common people
It’s time we ask whether the tories can ever really understand the common people of this country? We’ve been bombarded this last couple of weeks about how the removal of ex-News of the World editor, Andy Coulson, from his spin-doctor’s position within the heart of government will result in Dave and Georgie-Boy losing touch of what ordinary people really think and feel. OK, let’s get one thing straight right away, Andy Coulson was not employed for his ‘common touch’ with common people and you’re deluding yourself if you think this was ever the case. The only value he brought to the top-table of power was that he carried the tacit approval and support of a newspaper group and the discreet access to its billionaire and influential owner. Simple as. But he’s from Essex I hear you cry. So are half the bankers in the City of London and do they care what happens to anyone outside of their privileged, hallowed halls? Thought not. And in the meantime the poor continue to be misunderstood or patronised at best and ignored at worst.
Class is a problem for the tories and always has been. In the 19th century it suffered quite severe electoral disadvantage for being recognised as representative of purely one class, that of the wealthy land-owning gentry, the privileged few. Disraeli attempted to rectify this a tad with 1867’s Reform Act but it was too little too late and Mr. Gladstone was the happy recipient of the popular vote. Closer to modern times, the desire to connect with the working class motivated many Conservative leaders and even the tough-talking Big-Mac and Mourning Cloud Teddy (sic) routinely caved in to strikers’ demands in fear of being strung-up from the nearest lamppost. The workers may have been revolting but they also had the vote!
Another problem I have with the captain and his vice (and this also goes for Dead Ed and young Nicky) is that they’ve never worked in the real world. In Dave and George’s case they’ve never actually needed to work for a living and indeed, never will need to. It is not just that they are cut-off so much by experience from the rest of us, it’s that they are cut-off by the entire culture of their lives and all they are exposed to. It’s not a case of Mars & Venus for men and women, more politicians and everyone else. A very tiny, envious part of me says good luck to them for having their nice houses in the up-and-coming areas of London, their designer (and titled) wives, their holidays in Klosters and in all-expense paid yachts around the Med, but the issue is there’s a whole world outside all that to which they cannot possibly relate. The real world that is. A world of mortgage and rent payments. A world of ensuring the children go to school, any school. A world where the NHS is not a life-style choice. A world of own-brand shopping at Lidl to save a couple of quid. A world where the price of a gallon of petrol will prevent you taking the kids’ out.
It can not be denied that any pretence to acting on behalf of these individuals is surely motivated by electoral reasons ie getting them ‘onside’ and winning their vote, as was the case in the popularist conservatism of Thatcher. Should it not be the case that we, and our elected politicians, should be aiming purely to improve the lot of society at large?
Earlier this week, Sir Richard Lambert, the outgoing director of the CBI (an institution not openly renowned for putting the working class at the heart of its policies) warned that it saw the current absence of an effective growth strategy as a major economic weakness. He went further, claiming the current coalition was involving itself in too much politik and not enough economic. By raising the blatantly non-progressive VAT, by the public sector cuts and by its failure to countenance a 50 pence tax rate, the coalition seeks to keep the burden of tax high on people with low incomes. And Georgie-Boy’s reaction to the recently reported negative growth figures? He blames the weather! Let’s all hope he’s left out in the cold sometime soon. I can only hope that those left following Mr. Coulson’s demise may prove successful in getting the top tories to understand and appreciate the lives of those whom they clearly have nothing in common with and no knowledge of.
