Playing the long game

Rishi Sunak misjudged the electorate by prioritising tax cuts over the country’s future

WHAT MOTIVATESvoters at general elections? Are they concerned with themselves and their own immediate material interests? Or are they worried about the good of the community (or “society” or “nation” or even “race”) to which they belong? After the recent wipeout of the Conservative Party in the general election, these questions have to be asked. There was certainly a gap in policy intentions and ideological positioning between Labour and the Conservatives. But the gap was small relative to that between the number of MPs the two main parties got elected. Some kinds of political branding and rhetoric are successful, and others are not. Politics is, above all, the astute deployment of words. My argument here will be that the words chosen by Rishi Sunak and his colleagues were useless. IN…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, August/September 2024

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