When I think about the state of British politics, I keep returning to a man named Tom Skinner. He is not a politician, but a jocular Essex businessman and media personality who found fame through an appearance on The Apprentice. Not only do I admire his positivity and social media updates about seemingly eating a fry-up every day, he also usefully personifies some of the complexity of where we find ourselves today.
After a Just Stop Oil protest in 2022, Skinner went on GB News, where he accused the group of ruining people’s lives. Following this foray into political debate, a lot of people on social media leapt to the conclusion that Skinner was rightwing and/or ignorant – the embodiment of the “I’m alright, Jack” working-class Tories who delivered Thatcher to power and who don’t care about anyone else, let alone victims of the climate crisis.
