The Politics of Self-Sabotage on the British Right

The New York Times published one of the finest long-form features in recent memory last week. The piece was a thorough chronicling of the US-Ukraine relationship and its evolution over the past 12 action-filled months. Despite the US’s off-the-cuff approach to foreign policy, the brazen contempt it shows Ukraine and the rest of Europe is consistently striking. Pressure is barely exerted on Putin, with any attempt to end his barbarous actions feeling futile. Everything is stuck in a kaleidoscope, where the same interests and stakeholders prevail at every opportunity. 

The schism in US-European relations is a lightning rod moment. The peeling away of US financial clout propping up the system is an understandable move; its subsequent behaviour to states unaligned with MAGA ideals feels actively hostile. Elon Musk called for the European Union to be "abolished" and compared it to “fascism”, after X was hit with a £105M fine for its deceptive use of blue-tick badges. In the meantime, Secretary of State Marco Rubio attacked the perceived inhospitality to US firms, saying “the days of censoring Americans online are over.”

The EU doesn't have many legs to stand on. Its primary members are either economically stagnant or flailing domestically, while its smaller members contend with the growing existential threat of Russian aggression and the rise of domestic authoritarian politics. Internal actors also seek to undermine it at every opportunity. These people are not interested in upholding its dogma; they envisage a new political landscape. 

Britain is home to many who want this new reality. Malevolent players on the right cheerlead Trump; his elaborate and illegal coup in Venezuela was seen as right and necessary. They imitate his loathing for vast swathes of the country he presides over with London becoming the perfect punching bag. The perceived watering down of Christmas celebrations in the capital, overseen by a Muslim mayor, saw the timeline become clogged with deplorable actors giving their two pence. ‘London is finished’, ‘there are no go zones’, and ‘the city is basically on the cusp of collapse’, they cried. 

This reductive framing is encouraged across the pond. Vice-president JD Vance has said: "Britain will be the first Islamist country with nuclear weapons” while his acolytes shriek that “the UK is now a third world country.” It is odd that the British right is buoyed by this - many people live mentally like Americans, not realising they are citizens of the periphery. To participate in the labelling of your own country as uninhabitable is treachery; an exposition of these people's morality. As Robert Shrimsley wrote: “It is ever more vital to call out those who have truly fallen - those politicians who most ostentatiously wrap themselves in the British flag, while cynically and dishonestly trashing their own greatest city.”

Despite any notoriety or attention various factions garner in the US, many seem not to countenance how the US now views the world. The UK and Europe are now a vassal for American imperialism to stretch its tentacles; undermining institutions, dismembering the information eco-system and interfering in elections to create a new reality where those aligned with MAGA interests are funded to seize power. Smaller countries like Venezuela or Greenland are picked off, while Europe has been left to rot - too weak and too broken - as US ideals begin to fester. 

This bleak prospect is happening in real time. In Germany, the Balkans and Eastern Europe, parties grovel to Elon Musk and his fascistic instincts. The autocratic Viktor Orban is hailed and platformed as the standard-bearer of European leadership. The right's fickleness is being exposed and harnessed as anger turns towards their own. 

Talking down the continent's ability to exist on its current terms is a useful electoral strategy, but it will become self-fulfilling if these parties reach power. Farage may champion his long-standing friendship with Trump, the US president will not be there in 2029. A MAGA successor in the White House would likely be far more isolationist. Countries or even blocs would be regarded as obsolete. The president has said, “America first”, essentially means whatever he says it means; these are not people you can ever seek to imitate. 

The same disjunction between perception and reality will also be felt internally. Places like London that have borne the brunt of Reform’s attacks are not going to be transformed into the apple of Reform’s eye overnight if they gain power in 2029. Sadiq Khan may run for a fourth term in 2028 and win. The incumbent mayor directly opposes all that the right stands for. Such doom-mongering is unproductive to the party's electoral chances and the Conservatives' ability to appear repentant. 

The most successful party in electoral history now contends with party reprobates joining in on the kicking of the capital city. The ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss launched her new show with an episode titled “London has fallen” joined by the usual suspects. She is also asking affluent Londoners to cough up £500,000 to join her new private members club venture in the heart of Mayfair. Despite the litany of right-wing zealots with fat pockets, it seems an odd strategy. Likewise, the shouty Shadow Justice Secretary, Robert Jenrick, who decries the capital as ‘lawless’ enjoys all the pageantry it has to offer.

This juxtaposition is a risible position to occupy, but these people are not stupid, nor are they blind to how they are perceived; their inescapable presence on X provides them with an endless feedback loop. As previously referenced, it seems these characters are on board with overhauling the neo-liberal consensus of the 21st century - despite many previously playing leading roles - in favour of a new system propped by the coffers of tech bros and neo-conservatives. 

This political landscape becoming a reality has been accelerated by MAGA disregarding the rules-based order and the European right becoming hellbent on racing them to the bottom, where pillars of democracy are abstract, the social contract is unclear, and politics is catered for a select few. These people have become political nihilists. Trump's abominations in office demonstrate what happens when a body politic is built around a cabal rather than a state. 

The British Right may long to replicate his unyielding power, but it's an unlikely prospect. Therefore, ensuring the discourse plays out on their terms is paramount. Reform appears to be a nationalist and broad coalition but they still accommodate extreme, peripheral figures. And the Conservatives champion their position of fiscal prudence and reasonability, while platforming members of the 2024 intake more radical than the party has ever seen. 

The FT reported that an electoral pact has been mooted to donors. For the sake of the UK’s democratic future and institutions, the masses should hope this idea suffices. It would lead to restraint and compromise from both sides. Without such a scenario, maligned figures will continue to prosper and previously taboo topics will remain mainstream, all played out against the wider backdrop of a pathetic desire to imitate MAGA. The right of politics should recalibrate, grow up and raise the level. Winning elections on their own merit, not on the  reliance of nefarious forces and dragging the discourse into the sewers, where only hatred, division and individuality can succeed.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/Trump White House (Tia Dufour)

Licence: public domain.

No image changes made.