He identifies the dangers of the increasingly populist anti-politician rhetoric. And he shows that, despite unrelenting attacks on the failures of parliament, MPs and peers are much more independent of their parties now than in earlier periods since the second world war.
Depressingly, but all too accurately, he shoots down most of the proposed solutions to lack of trust – a written constitution means judges stand above parliament: do we really want that? More participatory democracy devices, such as citizens’ juries, lead to vociferous middle-class activists becoming even more vociferous. Meanwhile, the idea of ‘depoliticising’ issues is simply not realistic: some regulatory issues can be dealt with by the non-political expert, but there are many which need to be resolved by politicians representing different classes and interests.
Riddell’s analysis is the quintessential insider view. It is accurate, well informed, and, in my experience, gets the motivation of politicians right. Inevitably, because it defends so much of the current system, it will sound too complacent. It offers no solution to the problem of what you do when the public have so little faith in those chosen by our system to resolve political conflict. But he provides a proper starting point for addressing that problem, and by exposing the shallowness of so many of the solutions that have been proposed, he forces the serious student of politics to address the problem realistically.
As the public are so much better informed, and the politician so much more effectively scrutinised, politics is getting harder for the politician, but, in consequence, much better for the public. Politicians do need to constantly adapt to changing public expectations. But we – public and politicians – also need to be realistic about what is possible. And if we start to set realistic expectations about what it is possible for politicians to do, then faith may, inch by inch, return. Riddell’s book is a good milestone on the road to reality.
Charlie, Hope you are well fella and thanks for raising this as an article I will attempt to get a copy of Riddells book. For me and many others the big problem has been in communicating the fundamental concerns of the electorate to parliament and the EU. Ironically as politicians have become a group (I shall not use the term “class” because of it implicit range of meanings) apart they have as a result failed at the ballot box. The consequence has been, instead of re-engaging with the community in a constructive way, in the manner the Rt Hon Margart Hodge MP did along with Clr. Darren Rodwell (a local champion Margaret wisely recruited who is symbolic of the agents that we used to employ) Labour has gone off back to the closet to write more essays about movements and limited philosophies (the Blue labour and Purple Book). Had the Party given a commitment to the very principles that are intrinsically part of it, equality and fairness, and avoided emulating Tories by creating a second class and lower quality elite to the Tory party and moved towards real modernisation by recruiting genuine professionals then the measure and deth of political debate would be ahead of our opponents. The fact is having a geek (no matter how nice and well intentioned the geek is) there is no replacement for genuine applied qualification and experience and that adds weight to the arguments politicians make as well as making it easier for our Party to be seen as a body that not only undertands peoples problems and can identify with their circumstances but also adds to the creative base on pragmatic and applicable policy genesis. The limiting of the range of people that we include in the democratic process at a time of economic difficulty has been incredibly unwise and now more then ever people have to believe that meritocracy works as opportunities in life diminish as a result. Our party has to be a product of the people and for the people or it is simply another blockade on the path to any form of progressive devlopment in society and worse still a potential contributor to division and unrest. Charlie, we have some incredible opportunities flung our way and let them slip by foolishly, our Party could truly have been great, the promise of Blair did more than inspire us in 1997 and its failure to be realised is a diabolical traversty in our outdated, so badly flawed democracy. We are living in a new age where information is incredibly easy to obtain and that wonderful Blairite vision that fired us up that brought an end to Tory madness and nihilistic National self-harm could literally have placed our Party in place as the natural party with Power. Now as has been proven by the incredible result in barking by those wonderful people who fought for decency, democracy and more importantly representation as they felt “left behind” we have shown once more a great opportunity that we can win elections even when the wind blows against us. The expertise is there but the real question is and this is beyond your comments about public expectations on policy delivery, are our Mps ready for the responsibility of Power? Can they cope with it, do they have the disciple and maturity it requires? Can they keep themselves reasonably clean, decent and respectable? Because until we can the public expectation of the labour Party will never be realised until the day when we use words such as “equality”, “fairness” and “progress” and really mean it, as a foundation of the processes within the Labour Party and its affiliate bodies, and a platform form which to project that vision our country desperately needs to see realised. Charity does not begin at home, but in politics values, authenticity and legitimacy do. Thanks Charlie and I hope you have a lovely summer.
Charlie, PS Depends how we formulate a written Constitution as to the precise powers and relation we delegate (with respect to the Seperation of Powers) the Supreme court, sometimes it is no bad thing for the Courts to intercede as long as the interest in doing so is to curb the worst and unacceptable conduct by those in Parliament who abuse their position, bring Parliament into terrible disrepute by blatent corruption or indeed are ultra vires and exceed their powers. A pain but it may well be a necessary one if Mps cannot ahere to a basic standard that most people adhere to daily in their everyday lives. The Rule of Law must be strengthened and maintained especially as I have said during difficult economic times. We must strengthen democracy via transparency, legitimacy, representation and accountability. Only alongside such a commitment can a clear policy package be accepted and the public take us seriously. It will never feature no1 in the minds of people as the economy and other polices are more immediatly important and applicable in the minds of people, quite rightly, but it is still an essential backbone of a policy set for a Party that has ambitions to make its mark and establish itself for the long term. Sorry to go on so long….I’ll go find this Riddell book now 😉
weeeeell RB, our ‘opportunities’ were lost surely because democracy can get flung to the wind when war is required and it was,to take the fight to them and get it out of our cities in the West. If we try to lead with 100% morality and decency we’re a gonner ,its contingency all the way sadly and those who govern try to balance scales that come down more to the good as much as possible.Geeks …limited philosophies, deth (depth/death) of political debate,qualification and experience — indeed analysis is one thing and policy don’t get implemented by Merlin the Magician but is worked through chaos and shifting ground and world upheaval . Often through the expenses scandal one heard people say oh yeah but he /she was a good MP and fought our corner .I do not condone the money grabbing but I can understand it unlike the uber money grabbing our ‘service industry’/ financials were encouraged to commit. SO ironic the Conservative holy sacrament to conserve ( for a rainy day) well its raining,where’s the reserve , the speculators took it elsewhere. And people want to continue in the same vein under this Tory government hoping they can just squeeze enough capital out to provide for THEIR life and maybe their kids,it is the national consciousness and sense of pride and responsibility that needs to be rekindled. Some Scots are having a go at doing that by a separation plan,pity,should be a British thing ,I feel,because then I think there’s more chance of us coming through this horrific downturn that’s only just started really.
Thanks again Charlie and as I said I hope you have a great Summer. We live and learn and its easy for people like me to criticise, I know the experience and affect Power has on we mere mortals is easy to make judgements about after the matter. I for one am past the recriminations just trying how to make sure we use what we have collectively learnt to make sure the mistakes are not repeated or at least enable us to be able make Labour more attractive and modern a Party for the future. Take care fella.