The architect of Britain’s political culture war is gone. The culture war will go on. - The Washington Post | Canada News Media
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The architect of Britain’s political culture war is gone. The culture war will go on. – The Washington Post

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4 years ago

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Dominic Cummings, the mastermind behind Brexit and Boris Johnson’s 2019 election victory, handed in his resignation Friday and left through the front door of 10 Downing Street, holding a cardboard box with his belongings.

For over a year, the campaigners behind Vote Leave — the group that won the referendum on Britain quitting the European Union — had held near-total control of the government. And then suddenly, in a chaotic week of factional rivalry, power-politics and frenzied counter-briefings, it all fell apart.

It seemed as if the populist mania that has dominated Britain over the last four years had finally devoured itself and its authors. But the truth is more complicated than that: Populism here has set events in motion that now have a life of their own and cannot be stopped simply by a change of personnel.

For years, Cummings’s relationship to Johnson was like that of Stephen Miller toward President Trump — or, during 2016 and 2017, like Stephen K. Bannon toward Trump. He was the man behind the throne, trying to give ideological shape to what is ultimately just a jumble of instincts and prejudices.

Like Bannon, Cummings’s chief contribution to political debate was to replace empirical reality with tribalism. When he ran the Vote Leave operation during the Brexit vote, he actively traded in known falsehoods such as a much-publicized ad campaign about inflated British financial contributions to Brussels, or racially tinged fearmongering about impending Turkish membership of the European Union.

And like Trump’s team, Cummings split the population into “the people” and “the elite”: The people were pure, virtuous and composed entirely of supportive voters, while anything that went against them was the result of shadowy conspiratorial forces. He attacked journalists, think tanks, economic institutes and public bodies whose output contradicted Cummings’s agenda as out-of-touch metropolitans. Institutional restraints on the executive — for instance, the courts, the news media or international organizations — were “undemocratic.” Politics was reinterpreted as a form of warfare over identity instead of a trade-off between competing interests.

That approach clinched the Brexit vote for Leave in 2016, triggering a fundamental shift in the cultural assumptions of British politics. When Johnson became prime minister in 2019, he brought Cummings into the heart of government as his chief adviser, making that shift an organizational reality. During the ensuing general election, the Tories deployed this “us against them” worldview to shattering effect.

By making politics about cultural values rather than traditional political ideas, the Conservative Party was able to bank its traditional supporters while reaching out to former Labour voters in northern towns who held instinctively conservative social views. The result was a huge 80-seat majority.

But despite those similarities, there is a key difference between Johnson and Trump: The outgoing American president has some consistency in his views, wrongheaded as they are. For decades, he has held an infantile understanding of international trade as a zero-sum game and an instinctive dislike of immigration and diversity. Johnson, on the other hand, is far more intelligent than Trump, but he has a much less consistent set of political beliefs.

As London mayor, he adopted a liberal, inclusive image to attract the capital’s metropolitan voters. Then during the Brexit referendum, he warped into a nativist, anti-immigrant, anti-European populist. There is ultimately no political consistency to him whatsoever. He is simply whatever he feels he needs to be to succeed in the current moment. Johnson does not feel nativism in his bones, as Trump does. He simply impersonates it.

After winning the election at Christmas, Johnson set Cummings loose. He immediately started wars with the European Union, the BBC, the Electoral Commission, the civil service, Public Health England, critical journalists and other government departments. Very quickly, it became easier to count those organizations Downing Street was not at war with rather than those it was.

It was all intensely noisy, but also profoundly ineffective. Once the coronavirus hit, it became clear that the government had no idea how to manage the pandemic. It could not function — it could only shout. Over 50,000 people have now died of the virus, and Johnson almost became one of them. Britain has the largest total death toll in Europe, and one of the worst per capita death tolls of industrialized nations.

In the end, Cummings’s warlike personality got the better of him. The attacks turned from liberals and Remainers to Conservatives themselves. He bitterly briefed against Conservative members of Parliament, other government departments and, eventually, even the prime minister’s partner, Carrie Symonds. He made many enemies and precious few friends. Finally, in an explosion of frustration, he handed in his resignation.

It was a moment of supremely enjoyable catharsis for British liberals, who were still luxuriating over the defeat of Trump the week before: After four years of watching populists win each political battle, it felt like the tide was turning.

Now British political circles have been full of chatter about whether Johnson is about to revert to a more inclusive, moderate figure. But there is an obstacle to the return of a liberal Boris Johnson. That obstacle is Brexit.

Brexit is a structural event — a complete severing of Britain’s diplomatic, legal and trading status. You can’t just wash your hands of it and get on as before. It is a choice that lasts a generation.

In six weeks, the transition period ends, and Britain leaves the European Union’s trading orbit. That involves the reintroduction of border controls to a system that was based on removing them. Goods moving to and fro will need customs declarations, safety and security documentation, regulatory checks and proof that they comply with the complex processes to be installed in Northern Ireland. The poetry of national sovereignty sold by the Brexit campaign — of a dynamic national destiny unchained from the continent — will change into the grim remorseless prose of regulatory and customs compliance.

Johnson will be unable to blame himself or the Brexit he backed for this incoming disaster. So he will instead have to blame the Other: dastardly Europeans abroad, traitorous Remainers or ill-prepared businesses at home. And in doing so, he will be replicating the same tactic Cummings taught him — to take objective reality and urge voters to ignore it on the basis of their tribal allegiance.

He also has a problem with the broader non-Brexit culture war. Electorally, he is trapped in the nativist straitjacket Cummings designed for him. The Conservative members of Parliament elected in northern pre-Brexit seats know that their only chance for reelection is to keep the focus on identity issues over economic ones so they can hold the former Labour voters they won in 2019. This will entail a continuation of attacks on BBC, “woke” politics and symbols of perceived political correctness.

But there is one way in which Britain’s experiment with populism might truly be coming to an end. It is not political, but strategic: Johnson is now set on his course without the man who was most committed and competent at delivering it. For all of Cummings’s failings, he was genuinely convinced of the culture war, eager to deploy it at every opportunity and effective at pursuing it. Johnson has none of that instinct. So now the government is trapped in an unenviable position: deploying a political program that it has lost the ability to articulate.

And that, in the end, will provide more of the confusion, contradiction and inadequacy that has typified Johnson’s time in power so far. He is trapped in a prison of his own making. And the jailer has walked off with the key.

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‘Disgraceful:’ N.S. Tory leader slams school’s request that military remove uniform

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November 8, 2024

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.

A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”

Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.

“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.

In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”

“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”

Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.

Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.

Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.

“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.

“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.

“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.

“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”

“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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Saskatchewan NDP’s Beck holds first caucus meeting after election, outlines plans

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November 8, 2024

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REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.

Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.

She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.

Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.

Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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Nova Scotia election: Liberals say province’s immigration levels are too high

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November 7, 2024

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.

Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.

“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.

“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”

The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.

In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.

“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”

In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.

“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”

Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.

Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”

In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.

In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.

“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”

Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.

“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”

The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.

“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.

“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax

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