Politics is not a consumer product

For much of the past month, the liberal commentariat has been excitedly debating how badly “Tory sleaze” would damage Boris Johnson’s Conservatives at the polls. The scandals were clear to see – and hardly surprising, in the light of our unusually detailed knowledge of the prime minister’s character flaws. The matter for debate was the extent to which they might “cut through”, a phrase beloved by the UK’s political commentators to describe when voters take note of a news story and factor it into their choice at the ballot box.

We are still having this debate even though Johnson is decades into this sort of behaviour, and decades into being humoured for it. Now he is riding high on the back of this week’s election results, with his allies boasting on the front page of Saturday’s Times that a “decade in power” awaits. The spectacular contrast between Johnson’s personal weaknesses and his political strengths has induced a vertiginous delirium among professional observers of British politics, who cannot decide if he is an unstoppable juggernaut or a very lucky fool whose time will surely run out soon. And so we have endless iterations of what might be called the Boris blues: lyrical lamentations and indignant protestations over each new victory. 

Johnson supporters do not suffer from the Boris blues – not because they haven’t been paying attention, but because they have priced in his failings. An LBC phone-in last week dedicated to the question of cutting through received calls and messages from supporters saying that Boris was “their man”. His actions are consistent with a vision of Britain that the Conservative party has been selling to voters for years. Yes, Johnson may get up to no good; but as long as he represents their values, they’re willing to stick by his side. Those values include championing a Britain that is anti-immigration and nationalistic, as well as protecting economic interests through the continuation of house price inflation, all while maintaining a flamboyant hostility towards those who need taxpayer-funded help.

When voting behaviour doesn’t align with liberal expectations of rational decision-making, we are told that people at best didn’t have access to the right information, or at worst have been lied to. But this is the wrong model for thinking about politics: it is not a consumer product, with a “retail offer” carefully tailored to already existing customer demand. Successful political movements supply a vision that creates enthusiasm and loyalty – they attract voters to a polarising project that promises to make things better for those who get on board. Johnson and the Conservative party benefit from a political and economic environment of their own making. As wages decrease and precarity increases, voters feel the need to preserve whatever capital they have. As communities crumble, a sense of belonging is created against an imagined and threatening “other”.

This Tory-friendly landscape is a legacy of, among other things, the increased dominance of the rightwing media, the weakening of trade unions and Labour’s capitulation on immigration. In this climate, Johnson’s honesty, technical competence and morality are subordinated to the bigger goal he can deliver – a Britain for his team – whether it is something that has a positive effect on his supporters’ lives or not.

For Labour, no condemnation of the Tories can be remotely effective without creating a set of competing values; without the necessary antagonism required to cultivate the voters who are your team. It is not enough to point in horror and passively lament the seemingly immovable institutions that created Johnson: Eton, class, wealthy old boys’ networks. It is not enough to keep trying to convince the public of the Tories’ faults.

Smarting from the effects of the pandemic, we have gained an awareness of the expanding cracks in our society. Labour could start by being a healing, protective force, a spirited advocate for the large numbers who are falling through these gaps every day.

We must also rebalance the larger forces. This means reckoning with the cruel and self-interested economic, media and political culture that continues to attract voters to the right. It means less “forensic” caution. Despair and anger quietly flow along Britain’s streets, ready to be tapped and channelled. Boris Johnson’s corruption is cutting through, you see – it’s just not landing.

Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist