OPINION: The global right has been seduced by the fool’s gold of populist leaders. The British PM’s resignation is a chance to focus on long-term economic revival with a clear ideological purpose.
The curtains have come down on Boris Johnson’s chaotic tenure as British prime minister. In the past month, he has scraped the endorsement of his parliamentary colleagues, catastrophically lost two byelections, and now been blindsided by two very senior cabinet walkouts and fired another, along with more than 50 junior resignations.
Regardless of who follows, an entirely new set of problems come to the fore, which will have implications globally.The first is that the British Conservatives are no longer held together by ideological glue. This truth has been lurking since the Brexit revolt six years ago. The party’s greatest modern spell was characterised and underwritten by an ideological and cultural crusade committed to state contraction, extending market forces and reversing decades of relative economic decline.
The people, in truth, want it both ways. Even Australia, the infamous larrikin nation, wants to be told what to do. This distortion has been exaggerated massively for Boris’ Tories who have basked in electoral success without ever resolving their purpose in holding office. Recent years have shown that enough voters in these places are unnerved by mounting inequality and the pace of change. This environment has been politically toxic and one that has provided a rich source of sustenance for those on the right who have created and promoted their own aggressive brand of identity politics. They have been seduced by fool’s gold, not least in abdicating from the responsibility to explain how a modern economy should be run.
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