No. 106 - 'Brexit isn't Really About Brexit'
Dear James,
An American friend has sent me an article from the Wall Street Journal. The author, Joseph Sternburg, claims that Brexit is not really about Brexit. ‘Brexit is only one of several possible pathways by which Britain might reach whichever state of good or bad governance it attains next.’ How right he is. Our most important election for a generation is poised to set us on one of several ways to the future. The retrogressive way back through suffocating isolationism or the progressive way forwards through life enhancing internationalism. That is some choice.
So if Brexit is not about Brexit, what is it about? Yesterday morning I did some leafleting in a less affluent part of our local town. The houses were 1960s terraces with a variety of letterboxes, each armed with crocodile teeth behind which raged rabid terriers determined to bite off what was left of my fumbling fingers. Some of the doors were severely dilapidated, others were spick and span and showing signs of improving lives. One house had a message in the window saying that if any canvasser is supporting a party that has done anything to stop Brexit then they should not knock. It ends ominously, ‘You have been warned!’
I know I am fortunate. I live in a somewhat different world to these people and yet we share the same language, the same culture, the same geography. Yesterday, a man came out of his house, saw me, gave me a cheery good morning and moved on without a second thought. Yet what goes on when he is alone with his mates down the pub or in his kitchen? How does he really see me? The only improvements that that man can make to his property may be a new letterbox or a few flowers for the small garden. He has little or no inherited wealth. He has no access to privileged education. He probably has little or no pension fund building up for old age. And yet each day he sees on television fund managers awarding themselves vast bonuses, wealthy individuals leading debauched lives beyond the reach of the law, political leaders with remote accents justifying such bonuses on the grounds of greater effort, initiative or mental ability. He probably accepts that there are differences of ability in the population and accepts that complete equality can and never should exist. But in the end he also knows that the system is rigged against him. He would like a way for him or his kids to climb out of their terraced house and join in the game. And, somehow, that yearning has been converted into a single word. Brexit.
Last week it was revealed that the UK is one of the most unequal developed societies in the world. Research by the think tank IPPR North found that the UK is more unequal than comparable countries on measures such as health, jobs, disposable income and productivity. It said mortality rates are worse in Blackpool, Manchester and Hull than in several Turkish and Polish cities. Add to this the massive growth in food banks and homelessness on our streets and we see the scars of which a nation like ours should be ashamed.
So how did this group of privileged, privately educated Tories convince this man that they are his protectors? Because populists everywhere know that the key to their success is the activation of resentment through the identification of a scapegoat. Their central idea is to choose a crack and open it up with the crowbar of anger. The Jews were to blame for Hitler in the 1930s. The Kulaks for the Russians in the same decade. Now today the Tories are using the same tactics. It’s the Europeans who have hobbled us. The fundamental crack in our nation is the one of an ancient, slow burning resentment that today separates us by education, by wealth, by income, by ethnicity, and yes, by class. And the Tories have managed to blame Europe for this! In America, until recently, they had a solution to this conundrum. It is called a ‘founding idea’. ‘We the people…’ is the opening phrase of their constitution. In our country the only idea we have is that introduced by William the Conqueror. That a hierarchy of barons will dictate the future of the country. That idea is baked into us and beneath its surface, it breeds sullen resentment, then burning anger and ultimately conflict.
‘Brexit isn’t really about Brexit.‘ Brexit as Brexit is merely a distraction; a distraction that will undermine the very fundamentals of all our futures. There is much more that unites us than divides us but until we agree on a central idea that allows everyone to participate on a level playing field we will be condemned to many more years of division and simmering class resentment. But perhaps we already have that single idea? It’s called the NHS, the most inclusive and democratic institution invented by mankind. Unfortunately for you, we all saw what happened yesterday at Leeds General Infirmary.
It would be fanciful of me to ask you, James if you have any ideas but that’s not what Tories do. Tories conserve what is or what was. You don’t need ideas for that. You just need a distraction to divert the people from your primary aim, the protection of your members’ ancient and accumulated assets and privileges. Such a pity!
Kind regards,
BH - Your Concerned Constituent