Where is the Opposition?
TALKING POLITICS
Catherine Carr
4.7 • 2.5K Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2020
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We look past Covid and Brexit to ask where the long-term opposition to Johnson's government is going to come from. Can Corbynism remain a force in British politics, even without Corbyn? Is there room for a challenge to the Conservatives from the right? Will climate politics drive street protest politics or can it help the Greens? Plus we consider whether Nicola Sturgeon is really the leader of the opposition. With Helen Thompson and Chris Brooke.
Talking Points:
Corbynist energy levels are low these days.
- There is a strong Corbynist presence on Twitter and in certain media institutions, but it’s not clear that it extends far beyond those bubbles.
- Much of the radical left politics in the near future will be defensive.
When Starmer ran for leader, he essentially offered Corbynism without Corbyn.
- The manifestos of 2017 and 2019 were popular inside the Labour Party and reasonably popular with the public.
- Corbyn did move the party out of New Labour’s shadow. Starmer has inherited a party that is firmly outside the New Labour mainstream.
- Although some Corbynists fear a return to New Labour-esque politics, Labour now seems to be a social democratic party in the European mold.
Will the Green Party benefit from these developments?
- Helen thinks that we are more likely to see increased green activism than a resurgence in Green Party politics.
- Many on the left are disenchanted with parliamentary politics.
- And over the last couple of years, the major parties have shifted on climate.
If Johnson is really committed to greener politics, does that open space on the right?
- Farage is positioning himself in this gap.
- This could intersect with a rebellion against lockdown.
What should Starmer do about Scotland?
- Could Starmer make a case that the democratic voice of the people of Scotland must be heard, and then make a social democratic case for the Union?
- A more federal union is going to require stronger institutions in England, which is probably to Labour’s disadvantage.
- Time for the SNP to weaken is probably the best way forward for both unionist parties.
Mentioned in this Episode:
Further Learning:
- James Butler on the Corbyn project for the LRB
- More on Macron, the constitution, and climate politics
- From our archives… Labour’s Fault Lines
- A profile of Andy Burnham from The Guardian
And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello my name is David Ronsman and this is Talking Politics. Today we're going to be looking |
| 0:12.9 | beyond Covid, beyond Brexit, and asking where is the long-term opposition to Boris Johnson's |
| 0:18.7 | government really going to come from. Talking Politics is brought to you in partnership with |
| 0:25.9 | the London reviewer books. If you enjoy listening to Talking Politics you'll definitely enjoy reading |
| 0:31.2 | the LRB. That's why they publish a reading list of relevant writing from the archive to a company |
| 0:37.1 | every episode on lrb.co.uk and also why you Talking Politics listeners are invited to subscribe |
| 0:45.9 | for just one pound of issue via the url lrb.me slash talk. That's lrb.me slash talk. Talking |
| 0:57.6 | politics in partnership with the London reviewer books. |
| 1:03.3 | At some point we will know the shape of a Brexit deal or no deal but I've sort of given up waiting |
| 1:17.6 | for that it'll come. So in the meantime I'm delighted we've got Helen Thompson with us and it's |
| 1:22.4 | pleasure to welcome back Chris Brook. We haven't really focused on British politics for a while |
| 1:27.8 | and there's so much going on. So let's try and think about next year and beyond if we can. Chris, |
| 1:34.9 | could we start maybe something that we really haven't talked about on this podcast for ages? |
| 1:38.4 | It feels like they were used to talk about it obsessively all the time which is Corbinism. |
| 1:43.1 | So we sort of start on that thinking about the oppositional space to the government start on |
| 1:47.4 | the left and maybe work towards the right if that makes sense. Where do you think the sort of energy |
| 1:53.6 | that impetus behind Corbinism is at the moment in British politics if it's anywhere? |
| 1:59.2 | Can you say a pathway for it back to really making a difference over the next few years? |
| 2:05.2 | I think energy levels are very low. There's a lot of Corbinist presence on Twitter but that seems |
| 2:12.3 | to be the kind of Twitter bubble that doesn't have a great deal of resonance outside. Corbinism is |
| 2:17.9 | also embedded in a set of institutions. When it comes to the media there's Tribune magazine, |
| 2:24.7 | there's the Canary, there's Navara media and so on. These are pretty fringe |
... |
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