Twenty-First Century Populism: The Spectre of Western European ...

Britain 197
While the BNP and UKIP have enjoyed gains in second order elections,
both suffer from the lack of a charismatic leader (although UKIP appear to
have briefly found and lost one in Kilroy-Silk), staying power and party
cohesion which the examples of continental Europe suggest is necessary for
consistent success. Nevertheless, the continued decline in identification
with the main parties combined with voter disillusionment with the lack of
policy alternatives they offer (given their convergence on key policies) point
to a future in which new and recycled populist movements will continue to
exist as a thorn in the side of the established political mainstream, albeit
possibly only as low level irritants in second order elections.
While new populist movements have been boosted by new political
opportunities, the FPTP electoral system continues to restrict their ability to
impact on national level politics. Thus the greatest potential for populism
lies within the political mainstream, where politicians within Britain’s
major parties are able to harness such issues. The best example of this came
with the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, who combined a combative
approach on these issues with an attack on certain Establishment institutions
and the pillars of the post-war social democratic consensus, a populist
identification with the prejudices of middle England and a charismatic leadership
which allowed her to enjoy − at least for a time − supremacy over her
party. Her political heir, Tony Blair, has also benefited from some of these
attributes, although when looking beyond some of his populist rhetoric, one
finds an emphasis on managerialism and a desire to please powerful interests
that leaves one to question whether this is really populism. Since 1997,
the Conservatives have dabbled with a new nationalist populist strategy
which portrays New Labour as an out-of-touch liberal metropolitan elite
selling out the British people. However, its lack of electoral success again
shows the limits of such a strategy under FPTP.
Notes
1. An increase possibly motivated by a perception that the contest was closer and/or
a desire to protest against UK participation in the Iraq war.
2. These, according to David Marquand, were an interlocking network involving
‘the elite universities, the BBC, the noblesse oblige Tory grandees, the bench of
bishops (and) the higher ranks of the civil service’ (Marquand, 1998: 22).
3. I am grateful to Dr Paul Jones of Liverpool University for allowing me to consult
the analysis of the BNP manifestos he conducted as a member of the UK research
team for the Xenophob project, 2002−2005 (funded by the EU 5th framework
programme).
4. This party stood in a number of constituencies in 1997 and promised a referendum
on continued membership of the EU.