Spare a moment’s thought for Britain, a country twice used as a laboratory for the latest trend in rightwing politics. Four decades ago, we were the Tories’ lab rats for what became known as neoliberalism – mass privatisation, slashed taxes for the rich, the crushing of trade unions – and it delivered weak long-term growth that was inequitably distributed. This time round, their grand experiment has been rightwing populism: a fusion of crude nationalism, demagoguery, culture wars and migrant bashing.
One of its hallmarks has been to dress a rightwing party bankrolled by hedgefunds and City slickers in the sort of garb normally worn by the left – posing as insurgent tribunes of the people against contemptuous elites. This was always a perverse con: and, helpfully, new government plans being floated underline why. Reports – yet to be denied – suggest that chancellor Jeremy Hunt is considering slashing benefits in real terms in order to fund tax cuts. Achieved by a devious sleight of hand – benefits would not be explicitly cut, but rather would “fail to rise in line with inflation” – this represents a straightforward redistribution of money from the struggling to the well-off.
