Michael Portillo appeared on the BBC programme 'This Week' last night and blamed the "daft electoral system" for the BNP gaining two seats at the EU Parliament; he then stated that this situation would never occur with the more sensible "first-past-the-post" system.
This is true, the BNP would never have won any seats in an election with the current Westminster system, but what he fails to understand is that it is this very same dismissive attitude concerning people's voting preferences that caused the situation in the first place. It seems that Mr Portillo does not wish to have a truly representative Parliament, rather a Parliament in which the working class concerns are ignored and marginalised.
The BNP should be revealed for what they really are, not a democratically elected party, but a fascist and racist grouping that only wish to return Britain to the dark ages in the name of ethnic purity. People like Mr Portillo, a politician of many years, should want to understand why nearly a million people voted for the BNP.
Maybe it is because these working class voters were never his core electorate, or it is easier to ignore them, but Mr Portillo is walking a fine line by ignoring the issues that surround this unprecedented event. Or maybe Mr Portillo would prefer a oligarchy, in which the power resides with the elite and the working classes do not have the vote, since he dislikes any form of representative Parliament.
Education and enfranchisement of these voters is needed, rather than the arrogance to ignore them.
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Absolutely. Political education is essential. And long overdue. And it must be accompanied by meaningful reform -a voting system which is representative will enfranchise.
ReplyDeleteBut we are fighting years of depoliticisation and an increasingly 'professional political class' - this has done nothing to encourage people to feel that politics is something which means anything to them or which they have a stake in.
I'm a bit more cynical than you regarding working class voter preferences though...The BNP taps into a seam of racism which has always been there. (To my shame my very working class father - who suffered years of unemployment as a result of Thatcherism - is convinced that the East Europeans are taking over his land...and that black doctors shouldn't be allowed unless they speak English (in Scots dialect, I wonder?).)
Working class voters didn't (and won't) vote for the Labour Party out of altruism. The motivation was/is/will be self-interest. Altruism is for the affluent...redistributive taxation policies and strong public services will tend to benefit the financially vulnerable. But if the party which would traditionally offer protection is discredited then you'll have a swing - with voters placing their votes where they think it will benefit them most - or, alternatively simply not placing their vote at all as they can see that the voting system means their vote is meaningless.
The BNP exploited deep disillusion with the political establishment AND the increasing indigenous fear of unemployment (aka 'British jobs for British Workers'). Add to the mix that racial suspicion which has been nurtured by collective 'memories' of colonialism; by an insidious right wing press (Daily M anyone??) and by the drip-drip of anti-European sentiment...you have an atmosphere ripe for far-right 'politicians'.
Most disappointing were that the media interviews of predominantly working class voters, who had voted BNP, exposed a mindless laziness in which inability or unwillingness to think in any logical fashion ruled, ok. To a person they each seemed unable to explain why they voted BNP and not some other racially benign alternative - despite vehement espousal of their anti-racist credentials...
But that's the BNP all over. The politics of Hate - nothing logical or rational there. Dependant upon unthinking knee-jerk responses. And - in a horrible way - because the establishment has chosen to treat them as a 'joke' i.e. relying upon the 'their arguments are odious and beneath our contempt' approach, we have a generation and more who simply don't know how to counter the BNP's claims. Have a look at their website (ok ok it's sickening and you need to swallow much bile) - but you will find glossy video articles which ape the mainstream and which the uneducated or vulnerable will find credible, because they look and sound credible and they employ lots of reasonable high-falutin words...
When the anti-fascists egged Griffin I cheered and groaned at the same time. Torn between a belief in democratic debate and engagement regardless of the odious nature of the opponent -and a memory that Nazis flourished because 'good' men and women did nothing...
The remedy? Yip - it is education and it is electoral reform. But that'll take time. And political will.
You starting a new party? Have any ideas how to push reform? I'll sign on the dotted line...