“Talking about freedom, sat in Margaret Thatcher’s old Rover” read the UK prime minister’s tweet in July 2023. Earlier that day in an interview with The Telegraph newspaper, Rishi Sunak had declared that the Conservative Party he leads are “on the side of motorists”, and he spent the days after attacking the opposition Labour Party for its supposed “anti-motorist” stance.
This is not the first time politicians have used cars to sell themselves to voters. In the UK, the most obvious parallel is with the 1997 general election, when both Labour and the Conservatives fought over “Mondeo man”, the archetype of a lower-middle-class and mostly male voter who both parties deemed important in swaying the outcome of elections.
Naming this category of voters by the car they drive is no accident. Since the early 20th century, the car has symbolised a diverse set of social values: freedom and progress, but also power and status. The cultural and economic importance of cars may have waned, but they remain important enough for politicians to use for electoral gain.
