Donald Trump paved his way to the White House by inventing extremely vicious and highly adhesive nicknames for his opponents. First, he used this unsavoury but effective tactic to demolish Republican rivals such as “Lyin’” Ted Cruz, “Little” Marco Rubio and “Low-Energy” Jeb Bush. Then he did the same to “Crooked” Hillary Clinton. The device that worked so horribly well for him in 2016 backfired in 2020 when he chose “Sleepy” as his sobriquet for Joe Biden. After four years of wild and scary Trump antics, a significant wedge of mainstream voters liked the idea of having a president who wouldn’t keep them awake at night. To them, “Sleepy Joe” sounded not like an insult but a commendation.
That outcome was an encouragement to anti-populist politicians and nowhere was the Trump defeat more warmly welcomed than among supporters of Sir Keir Starmer, the polar opposite of a populist. His people interpreted the 2020 American election as a turn in the global political tide away from the cheap, nasty and dangerous theatrics of nationalist demagogues towards cautious characters offering moderation, competence and a respect for integrity. Where sceptics have always worried about Sir Keir’s lack of dazzle and sometimes ponderous seriousness, his backers saw a growing electoral market for these traits. As Britain grew exhausted with the trashy pantomime of the Johnson regime, so, I was often told by supporters of the Labour leader, voters would be drawn to no-drama Starmer. So what if he was a bit boring? The times were making that a virtue. Professionalism, decency and dependability: these were qualities he had in abundance and they would be virtues that voters would value after their experience of the destructive psychodramas of populism.
