This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/20/eu-battle-blurred-party-lines
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| This EU battle has blurred the party lines – and they may never be clear again | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A strange sensation is passing through the left flank of the body politic. It doesn’t reach all parts. The extremities are immune. But closer to the middle, where the feeling is strongest, confusion mingles with anxiety, even embarrassment. | A strange sensation is passing through the left flank of the body politic. It doesn’t reach all parts. The extremities are immune. But closer to the middle, where the feeling is strongest, confusion mingles with anxiety, even embarrassment. |
| The impulse dare not speak its name, largely because it has no name. No word captures the disorientation of lifelong anti-Tories who suddenly find themselves wanting David Cameron kept safe, albeit just for long enough to secure Britain’s membership of the European Union. | The impulse dare not speak its name, largely because it has no name. No word captures the disorientation of lifelong anti-Tories who suddenly find themselves wanting David Cameron kept safe, albeit just for long enough to secure Britain’s membership of the European Union. |
| It is a kind of anti-schadenfreude. Labour-leaning pro-Europeans no longer derive pleasure from the spectacle of a Conservative prime minister under attack from his own side. Where once there was relish at a blue-on-blue assault, there now passes a ripple of mercy, a fear that Cameron’s authority might be pulverised before his powers of persuasion have been deployed for the remain cause. Let him be beaten, but not now. Not in the face. | It is a kind of anti-schadenfreude. Labour-leaning pro-Europeans no longer derive pleasure from the spectacle of a Conservative prime minister under attack from his own side. Where once there was relish at a blue-on-blue assault, there now passes a ripple of mercy, a fear that Cameron’s authority might be pulverised before his powers of persuasion have been deployed for the remain cause. Let him be beaten, but not now. Not in the face. |
| There is a similar dynamic on the other side. Most of the time Downing Street strives to rebut, distort or suffocate any message a Labour leader delivers. But last Thursday morning, Jeremy Corbyn gave a speech in support of Britain’s EU membership that was still leading bulletins that evening. The government’s rival news “grid” was curiously empty that day. | There is a similar dynamic on the other side. Most of the time Downing Street strives to rebut, distort or suffocate any message a Labour leader delivers. But last Thursday morning, Jeremy Corbyn gave a speech in support of Britain’s EU membership that was still leading bulletins that evening. The government’s rival news “grid” was curiously empty that day. |
| It is exceptional for No 10 to surrender the news cycle to the opposition for 12 hours straight. But we are in a strange world now where two distinct sets of politics – the old one that follows left-right lines, and a new one that operates around an EU in/out axis – are running concurrently and on top of each other. It’s like setting up new goals halfway up the touchlines of a football pitch and introducing a new ball, making it hard to tell who is passing to whom and where they are trying to score. | It is exceptional for No 10 to surrender the news cycle to the opposition for 12 hours straight. But we are in a strange world now where two distinct sets of politics – the old one that follows left-right lines, and a new one that operates around an EU in/out axis – are running concurrently and on top of each other. It’s like setting up new goals halfway up the touchlines of a football pitch and introducing a new ball, making it hard to tell who is passing to whom and where they are trying to score. |
| Labour are temporarily united behind the current captain. A majority of the parliamentary party would prefer a different leader, but for now they want to stay in the EU more. Any plotting that might jam up Labour’s campaigning machinery is on hold until after 23 June. | Labour are temporarily united behind the current captain. A majority of the parliamentary party would prefer a different leader, but for now they want to stay in the EU more. Any plotting that might jam up Labour’s campaigning machinery is on hold until after 23 June. |
| There are cabinet ministers who boil with fury at the sight of Boris Johnson improvising his principles | There are cabinet ministers who boil with fury at the sight of Boris Johnson improvising his principles |
| By contrast, dozens of Tory MPs are now fully signed up to a cause that obliges them to dig Cameron’s political grave. Some Eurosceptics enjoy tormenting their leader; others do not admit even to themselves that his destruction is on their agenda. But it is impossible to secure a Brexit vote any other way, and the leave campaign strategists know it. The referendum is a trial of EU membership in the court of public opinion with a burden of proof on the prosecution to show Britain could be safer and more prosperous on the outside. They have to thoroughly discredit Cameron and Osborne as key defence witnesses. | By contrast, dozens of Tory MPs are now fully signed up to a cause that obliges them to dig Cameron’s political grave. Some Eurosceptics enjoy tormenting their leader; others do not admit even to themselves that his destruction is on their agenda. But it is impossible to secure a Brexit vote any other way, and the leave campaign strategists know it. The referendum is a trial of EU membership in the court of public opinion with a burden of proof on the prosecution to show Britain could be safer and more prosperous on the outside. They have to thoroughly discredit Cameron and Osborne as key defence witnesses. |
| Hence the spectacle of Conservatives trashing the chancellor’s record, with lines that might have been scripted by John McDonnell. Michael Gove was at pains on Tuesday to avoid personal jibes when complaining about the Treasury’s efforts to evaluate the cost of leaving the EU. He still depicted his friends George and Dave as accomplices to a betrayal of British honour and sovereignty. Tory MPs less burdened by personal loyalty called Osborne’s analysis “absurd”, “unfair”, “dodgy”, “unpatriotic”, “crap”. | Hence the spectacle of Conservatives trashing the chancellor’s record, with lines that might have been scripted by John McDonnell. Michael Gove was at pains on Tuesday to avoid personal jibes when complaining about the Treasury’s efforts to evaluate the cost of leaving the EU. He still depicted his friends George and Dave as accomplices to a betrayal of British honour and sovereignty. Tory MPs less burdened by personal loyalty called Osborne’s analysis “absurd”, “unfair”, “dodgy”, “unpatriotic”, “crap”. |
| Some hardline Eurosceptic Conservatives can still be tamed by the call for civil debate. The longer-term integrity of the party has not yet disappeared from view in the fog of referendum war. Last-minute calls from Downing Street recently persuaded leave-supporting Tories to tone down an aggressive barrage, based on the future security of the NHS outside the EU, that would have sent shrapnel flying into the government’s wider record on the health service. | Some hardline Eurosceptic Conservatives can still be tamed by the call for civil debate. The longer-term integrity of the party has not yet disappeared from view in the fog of referendum war. Last-minute calls from Downing Street recently persuaded leave-supporting Tories to tone down an aggressive barrage, based on the future security of the NHS outside the EU, that would have sent shrapnel flying into the government’s wider record on the health service. |
| There is restraint on both sides. There are cabinet ministers who boil with fury at the sight of Boris Johnson improvising his principles and spraying comedy-scented venom at Cameron and Osborne (“the Gerald Ratners of British politics”). They itch to hit back at the leave side’s most effective spokesman, but have been instructed by No 10 not to escalate personal vendettas. | There is restraint on both sides. There are cabinet ministers who boil with fury at the sight of Boris Johnson improvising his principles and spraying comedy-scented venom at Cameron and Osborne (“the Gerald Ratners of British politics”). They itch to hit back at the leave side’s most effective spokesman, but have been instructed by No 10 not to escalate personal vendettas. |
| Cameron wants remain to be the grownup of the two sides – the camp for serious people who make sober judgments about the national interest, and are friends with Barack Obama – while Brexit is for clowns, mavericks and obsessives who chase attention on the margins. | Cameron wants remain to be the grownup of the two sides – the camp for serious people who make sober judgments about the national interest, and are friends with Barack Obama – while Brexit is for clowns, mavericks and obsessives who chase attention on the margins. |
| The prime minister has also not given up on the idea of post-referendum Tory reunification, presuming that his side prevails narrowly. If he loses, he’s finished. And if remain wins big, the “reconciliation reshuffle” can safely become a purge of the Faragist collaborators. | The prime minister has also not given up on the idea of post-referendum Tory reunification, presuming that his side prevails narrowly. If he loses, he’s finished. And if remain wins big, the “reconciliation reshuffle” can safely become a purge of the Faragist collaborators. |
| But with nine weeks to go it feels unlikely that the tone of debate is heading upwards. The Tory Brexit camp already behaves more like a second opposition than a wing of the governing party. If remain retains its opinion poll lead, leave’s rhetoric will turn even more bitter and paranoid – if it can’t win the vote, it will muddy the result. It will be a stitch-up, an abuse of process, a deception. Cameron’s betrayal of true Conservatism, long suspected, will be definitively proven. | But with nine weeks to go it feels unlikely that the tone of debate is heading upwards. The Tory Brexit camp already behaves more like a second opposition than a wing of the governing party. If remain retains its opinion poll lead, leave’s rhetoric will turn even more bitter and paranoid – if it can’t win the vote, it will muddy the result. It will be a stitch-up, an abuse of process, a deception. Cameron’s betrayal of true Conservatism, long suspected, will be definitively proven. |
| How then does he lead a united party? How does anyone? The Tory schism will not heal quickly. The pro-European stitches holding Labour together will dissolve over the summer. The divisions over Corbyn’s leadership will open up again. The return to normal politics once the referendum whistle has blown may not be as easy as red and blue team leaders hope. | How then does he lead a united party? How does anyone? The Tory schism will not heal quickly. The pro-European stitches holding Labour together will dissolve over the summer. The divisions over Corbyn’s leadership will open up again. The return to normal politics once the referendum whistle has blown may not be as easy as red and blue team leaders hope. |
| The Scottish independence vote catalysed massive political upheaval because old party identities didn’t match up with new arguments. The EU campaign is already forging strange truces: centre-right liberals with soft-left social protectionists; angry English nationalists with radical libertarians. | The Scottish independence vote catalysed massive political upheaval because old party identities didn’t match up with new arguments. The EU campaign is already forging strange truces: centre-right liberals with soft-left social protectionists; angry English nationalists with radical libertarians. |
| Who knows what political compounds will form as these elements collide? Maybe none that are stable. Our electoral system reliably herds voters through the old party gates at general election time, regardless of where we graze mid-term. Traditional allegiances have proved resilient enough in the past that the safe bet is on their endurance. We probably won’t get a grand political realignment out of this referendum, but we might learn how much we need one. | Who knows what political compounds will form as these elements collide? Maybe none that are stable. Our electoral system reliably herds voters through the old party gates at general election time, regardless of where we graze mid-term. Traditional allegiances have proved resilient enough in the past that the safe bet is on their endurance. We probably won’t get a grand political realignment out of this referendum, but we might learn how much we need one. |