Politics is changing – because it must.
We are living through a turning point in British political history. The two main parties that have dominated the 20th century are now in a state of crisis so deep that there are good reasons to suspect that they might collapse into oblivion. They are seen to have ignored voters, ignored principles and been unwilling to take actions to once again ensure Britain can actually be run effectively by its leaders. But out of this failure, and this gap in leadership, new movements and platforms are emerging, and new crowds are entering politics that never would have considered doing so before.
Last Thursday, at the O2 Indigo Theatre, Looking for Growth (LFG), of which I am a co-founder, gathered a crowd of 1,300 people. It brought together speakers from across the political spectrum and from those outside of politics: Matt Clifford, Liv Boeree, Labour MPs Chris Curtis and Sarah Coombes, Conservative MP Katie Lam, Reform MP Danny Kruger, Marc Warner, Dominic Cummings and the TS Domestics (a group that has been cleaning their local area because their council has failed to do so). These speakers came together to make the case for one cause: growing the British economy with radical ideas that speak to changing the very roots of government.
But it is the crowd at LFG events that make me most optimistic about Britain. This country has been saved, several times in its history, by movements of talented people that turn their attention to the national cause. We are once again in a moment of crisis, and once again some of the best of Britain are giving up their time, their energy and their efforts to saving the nation they love.
LFG crowds are not filled with the usual Westminster milieu. Instead, they are filled with start-up founders, entrepreneurs, top graduates, doctors, academics, business leaders and investors. They are generally around 22 to 40-years-old, and they are people that do not usually go to policy events or hang out in Westminster pubs. They travel from across the country, they travel back to Britain from across Europe, from America, from Australia. Their dedication is a symbol of this political moment: nothing works, our leaders are failing and many see that Britain won’t be rescued by those in power.
What I am struck by the most – and what seems so alien to the media-obsessed world of Westminster politicians – is that so many of those attending LFG events just want to do things to make the country better. When a new LFG chapter starts, members go out and clean their local streets of rubbish and graffiti – they don’t do it for social media engagements, they don’t do it for local press, they do it because it is a small action they can do right now to improve the country they love.
But the failure of our politicians now demands that we – all of us – act. We can’t wait for them to do better. They won’t. We all know that – and I think, even worse, our politicians know it too.
This lack of leadership presents a unique opportunity – or more depressingly, a unique necessity: the country will only improve if those who want to see Britain saved take action themselves.
We need to end the obsession with tax and spend, and instead we must let Britain build. That means roads, rail, factories and homes, but also companies and new ideas. Let Britain be a place to build the next technologies that improve and save lives. We are the country of the industrial revolution, but our leaders have forgotten that spirit – or worse, are ashamed of it. We are a nation of experimenters, builders, scientists, innovators – but we have allowed all of them to be sacrificed on the altar of endless barriers, lawyers and consultants.
It is time to end this. We can’t expect our politicians to do it. We must. We must write the bills, and pressure government to pass them. We must clean our local streets, and lobby our councils to fulfil the duties they are failing to meet. Their response will be to lash out, to cover it up – just like TfL, who have called our volunteers criminals for cleaning graffiti on the tube – because that is how our current systems respond to criticism. We must pressure authorities to let Britain build because if we don’t, nothing will happen and all of us will continue to live under decline.
It is an unusual time in British politics, but it is a time to also be optimistic. Britain has rescued itself in the past and become great again. The precedents are good, history is on our side – we just have to choose to act on it. That is a choice that doesn’t require politicians, it requires joining with those who are co-ordinating to improve the country, and simply proving that you can just do stuff.
