If there’s one thing that scares the Corbyn movement more
than anything else, it’s the emergence of a new centre-ground party.
Supporters know very well that once it arrives, the alleged
‘popularity’ of Labour’s far-left leadership would be badly exposed – in just
the same way that Michael Foot’s good poll ratings disintegrated with the emergence
of the SDP in the early 1980s.
When people are given a choice, many will opt for
moderation.
When they lack
choice – a particularly stark problem in the UK’s indefensible
first-past-the-post electoral system – they tend to polarise to left and right.
For supporters of today’s Labour leadership, it’s therefore
critically important to dismiss the centre ground as something which no one
wants any more. As a failed ‘neo-liberal’ project, which has no relevance to
2018.
But consider the facts.
A recent BMG Research poll for The Independent found that millions of voters currently find
themselves without a political home.
Many feel that the main parties simply don’t represent
their views. They look at the Tory free-market, pro-Brexit agenda and feel
alienated. At the same time, Labour appears to have drifted too far in the
opposite direction.
The proof is in the killer question from the poll.
“If a new political party which pitched itself
as sitting in the ‘centre’ or ‘centre ground’ of British politics formed and
ran in the next UK general election, how likely would you be to consider voting
for it?”
The answer was that 43% would ‘definitely’ or ‘potentially’
consider it.
This is difficult reading for ideologues on the Tory
benches in Parliament, who persist in holding Theresa May to a right-wing agenda.
The Conservatives are, after all, vulnerable to the birth of a new centrist
movement too.
But it’s the Corbynite left that has the most to fear. That’s
because the persistent popularity of centrist politics runs completely counter
to their whole narrative. It reveals one of the fundamental tenets of their
ideology to be a mirage.
According to the Momentum leftists, centre-ground
politicians have failed and run out of ideas.
But is that really true?
Do Chuka Umunna and David Lammy and Yvette Cooper and Jess
Phillips really have nothing to say about the big issues facing the UK and
wider world? Do Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn offer some more profound insight
and analysis than these thoughtful centrists?
Or could it be that nuanced and considered politics has
been marginalised in a world where people have been encouraged to embrace trite
slogans, binary debates on social media and easy solutions to complex problems?
One thing is certain. There’s not only a moral obligation
for mainstream politicians to fill the gaping hole in the British democratic
system. There’s a huge political opportunity too for those brave enough to
seize the initiative.
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