Dominic Cummings has unveiled plans for a new “Start-Up Party” which he claims could replace the Conservatives.
Speaking to the i paper in his first interview since leaving Downing Street in 2020, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser said the new party could capitalise on the expected collapse in the Tory vote at the next general election.
The Vote Leave mastermind claimed a majority of the electorate would support a party that is “completely different” to Labour and the Tories.
Have a go, by all means, but it won’t work.
If you start now you might get somewhere in 2035….
No, it won’t. The bloke who rightly lambasted snivel serpents for being useless tossers forms a political party?
Mwhaahaa. Hell awaits…
Isn’t his point that a party could be built *after* the Tories’ expected crash at the next GE – i.e. in response to the expected failure of both Conservatives (on the way out) and Labour (attempting to take over)?
He’s not proposing it would win at the GE, or even exist then – so yes, 2035 probably..
But he has a point, and one that various others are considering, that the existing parties are struggling under their own weight, and one or more new parties are likely to be well received if they appear to support the views of the public rather than the party faithful. Leveraging a collapse to build support isn’t rocket science, but would need a few serious backers to go from ‘interesting independent’ to ‘national political party’.
..but hell, if the Greens managed it, it can’t be that hard can it?
The Greens succeed because they appeal to the hard of thinking who, to the extent they do think, think if only everyone was like me and we could live on unicorn farts.
A serious new party needs to do the hard intellectual miles and be prepared to make the case for free market capitalism n the way Maggie did and there’s not many who are capable of that going in to politics.
If it’s too centrist, it will fail as “The Independent Group for Change” party failed (that was the one with Chuka Umunna and the vile Anna Soubry), if it’s too centre right then it sits on the grave of the Tories where Reform are currently camped out.
The best opportunity seems to be to get Reform working so that those with genuine conservative values can transition into it, to build out the base into a functional and electable political party.
Tories delenda est!
@John Galt
It’s almost as if he’s deliberately ignoring Reform which is pretty much the party he’s describing.
His analysis of the current situation is pretty good. But that’s something that could be achieved by any geeky blogger or enthusiast. If he personally has “plans”, then that means he wants to be part of the action. But he’s actually useless at politics. Remember the media interview and statement in the No. 10 garden? He comes across as a moderately intelligent and neurotic odd-bod. Stick to analysis Dom, and let’s hope you find a real leader who can manage your talents properly without letting you exercise your delusions of grandeur. Apparently you are good at “big data”. Great, but don’t philosophise about it.
Dominic Cummings has unveiled plans for a new “Start-Up Party” which he claims could replace the Conservatives.
I stepped in some dogshit that could replace the Conservatives.
What could be worse than Labour or the Tories? Maybe a party controlled by an egomaniacal lockdown fanatic who favours psychological warfare against the populace (ie ‘nudge’ policies).
I supported letting Cummings loose amongst civil servants, in order to generally harass them and make them cry, but that is about all he is good for.
Sam
Stick to analysis Dom, and let’s hope you find a real leader who can manage your talents properly without letting you exercise your delusions of grandeur. Apparently you are good at “big data”.
Based on his assessment/calculations back in March 2020, I’d keep him well away from that.
What Marius said: “kicking or sacking establishment & civil servants” is probably his true skill? Didn’t he do some useful stuff with Gove at Education?
AndyT: «likely to be well received if they appear to support the views of the public rather than the party faithful.»
I’m trying hard to reconcile that with the Tories whose MPs have a habit of deposing leaders elected by the membership.
I’m with Marius on Cummings, a sociopath who would have done an excellent job on civil servants by driving them like lemmings off a cliff.
Sam – But he’s actually useless at politics.
Yarp.
Remember that eye test shit? Easily avoided if he wasn’t such a weirdo.
Foolish DomCum believes Big Data will save us. That’s just another managerialist fetish totem. Only Jesus or Peter Shilton can save England.
I think the first rule of a new party that isn’t the Tories or Labour would be that it would only be represented by people who don’t have a degree. Thats the only way you’ll keep the lawyers and wankers (bit of a tautology there) from taking over, as they do with everything else.
What we’re seeing now is the result of UKIP not having any strategy for what would follow a Yes majority in the Referendum. The reliance on “democracy” to deliver the result. They’d caught the mood of the electorate with their success in the Euro election. ’16 should have initiated a campaign both democratic & extra-democratic action with an agenda to force delivery of the result in combination with a plank of right of centre politics in other areas. Learn from the Left & use the Left’s tactics against it.
Mr Cummings’ performance during Covid means he’s one of the hundred or more people who really ought to be hanged for treason. (That’s a hundred in Britain: more, no doubt, in the US or Germany.)
“What we’re seeing now is the result of UKIP not having any strategy for what would follow a Yes majority in the Referendum. The reliance on “democracy” to deliver the result. ”
What other strategy could they possibly have had? Violent revolution and the takeover of the UK State? As a political party with no MPs they had zero input into the actual machinery of government. They could have called for a General Election to put in power a National Government of Pro-Brexiteers, but they had no method of making that happen. They had no method of making ANYTHING happen. Even the referendum was dropped in their lap by Cameron. You might as well as ask why Mrs Miggins of 22 Acacia Avenue didn’t have a Leave Vote victory strategy in place. She voted leave after all, so what was she going to do about making it happen once her side won?
dearieme – Only 100 odd?
You are too kind.
The idea of Cummings foundng a successful political party is risible: he could start an argument with himself. Also, as his approach in the pandemic indicates, he is not particularly right-wing – being neither socially conservative nor small state.
Without any infrastructure and Tice’s lack of charisma, Reform makes its predecessor UKIP look professional. And there is a lot of ruin in the Tories and Labour yet, neither of which are likely to become extinct. However, if Labour introduces vote at 16 yo, there will never be a right-of-centre government in the forseeable future…
Cummings is supposed to be good at “big data”?
He may think so, but his public response to Covid tends to suggest otherwise. Anyone with even a half-decent grasp of numbers should have been able to see that the infection and fatality rates had already started going rapidly down before the first “lockdown” was imposed. The fact that he was proposing more and longer lockdowns indicates that he was more in-touch with “power trips” than “big data”!
Is there enough Parliamentary time for Rishi to restore the voting age to 21? Two can play at that game.
Theo – And there is a lot of ruin in the Tories and Labour yet, neither of which are likely to become extinct.
That’s a shame. Can we hunt them to extinction?
However, if Labour introduces vote at 16 yo, there will never be a right-of-centre government in the forseeable future…
They’re going to give the vote to both children AND millions of foreigners.
The “Conservatives” already voted this into law in Scotland, because they need to be hunted to extinction like a species of annoying gay dodo.
Steve said:
“The “Conservatives” … need to be hunted to extinction like a species of annoying gay dodo.”
Back on form, Steve.
@Jim
I agree with what you say about ’16 but this is now ’24.
As I said above, the Right needs to learn lessons from the Left. Labour has always accommodated political activists from the extremist-Left. It’s how the Overton Window has been constantly shifted leftwards. Extremist policies become centre ground. The Right has always shunned any political position that isn’t centre-Right. To undo what the Left has achieved requires a revolution & you can’t have revolutions without revolutionaries. And revolutionaries are by definition extremists. And it’s not as if extremist right wing politics would be unpalatable to a large portion of the electorate. Right wing extremism is now no further right than what was centre ground 2 or 3 decades ago. It’s what the Tories have found. If you keep conceding ground you eventually find yourselves with no ground to stand on.
Thank you Richard, I’ve had my Ready Brek.
I see on Guido, that Matt Goodwin of Kent Uni is joining in. He seems to have become obsessed with immigration lately.
I didn’t always agree with his psephological insights, but he is on the Right side of the argument.
https://order-order.com/2024/05/10/matt-goodwin-reveals-plans-to-launch-new-political-party/
Reform are not a party. They are a parasite on the Conservative Party, who need the Conservatives to exist. They’re a party for suckers fooled by the con.
There is no national organisation or infrastructure. No coherent political philosophy. It’s just a limited company run by Tice, who’s only chance of effecting politics would be as a vehicle for Farage.
Theophrastus: Don’t use their words, keep hammering it home: votes for children.
I think fundamentally you need to have someone who can attract voters.
You only need to look at Trump or Boris to see how a cult of personality is able to swing votes in a way that dry discussions on policy won’t.
Kind of like the difference between dialectic and rhetoric. You can’t use reason to convince anyone out of an argument that they didn’t use reason to get into.
You only have to look at Glaswegian voters to see how they keep voting for the party that makes them poorer.
It took the likes of Boris to bring down the Red Wall – any new party would need the likes of a Farage, and a fanatical set of followers, to get past the 15% or so hump that FPtP voting requires before you make any real impact.
Riffing on my previous thought, we all know how the likes of the CIA induces colour revolutions in unfriendly countries. Couldn’t an insurgent new party use similar tactics to boost numbers too?
Most people, especially women are pretty much herd animals. Create the right conditions and you could create a preference cascade for the party of your choice.
The most recent and obvious example that I can think of (outside of Ukraine) would be the abortion referendum in Ireland.
A staunchly Catholic, religious and conservative nation induced in a staggeringly short space of time to vote in a completely different way heretofor. In part helped by a considerable amount of funding from extra national pro-abortion organizations, who in turn used their funding to co-opt the media and the politicians to their cause. Astroturfing, money and propaganda works.
Sadly MPAI.
Well, yes. He and Nigel do not, erm “get on”
Cummings masterminded the Vote Leave campaign and the 2019 Conservative victory, so it’s not true he’s useless at electoral politics. The problem is, the next Labour government is determined to change the system, to make it harder for any genuinely right wing party to operate. Gordon Brown’s “New Britain Constitution” is all about checkmating right wing populism, and enshrining Blairite policies permanently into law.
Even if the Conservatives fall below the LibDems, Labour will gerrymander things to try and make sure that the rump Conservatives will be the UK’s only legal party at least nominally of the right. They’re also going to give 5 million non-UK citizens the vote, and 16-year olds the vote (because 75% of teachers vote Labour, and they help shape the political preferences of the young in a left direction). Plus, as boomers die off, the demographic transformation of the UK which has already happened will become ever more starkly apparent electorally.
By 2029, a right wing party will have to consider policies which almost no-one is currently entertaining – even on the left – if it’s to build a viable electoral coalition. For one thing, it will have to start appealing to socially conservative Muslims in large numbers. They vote Labour through gritted teeth, largely for the gibs, and because they think Labour will make it easier for their relatives in the old country to immigrate to the UK. But they hate cultural leftism far more than anyone in the Conservative Party does. Watch the old videos of Jess Phillips at the Muslim demonstrations outside Parkfield School to see the clear faultlines there. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but right wingers need to study George Galloway’s recent electoral success.
They’re also going to give … 16-year olds the vote (because 75% of teachers vote Labour, and they help shape the political preferences of the young in a left direction).
But the conclusion of the second part is not a given. Kids are idealistic. They seek a flag to follow. With a bit of well targeted subversive work you could have them following any flag as long as it’s colourful & being waved energetically. As I say, turn the Left’s tactics against them
Note to self – close tags!
“A serious new party needs to do the hard intellectual miles and be prepared to make the case for free market capitalism….”
Not really. The Greens succeeded because they put money and people behind a daft political idea. You don’t need “intellectual miles”, you need money and staff. The pro-Brexit part of the Conservative party folded because immediately after the Referendum, they lost money and staff (their supporters thought “job done” and stopped donating). Labour still exist despite having lost all political direction because of money and staff.
“It’s almost as if he’s deliberately ignoring Reform which is pretty much the party he’s describing.” – my current understanding is that Reform is not a political party so much as a political toy owned and run by just a couple of people. Fun for annoying the Tory-core, but not apparently structured in a way that will allow it to grow out of being a ‘not-the-tory’ reaction. As such, it’s a political void when it comes to a leadership that agree on broad political terms.
As for Cummings, I can’t raise much ire for him – he’s a smart guy who needs a social guy as a counterweight. As such he and Boris could have been a pretty powerful act (Boris being a social guy who needs a smart guy as a counterweight). Anyone thinking there was a “right way” to do the pandemic clearly doesn’t leave their armchair often enough, but the failure in communication that has become a signature of all of the current political ‘elite’ was, in the circumstances unforgivable. I still tend to think we need people like him around though, to actually offer some ideas about government and public services rather than fiddling round the edges.
Dear Bloke in Spain
The left’s most successful tactic is gradually taking over institutions, such as schools, universities, the civil service, the BBC, the C of E etc. They’ve even managed to pozz the police and the army, for chrissake! If you want to find the most left-wing people in the UK today, the best places to look will be at the head of institutions you’d expect to be conservative, such as the National Trust or the Tate Gallery. Once they’re in those institutions, they gradually squeeze out all the people who aren’t left wing.
It’s very hard to take back those institutions via reverse infiltration. You’d need whole cadres of people who are outwardly Gramscian cultural Marxists but secretly disciples of Sir Roger Scruton. And it would take a lot of time. It might even be that right wing people just aren’t well-adapted to doing that sort of thing.
The best way to do it is to win a General Election (such as in 2019), then use your majority to close down some of those institutions, the way Margaret Thatcher closed down the GLC. You can always create successor institutions filled with conservatives. Unfortunately the current Conservative government has squandered its majority. Which is why many right wingers now hate them and won’t vote for them.
AndyT
“Anyone thinking there was a “right way” to do the pandemic clearly doesn’t leave their armchair often enough”
There were certainly wrong ways to do it, as most countries in the world were happy to demonstrate. Anders Tegnell proved, and neither from armchair nor any political position, that there was a better way (he openly admits he got care homes completely wrong). There was no rocket science in what he did.
I’d like to see Labour try to “leverage” their leftie indoctrination of kids while giving them the vote.
It’ll be hilarious…
@georgesdelatour
Wasn’t long ago that the institutions were stuffed with Empire conservatives. That’s the world & grew up in. That didn’t stop the left politicising youth in their cause which has brought us to where we are. If you’re expecting it to be easy it won’t be. It wasn’t for the left. But I think it was Mao who said a thousand mile march starts with a single step.
But you typify to soft sloppy right. You expect it to be easy. You want it to be done for you while you sit back & watch Strictly. Sorry, but you don’t deserve it. You deserve what you’ve got.
“The best way to do it is to win a General Election (such as in 2019), then use your majority to close down some of those institutions”
Yup.
Milei is having a good go in Argentina. If he’s still breathing by Christmas I’ll be amazed.
I’m okay with difficult, just wary of impossible. The main thing is to have a right wing party which can win elections and which will use its powers systematically to delete and replace these captured and rotted institutions. Even though I praised Margaret Thatcher for abolishing the GLC, the fact is that, as a member of Edward Heath’s government, she closed more grammar schools than any Labour education secretary. In practice, she was more loyal to Tony Crosland than anyone in the Labour Party – which is insane. Over the past 14 years, the Conservatives have had plenty of chances to reverse Tony Blair’s legislation (e.g. the Human Rights Act, the Equality Act, the Blair Supreme Court, OFSTED etc). They didn’t do any of this. We desperately need a party which will.
It’s partly because a lot of Conservatives like David Cameron are really Blairites. But it’s also because the Conservatives who aren’t just don’t understand their opponents. In practice, Tony Blair was a far more formidable left wing figure than Tony Benn ever was. If anything, Benn’s sentimental attachment to Labour heritage (e.g. the annual pilgrimage to Tolpuddle) and his determined defence of Parliamentary sovereignty (e.g. his opposition to the EU) makes him more a “Blue Labour” conservative than a Gramscian Pabloist like Starmer.
The Right easily gets distracted by the Dave Spart type Labour activists – the “headbangers”. These people don’t matter. What the dangerous, potent left understands is how to use law to change the incentive structure, thereby opening institutions to left-wing capture. As a former DPP, Starmer understands this very well. He will use law to emasculate the right. This is the main thing Cummings doesn’t understand.
Yeah. I’d argue that the UK really needs to get rid of the Supreme Court and return that power to parliament.
Theophrastus: Don’t use their words, keep hammering it home: votes for children.
Great Glod! I’m listening to the wireless, and they are proposing votes for FOURTEEN-year-olds! This is where it goes. Once you’ve conceded votes for some children, it’s a natural progression to have votes for some other children. Where does it end? Votes for five-year-olds? Votes for neonates? Sheesh!
@jgh
They wouldn’t allow the neonate vote as it would dilute the support for abortion.
jgh
votes for foetuses
I’m in favour
Congratulations jgh, Mohave Greenie and philip.
The first really sensible policy that I’ve seen proposed!!!!!!
When those neonates realise that by voting for Net Zero they’ll be condemning themselves to lives of poverty and squalor, they’ll definitely vote for more fossil fuels.