir’s approach to Gaza:
And for more Background on the Election:
Oh Baby What a Night, the Two Matts on the Rise of the Lib Dems and Starmer’s flawless mastery of the first past the post system:
Read more about The Lammy Doctrine of Foreign Policy https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2024/06/david-lammy-doctrine-interview-jason-cowley?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Listen to an potted biography of Sir Keir’s personal, professional, and intellectual journey:
And While you are rejoicing greatly consider this, the 2024 election is the lowest vote total for the Conservative Party since the end of the Napoleonic Wars: