Forty years ago, class defined us in Britain. Now it’s we who define our class

‘People today are more likely to declare themselves working class than they were in the mid-80s at the height of Margaret Thatcher’s assault on the unions.’ Photograph: David Edsam/Alamy

A liberal elite out of touch with the conservative instincts of the British people. A political realignment defined by an electorate more culturally conservative but economically leftwing. A working class hostile to liberal norms, especially on immigration.

It is a picture of contemporary politics that many have come to embrace, assiduously promoted as it is by a range of academics and commentators, from conservatives to “postliberals”. It shapes policies of left and right, from Labour’s debates about how to win back the “red wall” seats to Rishi Sunak’s desperate attempts to turn “stop the boats” into a wedge issue.