Three UK Election takeaways
Fighting the radical right/the futility of Sunak's strategy/and we are in Tory wipeout territory
1) Labour needs to learn how to fight the radical right
Even with Labour miles ahead in the polls the chances of it taking Clacton-on-Sea seem slim. Nigel Farage chose it for his latest attempt to get into the House of Commons for good reasons.
Clacton is such a left-behind seaside town it is almost a cliché. The population is ninety-five percent white. It is old and, as the 2021 census revealed, getting older. The median age in Clacton-on-Sea rose from 47 to 50 between 2011 and 2021.
Even though it is within commuting of London and has beaches for families to play on, the young leave.
Douglas Carswell actually held the seat for Ukip – the original Faragist outfit – in the 2010s.
True, in the 2019 general election, Labour came second to the Conservatives. But the achievement was not as good as it sounds. Labour secured only 15.5 per cent of the vote.
Nevertheless, the national Labour party needs to get behind its candidate Jovan Owusu-Nepaul. It needs to send in leading figures to campaign for him and have officials try out their best lines against Farage.
First, there is a faint chance Labour could come through the middle.
The right-wing vote is split three ways. There’s Farage, the Conservative candidate and Anthony Mack. He originally was the Reform party candidate but was forced to step aside for Farage when the big boss decided he wanted the seat. (And Farage is the boss. Reform is a company not a political party and Farage is a majority shareholder.)
Undeterred Mack responded with manly words that should stir the heart of all patriotic Brits who are tempted to vote for Reform.
He announced on Facebook that
“Shitty people don’t really bother me. It’s those sneaky fuckers who disguise themselves as good people who do bother me.”
He is now running against that sneaky fucker Farage as an independent.
It would be hilarious if Farage failed in Clacton, as he has failed in his previous seven attempts to get into Parliament. I and millions of others would be overcome with malicious glee.
The spreading of joy is no mean achievement and it is the duty of the Labour party to spread as much joy as it can.
It should target his ties to Donald Trump, and say Farage will abandon the people of Clacton after the election and go off to America, as he undoubtedly will.
Labour and the rest of us should also try to use the English language plainly. Trump is an authentically far right figure who supports attacks on American democracy.
Given that, and given that Farage’s Reform party was yesterday defending and half agreeing with a candidate who said we should not have fought Hitler, can we start describing him and his movement as far right or even just radical or hard right?
Or is extreme politics something that occurs in benighted foreign countries but never here in dear, old Blighty?
But the joy of stopping Farage and the civic duty of providing decent representation for the people of Clacton are not main reasons for Labour to focus on extremism.
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