The Demise of Centrist Politics?

The appearance of the much-derided Nick Griffin on Question Time led to a flurry of radio and television debates, newspaper articles, and opinion-pieces in a variety of media outlets. Opinion is highly polarised: an overwhelming majority abhor the racist and anti-Semitic ideology of Griffin and his cohort whilst a small minority believe he is addressing issues such as immigration that mainstream politicians have chosen to ignore. In times of economic uncertainty, extreme-right or even extreme-left wing parties have usurped power or have even been elected in countries around the world. Thus, the threat posed by the extreme-right cannot be dismissed especially during the recession. Indeed, the BNP’s limited but worrying electoral success leads one to ask is the demise of centrist politics imminent?

Yet, Britain is historically a conservative country; communism and fascism both failed to make any headway in British politics. Thus, if British political culture is inherently opposed to extremist political ideologies what threats do parties such as the BNP pose? In order to answer this question one must look carefully at range of political views within the mainstream parties. For example, within the Conservative Party, the left wing consists of One Nation Conservatives, who desire to create a fairer, more equitable and united society. In contrast, on the right there are Eurosceptics with anti-immigration views who believe in rolling back the state and a laissez-faire attitude to the economy. Equally, in the Labour Party political opinion ranges from committed socialists to the middle-class bureaucracy of New Labour.

Which party, and which faction, is elected is inextricably linked to the disposition of the electorate. This is where the quandary lies; in times of economic hardship, the electorate inevitably blame the government for the state of affairs. Coupled with this is the damage that the MPs\' expenses scandal has caused. Indeed, all political parties’ reputations have been tarnished and the electorate are thoroughly disenchanted with the extant model of British politics. Thus, the recession, the seemingly corrupt politicians, 2 million unemployed have all combined to create state of mistrust and an inclination to identify and blame scapegoats, which in the case of the BNP voters are invariably immigrants.

Firstly, the real culprits of this recession are the current government; New Labour created the framework, i.e. mass deregulation, for colossal risk-taking in the financial sector. The financiers and banks duly accepted the relaxation of financial rules, embarked on a spree of risky financial transactions, and accrued massive profits whilst hedging billions of pounds on dicey deals. Therefore, the reason why British taxpayers have had to bail out banks was due to inadequacy of the government and not a stranglehold of immigrants on our welfare system.

Now with the ongoing recession how will the political parties react? David Cameron’s modernisation, and indeed humanisation, of the Conservative Party was coupled with a gradual drift towards the centre. Yet with the recession, the extent to which this centrist drift will continue is uncertain. If there are people concerned with immigration then right-wing Torys will claim legitimacy for their political views. Equally, whilst New Labour tries to stubbornly cling onto power, trade unionists and left-wingers are adamant a fundamental change is needed in our socio-economic system. This will get support from the people working within sectors that have been hit hard by the recession and highly unionised industries. Thus, where does this leave the centrists, moderates and libertarians? Seemingly nowhere as their views might seem outmoded yet one hopes that the traditional British sensible and stoic approach to politics will prevail.