Boris Johnson’s former aide understood the class dynamics of modern England. To regain the red wall, the left must too
In the midst of bleak, autumnal lockdown, a sudden sense of liberal optimism is in the air. Joe Biden has defeated Donald Trump in the US presidential election, and Boris Johnson’s bullying grand vizier, Dominic Cummings, has been ejected from Downing Street. There are briefings that a politics of civility and decency is returning to Westminster.
Is November 2020 to be the month in which the culture wars that began in 2016 finally begin to burn out, and 2021 the year in which the successful rollout of a Covid-19 vaccine unites a formerly divided country? The former chancellor George Osborne greeted Biden’s victory by tweeting: “Whether you’re on the left or right: moderation, integrity, seriousness and the mainstream are back.” Coming from the chancellor who introduced a decade of austerity, this should give pause for thought.
