25 years ago, the deputy leader of the Labour Party Roy Hattersley declared that the ‘working class would vote Labour whatever the party did.’ Strike one. 15 years later, Guardian columnist Nick Cohen insisted that ‘Europe votes fascist, we don’t’. Within twelve months the BNP would take close to a million votes in the European elections. Strike two. (more…)

Everywhere you look, the principle of free speech is under the cosh. The self-censoring failings surrounding the child-grooming scandal in Rotherham are not simply being forgotten – they may soon be cemented into law. Approving liberal left activists meanwhile wantonly denounce everyone and anyone as ‘white supremacist’ just at a time when a flinty eyed far-right is beginning to shoulder its way through the populist throng. Even by the standards of an increasingly out of touch Left, to insist on screeching wolf when real wolves are about is a dangerous and appalling new low. (more…)

This year’s local elections were predictably catastrophic for the Tory party, but perhaps more significantly Labour went backwards at a point in the electoral cycle when any aspiring party of government should be devouring the opposition.
There was a clear Brexit gradient in effect, with Labour’s vote falling most in heavily Leave areas while the Tories lost a full one-third of the seats they contested in majority-Remain areas. But the underlying dynamic was anti-Big Two sentiment, with John Curtice noting that ‘what the two parties had in common was a tendency for their support to fall more heavily in their heartlands. (more…)