On Thursday the 20th June 2023, voters took to the polls in 3 separate by-elections around the country, triggered by the resignation of Boris Johnson and his political allies in Parliament. Predictably, a smattering of anti-establishment parties took to the polls excitedly and, even more predictably, were slaughtered. Next came the “I told you so” from the usual class of “dissident-right” punditry on Telegram and other such terminally online “content creators”.
Unfortunately, there have been growing calls over the past year to abandon elections entirely, given the recent poor performance of right-of-Tory parties. In this article, I’d like to take the time to explain why they are wrong, though let us first establish what happened in the by-elections.
Selby & Ainsty: The Tories lost a majority of over 20,000 in this safe, rural Yorkshire seat. As we will see with the other results, the public are getting fed up with after the last few years of Tory failure. As the turnout was only 44%, this upset reflects voter dissatisfaction. Tory voters are so disillusioned that they aren’t showing up to the polls. In 2019, the Conservatives won 34,000 votes compared to Labour’s 13,000. Given the tactical voting towards Labour from the LibDems, it is clear that from 2019 to now, 22,000 Tory voters didn’t bother to show up.
However, the anti-establishment parties did not capitalise on the sentiment of these voters, with Reform UK receiving 1,332 votes the Heritage Party getting only 162 votes.
Somerton & Frome: A similar story. The LibDems faired well, benefiting from Labour tactical votes. The LibDems have historically performed well in the southwest, representing this constituency from 1997 to 2015, and have significant representation on the local council.
Uxbridge & South Ruislip: In the former seat of Boris Johnson, voters were incensed about the expansion of the London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) scheme to the constituency. Tory candidate, Steve Tuckwell, ran a brilliant campaign against the scheme and won despite all expectation to the contrary. Uxbridge & South Ruislip has been trending towards the Labour Party for decades, due to the demographic change, and given the odious reputation of its former representative, a strong Labour victory should have been a full gone conclusion.
All these results demonstrate that, as in the New Labour era, it is not necessarily the popularity of Labour or LibDems that decide elections, it is the unpopularity of the Tories. This should be no surprise to many, as Britain has always been a centre-right leaning country, with Tories being in power for 47 of the last 78 years (since 1945).
Then the question we should be asking is why dissatisfied Tory voters are not voting for more effective and less corrupt nominally right-wing parties, especially in a time of mass dissatisfaction with the Government’s failing policies. Throughout Europe, populists have largely supplanted the old centre-right established parties. The Finns Party, who came second in April with 20% of the vote, are currently in a coalition government. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally leading opposition party in France are leading in Presidential race. AfD (Alternative for Germany) are polling as the second most popular party.
There are 3 main problems that are exhibited by the newer parties in these by-elections: a lack of credibility, a lack of political experience and a lack of community outreach.
Reform UK and Reclaim are so similar to each other and the Conservatives that when the public are given a choice between them, they will always choose the Tory. Why vote for a less credible and unestablished version of the same, tired old, wet liberal politics?
Even with Lawrence Fox’s £5 million war chest, Reclaim will not win in the middle class suburbs of Uxbridge campaigning on the same issue as Steve Tuckwell, as constituents recognise that they are only splitting the vote. Tuckwell is a councillor for the area and a well-known local figure. He has used a strategy of community politics to win the election. The minor celebrity of Fox was never going to beat real community outreach. Reform UK have a similar problem of differentiating themselves from the Tories, but on a much wider scale and they don’t have a charismatic leader either.
The Heritage Party, formed to oppose lockdowns and vaccines, ran a piecemeal campaign and lost. Granted, success does not come easily to new parties, but parliamentary by-elections are not the place to start. One Telegram user canvassed for the party in Selby centre with an “Agenda 2030” sign, whatever that is supposed to mean. Even if that individual canvassed an incredible 1000 people on that day, they still would have only spoken to 1% of eligible voters in the constituency. That same Telegram user went on to say that voters are entirely apathetic, agreeing with a colleague that elections are useless. It makes me wonder why he bothered to get out of bed for the Heritage Party in the first place. The main problem here is that they ran a poorly researched, understaffed campaign based on internet conspiracy theories and outdated covid-era rhetoric. This simply does not appeal to the rural voters of Yorkshire.
Not much is to be said about the former juggernaut of UKIP. The party never reconciled the uneasy coalition between the free marketeers that ran the party and the working-class base that voted for it. After the resignation of Nigel Farage, the party embraced the internet clown show, to disastrous effect and they have been a clown show since.
All these parties fail to engage in community politics. Power in your local area is most easily built up by being an effective community organiser and campaigner for your party. A political activist should build their reputation in their local area, the area that they know best. Political engagement should begin at the community or parish council level. Once significant roots have been made in your community, only then should one try for elected office. If you win a council seat, you should dedicate all your time to serving local people.
For those of us without the backing of a mainstream political machine, politics is hard, but it is not impossible. Without effective engagement in community politics, failure is a certainty. Voters simply will not know who you are. If you are a nationalist, a fierce local reputation will defend you from the defamatory attacks of the left-wing gutter press.
Examples of effective community politics currently include “Reform Derby” in Derby, the Green Party in Brighton, and in the not so distant past the BNP in Burnley and the Respect Party in Bradford. All of which built themselves up through community politics, and all truly understood their communities, identifying key concerns and delivering results. They did not put crank policy before electability, as in the case of the Heritage Party. They were able to seize on key issues that voters cared about and that the major parties were ignoring, unlike Reclaim and Reform.
For those posting on the internet, spreading doubt about the electoral road, let it be clear that you are doing damage to those who desire a sensible political solution. Those offering a right-wing activities club, a cult of internet personality or a “grass-roots social and cultural organisation” are running away from direct community engagement. For those of us who are activists, we know that the public are in fundamental agreement with our broad aims. What they need is quality, integral and respectful leadership, starting at a local level. It is easier to enjoy a weekly trip to the local Wetherspoons and have a “political meeting”, and it is easier still just to whine on the internet. What is hard, but far more worthwhile, is re-engaging the millions who have been so disenfranchised.
The Homeland Party has a plan to take back our country mind by mind, street by street, council by council, until our movement cannot be ignored by the system. The voters are there for the taking; 22,000 dissatisfied voters in Selby and Ainsty are crying out for a real party and we cannot let them down. If the effort of winning true political power is too much, it is time that you log off, so the rest of us can get on with it.
