A revolution betrayed

The 2019 Government

But said some things and never meant them –
sweet nothings anybody could have mentioned.

I’ve always found it funny that, years after political events have moved and governments come and gone, people still struggle to move beyond the paradigm of certain political moments. Many old leftists from the trade union school still talk ceaselessly about ‘fatcha’, and Britpoppers still ache for the sensible centrism of Cool Britannia.

This is not a trend exclusive to the left, either; the spectre of Maggie also haunts the Tories, as the ghost of Reagan (until recently) stalks the GOP. True, too, that postliberal rightists still talk lovingly of Macmillan.

Of the last decade, what will be the political moment people will use to define themselves around?

The conventional wisdom would argue, unequivocally, it would be Brexit. And for many, this will be true; it is impossible to understand Starmer, for instance, without understanding that his prime foreign policy goal - perhaps domestic policy goal, too - is to bring us closer to Europe. Likewise, the soft vapidity of the Liberal Democrats, if it can be defined by any single issue, can be defined mostly by their desire to retie the cords of the European yoke. There are likewise many on the right who may define themselves around Brexit; Douglas Carswell, for instance, or Daniel Hannan.