Racism: Has The Government Stoked It?

Not directly in the overt sense, but in its general commentary it has nodded through attitudes and views which previous governments would have called out.  The government depends on far right votes which would  have gone to Farage and his continuously  reconstituting political factions, best known as UKIP. These votes were critical for Brexit. They were also critical to the 2019 Tory victory. They delivered the Red Wall. So naturally Boris and his mates are cautious, often ambiguous at first, condemning only when faced with a public backlash, like right now.

The problem for the Tories however is that the public mood has changed. The destructive nationalism which delivered Brexit and more recently a vile outpouring of racism, is now giving way to patriotism, which is very different. It allows national pride, while at the same time promotes broad international engagement and the demolition of barriers,  boundaries and inequalities. It is essentially a one nation concept, which pre-Thatcher was a Tory rallying cry. Not now. Very not now.

Boris has a levelling up agenda, but in spite of a bravura speech today, there remains very little detail of how this can be achieved and no finalised plans to put it into effect. There will be consequences politically if practical stuff is not delivered quite soon. What these last few days have shown us, especially if you add in the anxiety surrounding the bonfire of Covid restrictions,  is that for Boris, now two years in power, the honeymoon is over.