Let us leave the ‘centre ground’

27 September 2006

Maurice Saatchi says that the dull terrain of modern politics is the breeding ground of voter apathy and cynicism: the Tories must ‘climb the hill’ of idealism once more

Applied to politics today, the great Hollywood law, ‘Nobody knows anything’, should read: ‘Nobody believes anything’. One proof of this can be seen in public attitudes to UK government spending. Eighty-six per cent agree with the statement, ‘There is too much government bureaucracy and waste.’ But when asked which party is most likely to reduce government waste, the majority choose: ‘Neither’.

The same scepticism applies to the question of which party has the best economic policies. Labour has recently lost its 20-point lead over the Conservatives on this issue. However, the Conservatives have gained only two points. The other 18 points have gone to: ‘Neither’.

One direct result of this convergence on the centre ground is a super-cynical electorate and low turnouts at election time. The slowest to turn out — young people — are routinely criticised for moronic addiction to computer games and iPods. But theirs might be the most rational response to centre-ground politics. As one student said during the last election, ‘They tell you what you want to hear. There’s no actual ideology.’

With little difference between the parties on substance (which anti-ideologists would say is a good thing), image and appearance take over. So it is said that all that matters is how the politician ‘comes across’ on TV. Hardly the Athenian ideal of ‘democracy’, is it?

This absence of a moral vision may not matter too much in domestic politics. After all, nobody ever died of apathy. But inability to articulate a sense of great purpose matters more on the international stage.

Try this test at home. Which of these descriptions best fits Anglo–American society? And which best fits our enemies?

This: ‘Article of faith, conviction, moral certainty, unshaken confidence, take as gospel truth, take on trust, pin one’s faith on, take at face value, take one’s word for, buy into, be certain, have no doubt, have no second thoughts, no reservations.’

Or this: ‘Hard to believe, lack of conviction, under suspicion, credibility gap, hard to swallow, without faith, nobody’s fool, not born yesterday.’

Those are the Thesaurus meanings of ‘Belief’ and ‘Unbelief’.