PETER OBORNE: Could our next PM be the man who’s the most human?
PETER OBORNE: Could our next PM be the man who’s the most human, saving us from the damage Tony Blair and his sinister adviser Peter Mandelson did to political debate?
New Labour’s legacy has had a far-reaching impact on British life — not least in the lethal damage done to political debate by Tony Blair and his sinister adviser Peter Mandelson.
Together they sucked spontaneity out of British politics and rational argument was replaced by short sentences — ‘soundbites’.
In a brilliant analysis by Professor Colin Crouch, ironically a Left-wing academic, he described how New Labour replaced democratic debate with cynical manipulation to become ‘a tightly controlled spectacle, managed by rival teams of professionals expert in the techniques of persuasion, and considering a small range of issues selected by those teams.’
New Labour’s legacy has had a far-reaching impact on British life — not least in the lethal damage done to political debate by Tony Blair and his sinister adviser Peter Mandelson
In the short term, the Blair/Mandelson method of politics — largely imported from the U.S. — was staggeringly successful.
Upcoming young Tories such as David Cameron and George Osborne copied their corrosive tactics.
For them, as for Mr Blair, politics was not about robust argument and telling the truth.
Instead it was about what political experts call ‘positioning’, with clever strategists advising their politician ‘clients’ on how to cynically garner the most votes.
Virtue and decency went out of the window. The idea of doing the right thing was abandoned as old-fashioned and impractical.
Tragically, Theresa May adopted some of the same bankrupt methodology. Her delivery was always too scripted, too reliant on tired old phrases and carefully prepared quips.
And there have been several more examples in the Tory leadership campaign this week.
This helps explain the success of Jeremy Corbyn. Even those who disagree profoundly with his ideas accept that he actually appears to believe in something and has been consistent with his beliefs. This readiness to be frank with voters explains in part the great success of Nigel Farage. I dislike many of the things Mr Farage says and does, but I take off my hat to his passion and distinctiveness.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has a strong narrative to share with voters. He made a fortune in business before going into politics. He was one of Britain’s most successful post-war Health Secretaries, serving six years at the Department of Health — a real achievement for a Tory.
As Foreign Secretary, he has done an outstanding job in freeing two Reuters journalists from prison in Myanmar last month.
But for him politics seems to be little more than cold calculation. Originally, he supported Remain.
Last December, he was ready to back No Deal. And now, as the field of Tory leadership campaigners position themselves as no-dealers, he says a deal is the ‘only solution’.
What does Mr Hunt really stand for? Nobody knows. And take the launch of Home Secretary Sajid Javid’s campaign.
Mr Javid has an incredible story to tell, too. He comes from a family of first-generation immigrants; the brilliant son of a Muslim bus driver, he first achieved great success in banking and now politics.
But to me, at least, he seemed unable to convey how these life experiences shaped his beliefs. It was as if the soul and spirit had been drained out of him by too clever Westminster advisers.
This brings me to Rory Stewart, the International Development Secretary. Almost alone among the leadership candidates, I believe he has learned from the success of Farage and Corbyn
I think the time is up for this kind of politics. Voters have seen through the Blair/Mandelson approach and they’re screaming for something different.
This helps explain the success of Jeremy Corbyn. Even those who disagree profoundly with his ideas accept that he actually appears to believe in something and has been consistent with his beliefs.
This readiness to be frank with voters explains in part the great success of Nigel Farage. I dislike many of the things Mr Farage says and does, but I take off my hat to his passion and distinctiveness.
This brings me to Rory Stewart, the International Development Secretary. Almost alone among the leadership candidates, I believe he has learned from the success of Farage and Corbyn.
While all the other candidates are still in thrall to the politics of manipulation — I’d even suggest that some had their personality surgically removed at an earlier point in their career — Mr Stewart is a human being. Over this past week he has been travelling around Britain talking to voters. He’s genuinely interested in what they have to say.
To those who have not seen them, I’d recommend checking the online videos of Mr Stewart in Barking, Wigan, Warrington, Edinburgh and other places across the UK. He is not the old style of politician who patronises voters. He really does listen to them.
Mr Stewart is emerging as the perfect antidote to that poisonous New Labour discourse. He is trying something new and wonderful in attempting to re-engage public interest in politics.
Only one other Tory candidate has so far managed anything remotely similar. This is Boris Johnson, who is never afraid to be himself, however chaotic and out of control.
The problem with Mr Johnson, however, is that he is so divisive. He drives as many voters away as those he attracts. I fear he might split the Tory Party and perhaps also destroy the UK.
Let’s not forget how much he is hated in Scotland, which largely voted Remain. Nor has his attack on the Barnett formula — the mechanism by which the Treasury allocates funds for Scottish public services — been forgotten.
If I were a Tory MP I would unhesitatingly give Rory Stewart my vote, although I accept it would be a risk.
Mr Stewart has made mistakes and will make more. On occasion, he’s not quite as spontaneous as he tries to make out. In one video in which he’s inviting people to speak with him in Kew Gardens, we see him pretending to take a selfie when it’s clear that someone else is holding the smartphone.
He WAS also torn to shreds by Channel 4’s Jon Snow in an interview earlier this week over his rather wide-eyed plans — Mr Stewart conceded as much — for a citizens’ assembly to break the Brexit deadlock.
And hard-headed experts reasonably ask how Mr Stewart, who is fervently against a ‘no deal’ Brexit, will secure a better deal with Brussels when Theresa May repeatedly failed to do so.
It is a legitimate question, but I believe that his courtesy and quiet decency, allied with a readiness to listen, may well work better in Europe and in Westminster than Mrs May’s inflexible dogmatism.
Mr Stewart is still the outsider in the Tory leadership contest, but he’s already done politics an enormous favour by introducing a new language and approach.
He’s the breath of fresh air that the Conservative Party and Britain need.
It is deeply disturbing that disgraced former Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has joined Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign.
Mr Williamson was rightly sacked by Theresa May over suspicions that he was behind a leak from Britain’s top security council — something which he denies.
It’s truly extraordinary that Mr Johnson should welcome such a compromised figure into his campaign.
Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn faces mounting criticism over his decision to expel Tony Blair’s spin doctor Alastair Campbell
Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn faces mounting criticism over his decision to expel Tony Blair’s spin doctor Alastair Campbell from the Party for voting Lib Dem in the European elections.
Mr Corbyn was fully entitled to act as he did. Members of a political party have special privileges.
They get to decide the leader and also to engage in policy decisions. With those privileges come responsibilities, as Mr Campbell well knows.
And one of those responsibilities is not to support other parties in elections.
Vince Cable is wrong to step down as Lib Dem leader in the wake of his election triumph last week.
He is a well-known and respected public figure. I don’t believe his likely successor, Jo Swinson, is up to the job.
Sir Vince should reconsider and stay on as leader for a further spell in office.
The most preposterous appointment of David Cameron’s resignation honours list three years ago was the knighthood for his press secretary, Craig Oliver.
I made inquiries about whether Mrs May will be following suit and awarding a knighthood to Mr Oliver’s replacement, Robbie Gibb.
‘No. Certainly not,’ came the reply.
The courage NOT to sabre-rattle
Today I want to salute the outstanding courage of Major-General Chris Ghika. Not his physical courage, but his moral courage.
General Ghika is the senior British officer in the U.S. Coalition fighting Islamic State. He has infuriated the Pentagon by refusing to join in warmongering about the alleged rising threat of Iran.
Ghika said there’s been ‘no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria’ and that measures to protect Coalition forces were ‘completely satisfactory’. Word is that Ghika is now in disgrace.
Today I want to salute the outstanding courage of Major-General Chris Ghika. Not his physical courage, but his moral courage
Not just with the Pentagon, but also with our own Foreign Office.
In truth, we should be celebrating Major-General Ghika as a hero.
Recently we’ve seen an eerie repetition of the final months before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, when false claims were made about the threat from Saddam.
Shamefully, British intelligence officials went along with these lies and fabrications. But in 2019, the world is a slightly safer place — for the moment — thanks to the calm good sense of Major-General Chris Ghika.
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