It is time. The country, in fact the world, is in a state of political flux. As the loud minority gets louder, it’s time for the quiet majority to speak up, and stand up.
For too long now the extremists in politics, be it Nigel Farage, Marine Le Pen, or Donald Trump, have been dominating the headlines, the waves and our screens. Tweets, soundbites, provocation, division. It is clearly effective. But the politics they stand for are dangerous. They take away dignity, liberty, and humanity. You needn’t look far to see examples of this. ICE in America, Reform’s copycat mass deporation policies. Then, to the left, Jeremy Corbyn’s apparent inaction to stamp out antisemitism in the Labour Party during his leadership.
These people and parties do not hide their colours in ambiguity or political jargon which the Labour government of today has done very well. On paper, a left-leaning progressive government. Yet, because of the loud Reform Party, their rhetoric has shifted rightward, and the Conservatives have all but disappeared into a cloud of teal trying to win back support after being the adopted definition of reckless, shameful, and incompetent government. There is no loud liberal or centrist voice anymore.
With the MPs that the Lib Dems have in Parliament, it’s a wonder how we aren’t using them to be a real threat. I acknowledge that it’s maybe due to them not getting enough airtime but we should be doing/saying more to get it. The far-right and the far-left have their populists, who focus on emotion and rhetoric rather than, certainly in the case of Reform, focusing too much on accuracy. So where is the liberal populist? Where is the passionate, clear, emotive voice from the centre?
It is clear, to me at least, that the next few elections in the UK are going to be either (depending on where your vote is):
Far-left (Jeremy Corbyn & Co.) vs everybody else
or
Far-right (Reform & Co.) vs everybody else
For liberalism and centrism to not only survive but succeed, we need to tap into the emotions of the populace. People are evidently tired of politicians not quite saying the wrong or right thing, or saying whatever the newspapers want them to say. We need to say, with true enthusiasm and conviction, what we stand for, what we want to do, and how we’re going to do it. We need to show that we are not left vs right, but progression vs regression. We need to hold Nigel Farage, Labour, and the Tories accountable for the mess they have all had a hand in creating and demonstrate to voters that, be it Brexit, Reform, or Labour, they were sold a dream and they bought a nightmare.
It’s time for someone to stand up to the extremes and the lies and be the liberal, centrist voice of the future. A future where we can have our dignity, our liberty, and our humanity intact and have it be the envy of the world.
* Jack Lee-Brown is a student and a member of the Liberal Democrats
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12 Comments
“So where is the liberal populist?”
Is “liberal populist” not a contradiction of terms?
Hi Brenda,
I don’t think it’s a contradiction. The populism I mean is the one that isn’t marred by the far-right but one that focuses on people, on emotion, and on challenging the establishment as people have evidently become disillusioned.
@Jack Lee-Brown
Thanks for responding. I agree that people are disillusioned with the establishment, but that is because they feel the establishment is either responsible for the problems they face or unwilling to take the actions they believe necessary to address them.
The Liberal Democrats would be viewed as part of the establishment, not just because it was part of the austerity government from 2010 to 2015, but also because it advocates for ‘establishment’ positions such as being pro-EU and pro-immigration. So I can’t see how a Liberal Democrat could be, or present themself, as a populist.
I very much share Caron’s view on AR. It has come to a pretty pass when we expect all MPs never to make any mistakes. It’s no longer acceptable, apparently, to say ‘I’m really sorry, I made a mistake, I’ve sorted it out’.
I have no truck with the trenchant politics of class and AR is a good example. However, I am sure she did not act to deliberately defraud the inland revenue and customs. And yes, she should have got better advice, but at the time this was all taking place all of us, including AR, were involved in fighting the 2024 general election and I suspect her eye wasn’t on that particular ball at the time.
We need more forgiveness in politics. The anger and division being promulgated by Reform and the Tories (and aided and abetted by Labour) is alien to a Liberal Democracy and we must call it out.
Returning to a position of equidistance was a major historic blunder. To some extent, it was
the strategic equivalent of Labour re-adopting Clause 4. Until the prospect of a grand
coalition becomes a distinct possibility, the Party is unlikely to ever be able to freely
alternate between the left and right (regardless of the electoral system, though First-Past-
The-Post is more punishing). Despite the 2007-2015 leadership believing it knew better, it
lacked understanding about why many voted Liberal Democrat, and sadly oversaw the
implosion of a Liberal Democrat vote that had taken decades to construct. Members
should never empower such people as leaders while they still have such limited
understanding.
Centrism as a political strategy provides (even for major parties) a poor plan for
sustaining long term political change. Amongst the myriad of impulses that drive voting
behaviour, the transaction most want from their vote is, ultimately, good political
leadership, not representatives lacking agency who simply echo an often-incoherent
wisdom of the crowd. While accepting the current importance of left versus right, the Party
should be cautious about further emphasising this dynamic and make clear in public that it
is its liberalism that it brings to political leadership.
This is a very important message about needing a new approach to spread our message more emotionally and more strongly. Ed and our MPs need to go round the country saying what we stand for; they are doing a good job in Parliament but that does not get us very far. Reform UK works as a movement with Farage holding lots of press conferences and although we can say he is wrong not to be more active in his Parliamentary duties, in the long run acting outside Parliament will continue to pay off as far as most people are concerned. That is even more true of us because we do not get the national media coverage.
I think it is possible to be a liberal extrmeist or populist. I think the LibDems are making (nearly) all the right points but we need to examine why it is not cutting through . How do we get the attention of the press?
I agree with Michael Bukola. As Liberals we can be radical, arguing for change when we have been so poorly governed for so long. I think, however, we should not underestimate the power of a billionaire funded press and a regulator, Ofcom, that has failed to stop GB News spewing out lies. Furthermore if traditional media are hiding the fact that thousands of people march in support of the Palestinians, what else is being hidden?
Agree with you Jack. To be a Liberal is a distinctive offer to being Labour or Conservative, as indeed those more extreme offerings. We can be populist by articulating that we have truly heard the public, and then articulating the big and bright vision for Britain that Liberalism offers in response. Where we will not be like our populist rivals is that where we get into government we are competent and serious. A Reform government will be anything but.
@John Hills
Populism is more than just ‘hearing the public’. It seeks to actually advance their views by challenging the establishment as the force that is preventing the public getting what they want. Liberals may articulate that they have heard the public but I don’t believe liberals would seek to advance those views if they were not in keeping with liberal thinking. For example, would liberals advance the position that those arriving on small boats should be immediately turned back on entering UK waters, if that happened to be the public’s view? I don’t think so.
Our messaging has failed us in the past with ‘split the difference’ and ‘Jo for PM’ which damaged our credibility in 2019. You only need to look at the Green Party leadership election to see what people are crying out for. Zack Polanski, on a radical eco-populist ticket, won 84.6% of the vote with 20,411 to 3,705 for the continuity candidates. It was a wake-up call which Zack promised would provide a political home for disillusioned voters. We seem to lack the dynamic approach that is needed to offer hope to people in the face of the right-wing surge from an outspoken Farage, claiming the limelight for whatever ‘popular’ message he chooses to embrace, while Labour is trying to copy him.
I agree. If anything progressive can come from the rise of the right it is that the majority that oppose it find their voice. If they as seems likely become too extreme for most people in the UK we can expect more and bigger marches in rejection of the right’s policies. The other antidote is of course electoral reform.