It’s fair to say I’ve spent much of this week dismayed.  I feel saddened that it is principles rather than blatant wrong doing that are now seen as the barrier to success.  That what matters ever more fiercely is who you know not what you know.   That we seem to have become a nation more fervently intent on abandoning a confederation of neighbours our representatives have helped shape in the hope of favour from a more remote federal union where our emissaries are unelected and we cannot hold power to account.

It’s a very feudal form of democracy.

There’s a debilitating impasse at the centre of our politics and the hard right have grasped their opportunity to smash through it with their new mythology of Global Britain.  The far right succeed when they are allowed to by a weakening of representative democracy. Such politics only becomes seductive to beyond a tiny minority when people despair of all the other options.  It is a politics of last resort.  The far right’s ability to get a grip on power can then become terrifyingly absolute.  We cannot let that happen.  We cannot languish in the politics of despair and protest.

Despite my opposition to their politics I cannot help but acknowledge their ability to persuade.  They are successful because they have a better story, even if it’s a fairytale.  They are successful because they have persuading enough people that this is their story too.

There are things to learn from this.

The Power of Hope

We can criticise this axis of cronyism all we like, but it won’t change anything unless the many factions to the left of this hard right government tell a better story about their vision for Britain.

The stream of outrage, the cataloguing of wrong dong and the calls to resist are all cathartic but aren’t creative or compelling enough to persuade.  The terrain for the upcoming struggle is the pathos of hope.

Logos, ethos and the pathos of fear have all proved ineffective. We shouldn’t abandon these but the left needs to find a louder narrative of possibility again.

To compete we need to be as good at communication as the populist right are.  Only without the corruption.  We can build a network as powerful through community and cooperation, through scale rather than wealth or privilege.  We need not (just) the politics of resistance or a list of popular policies but our own mythology of hope.

We need a story that helps people to imagine there are better choices.  A story that inspires joy and confidence.  A story of opportunities to build something together, to be something together.  A story that draws people in and they want to tell to their family, friends and neighbours.

The Disappointments of Labour

Labour had the pathos of hope, in 2017, but have somewhat carelessly lost it.  I think their Leaver base would have forgiven Labour continuing to advocate for Remain (their referendum position) if they had continued to tell the great story they were weaving about their alternative to the status quo.  It is not undemocratic for an opposition to continue to oppose and to make different arguments about the direction of the future.

I still think Labour made a tactical error here, alienating too many of their pro-European base whilst muffling their narrative of hope and diminishing their policy platform that appealed to all their supporters.  Their message now only reaches their hard core and their support has retreated as their vision has shrunk in potency.  More to the point the hostility of their delivery is alienating.

Labour continue to acquiesce to a flawed referendum rather than advocate for continued scrutiny of that decision.  Yet Labour also continue to call for a general election despite coming second in 2017.  We may have a hung Parliament and a minority administration but Labour’s gains do not hide the fact they are not the largest party and seem unwilling to work with others to form a viable alternative government in this Parliament.  Nor do they seem inclined to even use all the talents across their party.  Why must the will of the people in a referendum be respected but not their will in a general election?  The repeated refrain calling for an election without changing the narrative sounds increasingly forlorn.  Their moment may still come and their approach revealed as political genius but it too often leaves me thinking if not now then when?  It fess like Labour are simply reacting to rather than shaping the political moment.

Labour could have, could even still, choose a different path.  They could have forged a socialist alliance across Europe as part of PES whilst the EU provided enough of an establishment veneer to allay fears of revolutionary socialism in one country amongst the more moderate centre left.  It feels like the European Parliament elections, that symbolic failure of Brexit was the moment to pivot and embrace the possibilities of European socialism.  I’m sure many of us might have returned to the mood of 2017 and swung behind a European left energised by Frans Timmermans and Jeremy Corbyn.  Instead their hesitance and reluctance to consider any alternative to the strategy they have become wedded to created space for the Liberals and Greens to surge.

How do Labour inspire now?  We all know that Labour have appealing policies that could command support.  It’s the package that’s lacking.  Mired in constructive ambiguity and accusations of anti-semitism and communicating in an increasingly petulant and tetchy way.  This is politics with a scowl not a smile.  It’s no wonder many will overlook the failings of Boris to grab at the optimism peddled by Prime Minister Johnson and his Vote Leave machine.  The left equivalent has soured and needs a refresh.

The Mediocre Vision of the Centre

Many centrists are coalescing around the Liberal Democrats rather than the many attempts at launching a new party for the middle ground.  Their message of Stop Brexit is at least clear and succinct enough to resonate but it begs the question, what then?

So far their vision is incredibly conservative, more so than the newly radicalised Conservatives.  If there is a party of the status quo it is now the Liberal Democrats and they expect to attract moderates from both the centre left and centre right as a result but it is hard to see them attracting any leavers or socialists from the populists wings.  The restoration of the status quo is not going to attract that constituency who decisively rejected it.

The politics of neo-liberal globalism are tired and demonstrably unfair.  If the liberal centre is to Stop Brexit they need to explain what lies on the other side.  It can’t be to Remain.  It has to be renew, but so far there are few signs of what that renewal might look like.

There are so many questions we’ve failed to answer with panache.  What does it mean to be an EU member, now and in the future? Why is it best for Britain? How would things change?   How do people get their voices heard?  How do people get to make decisions about their own communities when power feels so remote? How do we be British, European and globalist?

The answers to these questions don’t come easily to me  despite looking closely for them, because I’ve heard too few conversations that really deliberate them in a representative way.  Surrounded by more radical and transformational alternatives, the moderate challenge is to find inspiration from within a system no majority no longer support.  It’s a rearguard action that lacks a future direction.

The Potential of the Green New Deal

The best possibility I can see  for a new mythology on the left that can compete with the Global Britain of the right is the emerging narrative around a Green New Deal.  Which is probably why its proponents are facing such fierce attacks from right wing populists.

This idea takes on two of the biggest challenges we face, a rapidly deteriorating environment and automating economy, and attempts to solve them through a transformative political economy of sustainability and social justice.  It’s a story about healthier and happier people connected and enriched by stewardship of their shared planet.

It’s the kind of bold, radical and co-operative vision the centre left needs, but it remains too technocratic at the moment to have broad, emotional ‘gut’ appeal.  However, momentum is gathering and with growing cross-party support it could urgently be developed into an alternative vision of a fair, creative, inclusive and connected country, infused with imagination, optimism, kindness and compassion that tells an inviting, joyful story about the green and pleasant commons of Britannia United.

We should not stop holding the government to account or pointing out the flaws of the populist right but we do need to spend less of our energy on demeaning arguments and tetchy tribalism and devote more of our efforts to the common ground of designing, negotiating and communicating an alternative vision that amplifies the world we want to see.  The story of us.