Richard Harman, in his first Politik article of the year, focuses on a very interesting topic, Facing up to the rise of populism. He concentrates mainly on the views of David Parker and his concerns on the subject. Harman rightly points out that in Opposition the Labour Party opposed the TPP and then after the 2017 election made a few cosmetic changes and joined the trade grouping. Parker’s view is that trade is a way of defeating the rise of populism which he think is brought about in part by the ever-widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. He argues that while trade deals are often seen to benefit larger companies, e.g. Fonterra, it is beneficial to the country as a whole.
I would agree.
What disturbs Parker is the type of populism engendered by Trump & Johnson. He sees this form of populism as a possible threat to his party and is determined to stop it from taking root in this country. This brings an interesting scenario into play. For a political party to succeed with populism you first need a populist leader. Labour has one, National doesn’t. America has one as does Britain. The difference between the two overseas leaders and our one is that the two offshore have the ability to know how to retain the populist vote. Retaining the populist vote is all to do with introducing policies that are relevant to that part of the population and little to do with hugging and dress ups.
Harman says Parker is concerned about the survival of capitalism as it faces a series of direct challenges. What worries him is the rise of populism in the United States and Europe and its attractiveness to the blue-collar voter. Despite Brexit, I presume he lumps the UK in with Europe. He understands that for a traditional working-class party like Labour, that represents an existential threat. His mission, therefore, in politics seems to be to moderate capitalism so that those who might be tempted here to introduce the politics of Brexit or Trump or European nationalism do not get a look in. Apart from ACT, who are the only true right-wing party, who would he be talking about?
There are lessons here for both major parties. Labour needs to look after its working-class vote unlike its namesake in Britain and the Democrats in America whose only aim in life is to fail to get rid of Trump. In the British election, the northern and Midland red wall collapsed due to Labour losing interest in their core support. Labour’s support came largely from the young, the urban and the student voters. That is never enough to win an election. Trump and Johnson won on creating jobs. That is the number one priority for workers. Trump has done that and Johnson will do the same in the north of England. Labour here need to cut the Greens loose. The jobs they talk about under their ‘green energy’ nonsense are nothing more than a pipe dream. Anything that currently creates jobs in Taranaki or the West Coast they’re not interested in. Hence Shane Jones’s recent comments.
The lessons here for National are many but I doubt they’ll learn from them. First, make friends with the farmers. You are supposed to be their party. You need to show an independent stance in agricultural, environmental and climate policies. Stop sucking up to Labour. Introduce policies that create jobs. Embrace the populism Mr Parker is so afraid of. Do a Johnson. Do a Trump. Support free speech. Support responsible gun owners. Start looking like a true right-wing party instead of some wish-washy half pie lefty liberal outfit. But here’s the catch. To achieve the above it helps to have a populist leader.
David Parker is right to be concerned. Both in America and Britain, the working class voted right rather than left. Why? One word – jobs. In America, the workers saw industries fleeing the country and with them jobs. In Britain the workers saw Europe as the problem and therefore supported Brexit and Boris. Parker might want to moderate capitalism but that is the very vehicle for creating jobs. This is the ghastly conundrum for the left. They hate capitalism but know they can’t live without it.
So Parker wants to moderate it. In other words, half in half out. Doesn’t work. Just ask Harry and Meghan.
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