…but they should bear in mind that by that metric the most successful British politician of the past decade is neither David Cameron nor Nick Clegg, but Nigel Farage. He got the airtime, he won his Brexit, and it is in his image that the Tory party is being reshaped.
He is the most successful politician of his generation.
It depends on what Brexit deal we get – if we stay in the EU in all but name, he will have been the least successful politician of his generation.
I hope this does not happen.
Well this bit: it is in his image that the Tory party is being reshaped certainly isn’t true but then this is the guardian so the endless far-right narrative pops up everywhere.
The reality is that the Tory party today is well to the left of Jo Grimmond’s Liberal party.
Well, the image of the Tory party in my mind looks nothing like Nigel. There is none of his ‘can do’ approach, even accounting for the realities of getting stuff done.
it is in his image that the Tory party is being reshaped
Tripe. The Tory party has been firmly reshaped in the image of the most successful politician of the previous decade and shows no sign of abandoning Blairism.
Mind you, a decade of rising government spending under the Tories (pre-COVID) has been declared ‘austerity’ by the Graun so they are as far away from reality as ever.
This is the country that chanted “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn!” in 2017
Aditya really needs to get off Twitter, Corbo was never popular with people who don’t live on the internet.
Come to think of it, maybe Uber is to blame as well. You used to be able to get a quick summary of what normal blokes are thinking from chatting with a taxi driver (whether you liked it or not). English cabbies would freely advise you on what everyone from John Major to Arsene Wenger should do. But that probably doesn’t work with sullen Eastern Europeans robotically obeying their smartphones.
“This is the country that chanted “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn!” in 2017”
Play it again Aditya
We’ll always have Glastonbury.
it is in his image that the Tory party is being reshaped.
If only.
The Tories remain stubbornly Blairite. Like Blair it is easy to see Boris in any of the other political parties – except they would not have him because they hate Etonians.
I’m dismayed that Farage is ignoring an open goal. If he threw his wight behind an anti-lockdown movement he could enjoy instant 25% support, increasing to majority support as the fiasco becomes exposed.
The only reason I can think of to explain his silence is that he actually supports the bed-wetters and doesn’t mind the loss of our liberty. Groan.
@philip – Nope. You don’t switch horses mid-race and BRExit is still very much in play.
‘… and it is in his image that the Tory party is being reshaped.‘
?
Philip – Nige is doing great work on the migrant invasion, whereas Chinese Virus is a much more complicated and divisive issue where it’s too easy to get bogged down in pointless arguments over masks and 5G alumillinery.
He can’t do everything.
. . . and doesn’t mind the loss of our liberty . . .
We (the people) don’t mind the loss of our liberty so it doesn’t make sense for a politician to die on that hill.
The most successful politician of his generation is Vladimir Putin. Farage is only the most successful *British* politician of his generation.
PJF–We –ie some of us –do VERY much mind it. But short of fighting with Plod in the street( no matter how many rounds you win it will always be escalated until you lose the final one) we can’t do much more than we are. Set an example for the bedwetters by wearing no masks and spread as much good info as we have.
Mass unemployment and spiralling anger therefrom will, I suspect, be riding in to help soon. Much like the Rhohirrim at Minas Tirith
The most successful politician of his generation is Vladimir Putin.
A close second.
The first is Xi Jinping from China.
He managed to get himself declared emporer of China for Life.
If Putin manages to get himself declared Tsar of Russia for life, I think we’ll have a tie.
>it is in his image that the Tory party is being reshaped
Farage wants the illegal immigrants sent back, whereas the Tories are giving them a lift to Britain and putting them up in fancy hotels.
So no, not really.
From the far left position of a Guardianista, it’s understandable that anyone to the right of the Lib Dems is just an interchangeable, fire-breathing monster – Boris = Farage = Redwood. But what I can’t understand is genuine Conservatives, such as Matthew Parris, proclaiming that Boris is on the far right of the party, when in reality all his political views are pretty much interchangeable with Ken Clarke or Heseltine or even Matthew Parris – with the notable exception of his attitude to the EU. It can only be the lasting effects of Brexit Derangement Syndrome that blinds them to the obvious truth.
@ Chernyy-Drakon
Xi Jingping is not a politician – the Chinese don’t have elections in any sense of the word. You might just call him a “political fixer” in the Tammany Hall sense but basically he is a clever narcissistic megalomaniac conspirator in the Stalin and Mao mould as all his rivals end up convicted in show trials. Putin actually won an ekection.
Chris Miller – I’m surprised that you consider Parris a genuine conservative. He’s snooty and condescending at every turn and an unreconstructed EU enthusiast. A plague upon him and his ilk (and it’s quite a big ilk in today’s Tories). It’s that or Ecks and a lampost with scatter-cushions.
If we could combine two politicians for the accolade, I would give it to the Miliband brothers. The older one seems to have so much influence and I don’t just mean that multi million dollar DfID donation to his organisation based in the richest overall country there has ever been whose main activity is pure and simple cash hand outs to poor people in poor places so they can buy stuff.
The younger one, Ed, seems to be getting all his policies through – national living wage, more for the NHS, whatever else was on that EdStone back in 2015.
The case for limited government is strong, but no politician will touch it.
No politician will ever countenance a situation that doesn’t have lots of cash to hand out in return for political favours or good headlines.
Once you understand that, you understand the need for importing ever increasing numbers of foreigners to boost GDP and the tax base.
See also the ever increasing borrowing to hand out money for the NHS, welfare, bailing out the banks, 6 months paid holiday for teachers etc etc.
I remember reading Parris back in the days when the Times was inches thick, also Rawnsley in the Guardian. I seem to recall them both being quite sound, but then again I was younger and perhaps less cynical then. Maybe too, the whole political landscape has moved considerably left since then, with them moving with it. Back in the days when Private Eye used to be funny, the News of the World was still around, and Spitting Image took no prisoners whatever political persuasion you were. Sigh.
@BlokeInBrum
“Once you understand that, you understand the need for importing ever increasing numbers of foreigners to boost GDP and the tax base.”
But they often don’t increase taxes. IIRC most of the migrants Merkel imported are on benefits.
I have met bogus refugees who believe that dinosaurs exist – saying that they got a good house without working from the tax payer – so they weren’t that stupid.
john77 (September 3, 2020 at 9:34 pm)
Rather depends on what defines a ‘politician’. If it is simply the the ability to obtain and hold on to power then elections are irrelevant, winning elections is just an effective means to power sometimes, some places. If success is not defined so much by the power of office as by the ability to to advance a policy and lead then the weakness of most ‘politicians’ is clear; they have no policies, no quality of leadership, just the lust for power.
@ djc
IMHO Politics includes the power to persuade other than simply with a weapon, so I don’t regard the success of Xi qualifies him to be regarded as a politician
@Herr Bison
Parris is a Conservative, but not a conservative. All parties (in a FPTP system) are coalitions, and the Tories have always been able to accommodate both the Tebbits and the Heseltines.
I still enjoy reading MP on those (now, sadly, rare) occasions when he’s not banging on about Brexit.