Thomas Hogg says people want connection - and that's the Left's biggest advantage.
It has been almost a decade of Tory rule. We have been through cuts to government services, major changes to the benefits system and an increase in the number of food banks.
And now, after all this time, the Conservative position has just got a lot stronger: triumphing with a majority of Blair-sized proportions. Everyone on the Left knows a change of direction is needed, but the question is, which one?
Labour’s policies in the 1970s led to Margaret Thatcher. Labour’s hard-left response led to more Thatcher rule. Tony Blair won with his Third Way, which was politically successful, but which, in carrying on Thatcher’s neo-liberal agenda, felt like an empty victory for many on the Left.
Ed Miliband moved the party back leftwards, with little success, until Corbyn went all the way to international pseudo-Marxism. That too didn’t work. So, where next?
Sometimes it takes an outsider to see where your greatest strengths lie. Labour could ease to a landslide, but first it must look again at its core mission – look again at why they believe what they do.
To me, the Left in Britain, at its core, has always been about one very simple and beautiful concept: You’ll never walk alone.
Lord knows how tough life can be, and having to fight alone is toughest of all. But with a strong community supporting you, though, you can get through almost anything. When I watched Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old, it struck me how men reacted to the war’s end.
Traumatised and exhausted, they still said they had found a family in their band of brothers; that they had a place they were valued. When they re-joined civilian life, many felt unvalued and lonely. It was hard to find a job and hard to find their place in society. To me, this really brought home just how important having a strong community is to people’s welfare.
This basic human need for connection can be found in drug addicts too. While there are clearly strong elements of physical addiction to some drugs, the evidence is growing that there is a major social side too. The idea is this: the opposite of addiction is connection, and you can see this with the effectiveness of groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, who use the power of connection and community to overcome addiction.
This one mission: You’ll never walk alone – this is the Left’s greatest strength. There has been so much focus on political theory, that this prime directive has been forgotten.
It’s not about whether to shift Leftwards or Rightwards; it’s not about theories like Socialism; it’s about All for one and one for all. Behind all the theory, the Left must always reflect on how to bring people together, make sure no-one is left behind, and that we are a close-knit group.
When Thatcher closed the mines, whole communities lost their ecosystem and collapsed. Replacing these jobs, and the pride that went with them, with call centre jobs and similarly empty work, was no substitute, and Britain lost a part of her lifeblood.
Adam Smith’s invisible hand of the free market couldn’t help these communities, and neither would Tebbit’s blunt instruction to “get on your bike”. Individualism has always been the Left’s criticism of Thatcherism, and its why the Blair years felt so empty – a feeling crystalised by the Blair-era comedy show Monkey Dust.
To answer the calling of this main mission, the Left has been looking in the wrong place. Socialism will never bring communities together: a faceless, distant State bureaucracy, nationalisation of industries and increasing centralised control over people’s lives is no help at all to a community spirit.
Members of a community need to feel motivated to care for each other. They need to feel connection and empathy towards one another. This is how we can crush the loneliness and isolation epidemic in this country.
The State has a clear role to play in that, but this should be a supporting one, rather than an imposing one. This article isn’t the place for solutions, but they do lie in the realms of social science and should be explored. This is where political success lies for the Left.
On a national level, the sense of community feeling is known as patriotism. In the minds of many on the Left, patriotism is linked with the Right, with jingoism and nostalgia. But patriotism is actually one of the Left’s best friends, because it is all about shared identity and connection.
This identity can cross ethnic and class boundaries and is one of the most important tools in making sure people care about each other. As Thatcher’s individualism, global capitalism and migration have increased, so too has people’s sense of loneliness.
A great anecdote of the power of patriotism is Churchill’s escape from the Boers. There was a massive manhunt underway and a large reward for his re-capture. Along the way, Brits hid him and smuggled him across borders at great danger to themselves, and when he reached the British consulate in a neutral State, local British volunteers protected him, waiting to escort him to British territory.
If ever there was a tale of You’ll never walk alone, this was it. The main lesson of patriotism is simple: we should be there for one another, before all others, because life is tough and we are family.
Politics has become debased over the last several years, and that is the fault of us all. We prioritise short-term winning over the moral fabric of our nation.
So that is why I am writing this article: because although I am a Conservative, I know that Britain needs the Left.
When at its best, the Left brings empathy that the Right sometimes lacks. It speaks for the vulnerable and those on the breadline.
It is an important part of our society. Never has it been more important for the next leader of the Labour Party to show the Right how to be graceful, to shun ideology in favour of the prime directive, to stop the short-term point scoring, and bring our four nations and disparate communities together through a single British identity. For the Left to return to power, these are the steps it needs to take.
Thomas Hogg is a Conservative Party member, innovation professional and former social science academic, focusing on the Welfare State at Bristol University.
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
14 Responses to “Patriotism and ‘you’ll never walk alone’ – a Tory member on what the Left must do to win again”
Julia Gibb
One more comment for you to consider. Scottish Nationalism is inclusive we welcome people from any country who want to make Scotland their home. The EU although flawed is the start of International cooperation and the Scots embrace it.
One of the main drivers for me in achieving Indpendence is to escape English Nationalism which is narrow minded, Right Wing and isolationist.
Two very different concepts of Nationhood. For me the SNP vision is very,very different from Brexit.
As you embrace the Tories, Farage and Tommy Robinson consider what you would do faced with our stark choice.
Alice Aforethought
Nice racist rant there Julia
Julia Gibb
@Alice Aforethought
You obviously seen what you wanted to see!
I want to escape rascism. Did you even notice those interviews with ex-Labour voters in the North of England asking for people to be deported. Try opening your mind to the reality of what is happening in England.
Alice Aforethought
What’s happening in England, Julia, is that people on the left who claim simultaneously that there is such a thing as BAME or Scottish identity, but no such thing as British identity (or that if there is, it deserves to be hated), are getting blown away at the polls. Their traditional supporters clock them as racists or, like Corbyn with his constant pro-Iran, pro-Russia schtick, simply as enemies of their own country.
You should also read up on Scottish involvement in the expansion of the British Empire. Scotland has disproportionately bloody hands.
Scotland is just one executive decision in Downing Street away from becoming the Venezuela of northern Europe. Suppose Boris decided to scrap the Barnett Formula and make you stand on your own two feet. How would that go? And by the way, do not imagine that a post-independence Scotland would get the oil. The oil was allocated among the countries bordering the North Sea in 1965, and one of those countries was the United Kingdom. Scotland was not mentioned nor would its departure mean there was no longer a UK. So all Scotland might get is whatever new oil was discovered and produced further to some new agreement that UK and the other 1965 signatories might or might not agree.
So have a think about that. What’s more enticing to all those non-existent Scots that you imagine: poverty-stricken independence, or a soft life on other people’s money? To ask that question is to know the answer.