The 4 letter word that’s destroying our fragile democracy

The word? - Hate

Our politics and fragile democracy has been on the slide for many years.

The once decent upstanding Conservative Party (well that’s what my old dad would have called it up until around the turn of the century) is now UKIP II.

Labour, having been holed below the water line when it elected the wrong Miliband as leader was also further damaged by UKIP when significant numbers of its right-wing, working-class vote decided to back Brexit and Boris Johnson.

And my own party, the Lib Dems? Our leadership remains stubbornly and strangely, to me at least, quiet about being pro-Europe and seems to have lost its radical/progressive edge/voice whilst, of course, also struggling to shake off being holed below the waterline by Cleggism/The Coalition Government.

So with such a recent political history is there any wonder that the right has marched in to claim to be the dominant political agenda, whilst the left has all but melted away. And with our politics being, at best, centre-right these days (and I include Labour in this) is there also any wonder that the further/far right has gained a foothold in the corridors of power?

It’s not then too big a leap to realise how an agenda dominated by division, intolerance and yes, hate, has come to the fore. Did we ever expect to see, in this day and age, a national newspaper use the word ‘hate’ in its lead headline on Remembrance Day! Did we ever expect a Home Secretary to brand a peace march as ‘hate’!

The back-tracking of progressive politicians has in my view helped the further/far right to march in to fill a political vacuum. Can you imagine a John Smith, a Shirley Williams or a Charles Kennedy allowing this to happen? You know they’d be promoting a very different agenda based on inclusion, tolerance and the very opposite of ‘hate’.

And the big question is, where will the next progressive political leaders come from who will take on the divisive legacy of UKIP which has so soured our politics? I **** to say it but the runners and riders to be our future centre-left leaders look to be few and far between presently, so the poisonous legacy of UKIP may well dominate our politics for another 10 years. 

Oh how much I hope I’m wrong and how I long for ‘hope’ to replace ‘****’ in our politics and everyday language.