Starming Back & Holding the Centre

Back in the Game

Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has drawn level with the Conservatives in an opinion poll for the first time since the former DPP Director was elected as leader. It’s a significant marker, as it shows that, on paper anyway, the leading party of opposition has a decent chance at taking on the Tories in the next election in a much closer fight than many were predicting. The defeat in December was so brutal that it seemed that Johnson and his successors would be in an unassailable position for the next two to three general elections. The Labour Party was out for the count, and morale was at a new low. There is still a long time to go, but to see the parties at level pegging at this stage of the parliament, can’t but be encouraging for supporter of progressives.

The break from Corbynism has not been easy. There are legacy issues with the hard left, anti-Semitism, and internal party division has not gone away, and could yet case a huge schism. The oncoming iceberg of a potential no-deal Brexit is looming high on the horizon, and the nightmare of Covid draconian restrictions, the decimation of the economy, are other massively complicated challenges that would be enormous issues in more ordinary times. But the progress has been rapid, and positive. He has taken swift action with internal party discipline, has been unafraid to accept that Brexit is going to happen but it can be questioned every step of the way. He has presented a picture of seriousness and competence, in stark contrast to Boris Johnson, who has been seen to be floundering and ineffective, particularly when compared to the new opposition leader. Starmer’s frontbench team is in his image; sober, emphasising substance over style. They are developing new policies in the context of the Covid disaster too, and look like being the right people to hold the Conservative government to account.

There is still a crucial need for a party like Labour in Britain. A party that more than their Conservative rivals, have inherited the mantel of being the One Nation flame carriers. The road to Downing Street will be long and winding, but it looks as though the new leadership can give the party a fair chance of restoring his party to the role of government for the first time since 2010, and with this, he carries the hopes of millions of voters.

Need for a Centre

It’s been a cry of the hard left in recent times to decry the political centre. Ludicrous terms such as ‘Centrist Dad’ were thrown around with abandon like snuff at a Wake. While a lot of the carping was of the sealed Twitter bubble variety, it had a real impact, particularly in the rise of an unelectable Labour party leadership which seemed to have written New Labour out of history in pursuit of their purist political goals. But there is a need for a centre, a moderate political view of left or right, and there is a clear need now, perhaps more than ever. In Britain, and the US, there is a need for voices of moderation against excesses of left and right. Those voices used to be called mainstream, until that word itself became one of abuse. In this age of polorisation, we need to take a break from hardline positions that alienate rather than ameliorate.

Trumpism is far more of a concern to democratic norms than Cancel Culture. The latter exists though, and drives away many centre-right members of the electorate. Biden is the candidate who can keep their support. The main goal in November is defeating Trump. The nominee for the Democrats has accepted elements of the Sanders platform. He is an imperfect candidate but the perfect one when it comes to choosing between a reassertion of constitutional politics, or a continued descent into authoritarianism and darkness, that would surely occur as night follows day, should Trump triumph in just over two months time.

The Liberal Democrats have had a series of underwhelming or disastrous general election results. It has been hard to make a breakthrough in the UK’s woefully unfair First Past the Post system. There’s also been the backdrop of the most divided electorate since the 1970s and 80s. Brexit has been a cleave through that country like no other issue for 30 years, the impact of which is still working its way through the system. The Liberal Democrats had to define themselves almost exclusively as a one issue party at the 2019 election, and unfortunately for them and their unsuccessful leader Jo Swinson, they were unable to convince enough of the electorate to see them a viable option for Remain. There is a need for them though, and Ed Davey deserves to be listened to. Centrism isn’t a dirty word, it is an important bulwark for democracy.