The secret to political success? Lying with sincerity. So says Mary Ann Sieghart, Chair of the centrist Social Market Foundation think tank, who has just done a programme shilling for the ‘centre ground’ of politics for the BBC called “Can The Centre Hold?”
Naturally she doesn’t actually say ‘lie’ but that is the basis of her plea…do what the Dutch Prime Minister did, make right-wing sounding noises in order to con the voters into voting for him….time of course will put an end to that, charade but too late, he’s in power for a good while yet. She helpfully wrote her piece up in the Telegraph…
Embracing patriotism and identity could reinvent the liberal centre
Tacking to the right can help traditional conservative parties lure back voters from the fringes. That’s what Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime Minister, did when he told immigrants that if they didn’t like Dutch liberal values, they could leave, and when he prevented Turkish ministers from attending rallies in The Netherlands.
Embrace patriotism and identity? The BBC must have been choking on their lattes when they heard that….though somewhat relieved to hear it would all be a sham, a charade to once again fool the voter…as in the Netherlands and as with New Labour.
She goes on…denouncing the BBC and Remain’s attitude…the shrill screech that Leave voters are ignorant and wrong…..but also tackles the BBC narrative of just reporting Brexit as purely an economic issue and ignoring the real issues such as sovereignty and immigration and the subsequent issues of culture and identity….you can win by ‘crafting a message around a sense of nationhood. It’s not just “the economy, stupid.”‘…
Is it just a matter of explaining to voters in ever shriller tones why they are wrong? I don’t think so. For what centrist parties haven’t been good at acknowledging is that politics is as much about identity as about economics. You can argue all you like that GDP is boosted by immigration, but if people see their neighbourhood and their country changing in ways that make them feel uncomfortable, it’s no use telling them that they’re deluded.
Centrist parties need to reclaim the message of patriotism from the Right.
Yep, crafting a message about patriotism and identity…that was the secret to New Labour’s success…and all the time the ‘patriotic’ Blair was working to ethnically cleanse Britain, import millions of foreigners who would, he hoped, vote both for Labour and the EU in any subsequent vote, and to sell us out to the EU.
Believe.