I urge you to read the following article in the Daily Mail today. I was especially taken by the revealing comments of Planning Minister Nick Boles. He makes an admission that most liberal-minded MPs wouldn’t normally make. On his changing view on immigration he said:
‘I had the classic metropolitan view about immigration that it was broadly good for me because it made life more varied and interesting and there were lots of people bringing different skills into the economy.
…I wasn’t really aware of the effect on people who were competing for relatively low skilled jobs and competing for public services.
…I was someone who had spent much of the last 10 years in London. It was only when I found myself in rural Lincolnshire that I saw the other side of it for people working hard and trying to get on.
…Immigration has made my ministerial job more challenging. It has meant that we need to build more houses than we would otherwise have done’.
Nick Boles gets to the heart as to why the Tories and the whole of the political establishment are struggling at the moment. Westminster politics is dominated by people who mainly come from similar backgrounds, pursued similar careers, and who shares a similar liberal outlook of the world. These people like pontificate from the comfort of the SW1 bubble, but, in Boles’ words, are ‘not really aware’ about the impact liberal policies are having on ordinary people, and how they’re limiting the life chances of the working classes.
The frustrating thing about the Tory Party over the past seven years is that it has adopted this liberal outlook rather than to understand the world-views of working class people. As a result, the Tory party has been behind the curve of working class opinion. So concerned about attracting liberal upper middle class support, they were not aware until late in the day about growing working class disillusionment with the political class, and how public opinion on issues such as immigration, the EU, and crime have hardened. I stood as a paper councillor candidate in traditionally Labour Dagenham in 2006 when the BNP became the leading opposition party, and I saw this disillusionment first hand. Around 30% in my ward voted for UKIP, even back then. Yet the top of the Tory party just ignored results like these. Therefore, while they may have been shocked by the recent surge in UKIP support, this was no surprise to me.
Much has been made of the Conservative Party’s problems with connecting with voters and the party grassroots lately. Yet what has been the Prime Minister’s response? Well, it hasn’t been to ensure that there are sufficient numbers of people in his team with alternative working class perspectives. If you look at the new Number 10 set up, it is still mainly composed of people who come from similar schools, similar universities, and pursued similar career paths. And they still share the same mainly metropolitan liberal mindset. Advisers with alternative perspectives such as Shaun Bailey have been reportedly ‘frozen out’ of the top team.
Of course, the Prime Minister cannot choose his background. But he can choose who he listens to. If he continues to take advice from people who have spent most of their adult lives inside the Westminster bubble, then he will never understand what it’s really like to live ‘on the other side’. And if this continues then the Tories will continue to struggle to connect with ordinary people. Number 10 needs to have people who continually questions policy and ask ‘how would this work in real life?’ and ‘how would the people feel about this?’
The Conservative Party has a choice. It can either look at the current dire poll ratings, carry on as before, and misguidedly conclude that the only things that need to change are a few soundbites and George Osborne’s accent. Or it can treat the Tory perception problems with the seriousness it deserves, and ensure that the party is seen as truly representative. But this requires real change, not the superficial change we’re getting at the moment.
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
