The Vultures are Circling

Ben Wildsmith

We stand at a crossroads today and our direction of travel may be decided for us if we are not alert to the importance of the moment.

You will remember that in the aftermath of the Golders Green stabbings in April, a binary debate erupted about whether the police had been too brutal during the arrest of the suspect, Essa Suleiman.

Video footage showed an officer repeatedly kicking Suleiman to the head after he had apparently been immobilised by the discharge of a taser. The counterargument ran that he had not surrendered his knife, so the officer was justified in applying potentially lethal force to disarm him.

This week, as the UK has recoiled in horror at the circumstances around the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, police practice has again become the focus of discussion.

This time, however, the voices which spoke in favour of the police in Golders Green have been loudest in condemnation of them. Whilst officers were ‘brave’ and forgiven for actions in the moment during the previous incident, this time we are encouraged to see perceived failure as the result of a malign culture that privileges accusations of racism above all other considerations.

The suggestion here is that mistakes weren’t made due to inadequate training, but because of training that encourages officers to disadvantage white members of the public.

In the political kaleidoscope in which we’ve existed since the 2008 financial crisis, it can be difficult to track shifts in ideology due to the dizzying pace at which they have been occurring.

The traditional left/right paradigm hasn’t so much evolved as mutated into a confusing hydra.

As Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has attempted to project an authoritarian stance towards issues like immigration and crime, it has found itself facing an opposition in Reform UK that is playing an entirely different game.

The collapse of traditional conservatism has meant that its basic tenets, such as unconditional support for institutions like the police, have been uncoupled from their traditional home on the right of British politics. That leaves Labour straddling two horses.

Its defining purpose is to be socially progressive and change society. Labour politicians largely see themselves in that role, which most have assumed since adolescence. Their modus operandi was shaped in a world where to be on the left was to challenge the status quo, as represented by the Tory Establishment.

Detonation

Now, Labour finds itself faced with an opponent, in Nigel Farage, who seems content to advocate for a detonation under all the nation’s institutions. The NHS, the judiciary, the Civil Service, the RNLI, the National Trust, and now the police have all, over the last few years, been characterised as acting on behalf of a shadowy ‘globalist’ elite which seeks to limit freedom for the majority.

A ‘burn it down and start again’ proposition is understandably attractive to some as our quality of life is demonstrably declining. As we bump over potholes, paying a fortune for petrol to get to our insecure jobs or overdue hospital appointments, nobody is immune to fantasies of quick, bold action that could, somehow, make all this better.

The upcoming by election in Makerfield looks very much like a last throw of the dice by Labour, who have presumably seen polling that suggests the present government’s unpopularity is insurmountable without a change of leadership and direction.

Should Andy Burnham win the seat and become Prime Minister, he will need to enact reforms at pace or be engulfed by a tide of discontent that could see Labour in Westminster reduced to non-league politics as they and the Conservatives are in the Senedd.

One of those reforms must surely be a new constitutional settlement, not only for Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, but for the English regions as well.

Nigel Farage’s cynical evocation of ‘cold rage’ in response to Henry Nowak’s murder was as politically cute as it was morally reprehensible.

That rage already exists as a product of the political powerlessness that people feel over their lives. Bringing decision-making closer to them would address this lack of agency and re-engage people with the nuts and bolts of their governance.

Conspiracy theories

Detachment from that has bred an atmosphere in which grandiose conspiracy theories have replaced policy ideas as the focus of many people’s politics. If the WEF is planning to replace the entire population with immigrants, there doesn’t seem much point in campaigning for better computers in your kids’ school, does there?

If Labour is beyond saving in England, then Wales will come under existential threat as a political unit. The recent election campaign saw Reform-friendly social media accounts switch from attacking Labour or even Plaid Cymru, in favour of ‘The Senedd’.

That body would be low-hanging fruit in a bonfire of the institutions, with accusations of ‘two-tier’ advantages like free prescriptions tailormade for whipping up indignation across the border.

The new government here must maximise its powers to make our governance as distinct and accountable as possible.

If people feel alienated by the institutions we have, there is no longer a political consensus in Westminster that will defend them in the face of attacks from actors who seek financial deregulation above all other concerns.

Exploitation

The government has precious little time to persuade people that our institutions work to protect them from exploitation by the sort of predators that will run riot in UK society if international capital is given free rein in the public sphere.

To insulate Wales from such a fate, our government must prioritise community involvement in our governance. People should feel that they have ownership of the institutions they fund, full accountability from them, and a meaningful say in how they are run.

Devolution within Wales is as important as maximising that from Westminster. The vultures are circling…