Westminster model? Lessons for Britain from the Everyday Democracy Index.
Renewal › Vol. 16 Nbr. 1, March 2008
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Westminster model? Lessons for Britain from the Everyday Democracy Index.
As she tumbles down, down, down the rabbit hole at the beginning of Alice in Wonderland, Alice decides she must be getting near the centre of the earth, and wonders what Latitude or Longitude she has got to. 'Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.'
Something similar is happening in British politics. As they tumble towards the centre-ground, political parties are starting to borrow so many 'nice grand words' from each other that it is increasingly unclear what any of them mean. Take the word 'progressive'. For the last four years, Gordon Brown has repeatedly expressed his desire to forge a 'progressive consensus' in Britain, a new conventional wisdom rooted in social-democratic values yet resilient enough to outlast the lifetime of Labour in power. But last December, two Conservative MPs declared that it was time to end Labour's monopoly on the word 'progressive', claiming it now belongs to the Tories (Clark and Hunt, 2007). Not so fast, said new Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg (2008) a month later: 'Our party will always be on ...See the full content of this document
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