Dan Hannan on why the collapse of Labour is bad news for Britain
I wrote two blog posts earlier this week expressing my concern about how both Labour and UKIP appear to be acting as if they wanted to commit political suicide.
Dan Hannan MEP has a brilliant article on Conservative Home here which expresses what I was trying to say in those posts much better.
As he says
"The degeneration of the Labour Party ought to alarm all of us, even the most tribal Tories.
"It’s not just that, without an opposition, we are in danger of becoming flabby and self-serving – though that prospect is dire enough. It’s that the dissolution of what was, until recently, a great national movement will leave no equivalent force in its place.
"If you’re rubbing your hands at the prospect of easy Tory victories, I’d ask you again to ponder the fate that eventually overtakes all unchallenged parties. We’d face two unelectable alternatives: one angry and extreme, the other remote and metropolitan. With no one to keep us on our toes, we’d become factional, complacent and, in time, sleazy.
"And what of that chunk of the electorate who believe in what Labour used to stand for? Without a respectable party to represent them, will they give up on politics, or switch to a less respectable party?
"I’d urge the people’s party to pull itself together, but I’m afraid we’re past that stage. Soon this won’t just be Labour’s tragedy; it will be Britain’s."
I will probably be the only person in the country who publishes posts less than an hour apart one of which links to and praises John Van Reenen's coruscating attack on politicians in general and Brexiteers in particular (see previous post), and the other links to and praises a leading Brexiteer.
But one thing I think Dan Hannan and myself would both recognise is that people in all parts of the political spectrum can sometimes get things right.
Dan Hannan MEP has a brilliant article on Conservative Home here which expresses what I was trying to say in those posts much better.
As he says
"The degeneration of the Labour Party ought to alarm all of us, even the most tribal Tories.
"It’s not just that, without an opposition, we are in danger of becoming flabby and self-serving – though that prospect is dire enough. It’s that the dissolution of what was, until recently, a great national movement will leave no equivalent force in its place.
"If you’re rubbing your hands at the prospect of easy Tory victories, I’d ask you again to ponder the fate that eventually overtakes all unchallenged parties. We’d face two unelectable alternatives: one angry and extreme, the other remote and metropolitan. With no one to keep us on our toes, we’d become factional, complacent and, in time, sleazy.
"And what of that chunk of the electorate who believe in what Labour used to stand for? Without a respectable party to represent them, will they give up on politics, or switch to a less respectable party?
"I’d urge the people’s party to pull itself together, but I’m afraid we’re past that stage. Soon this won’t just be Labour’s tragedy; it will be Britain’s."
I will probably be the only person in the country who publishes posts less than an hour apart one of which links to and praises John Van Reenen's coruscating attack on politicians in general and Brexiteers in particular (see previous post), and the other links to and praises a leading Brexiteer.
But one thing I think Dan Hannan and myself would both recognise is that people in all parts of the political spectrum can sometimes get things right.
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