Reflection on a contemporary populist movement
Going into the final week of the 2019 general election campaign, the hostility towards Labour, and Jeremy Corbyn in particular, calcified. The blatant and vicious lies touted by the media became embedded in people’s minds to a degree that’s rarely seen in politics and, having no foundation whatsoever, they were particularly egregious. But throughout the campaign, certain demographics, those you would imagine supporting a Labour, rather than Tory government, were significantly hostile and it was clear their minds were made up.
The contrast in 2017 was that, though the public were largely Labour sceptics and hostile to Jeremy Corbyn, the stories they’d heard had been fermented in political circles and felt somewhat second hand. By the summer of 2019 the stories were well established and perceived as factual, as much due to repitition as anything. Boris Johnson was shamelessly spouting lies without pushback, the Tory slogan was a vote winner while Labour’s was emminently forgettable and canvassing was difficult because of the time of year. Clearly it was the Tory’s to win, but in hindsight Labour had lost any chance of an upset by summer 2019. Had Corbyn pulled a rabbit out of a hat it…
