In the space of about one month a further 9 per cent of the electorate has decided that the views of Reform UK accord with their own take on the world, putting Nigel Farage’s party well ahead of the government in the polls and leaving the Conservatives trailing Ed Davey’s cavalcade of grinning village idiots. The Greens are not that far behind the Tories, either, on 10 per cent. This means that policies which were once considered extreme, such as the immediate joyous jettisoning of all that diversity, equality and inclusion rubbish and drastic action taken against asylum seekers, are now considered acceptable by almost a third of the electorate.
Good. It is perhaps one reason why Sir Keir Starmer seemed to channel Enoch Powell last week with that stuff about us being an island of strangers – unconsciously channelling, according to David Goodhart, though I would beg to differ. The Prime Minister knew what he was doing. Whatever – this is on the face of it a dramatic change in the way a hefty proportion of the electorate think about stuff, and my suspicion is that quite soon the notion of remigration might commend itself to this growing minority, even if Reform UK has never raised the issue (while others, such as Germany’s AfD, have done so).
It is fashionable to refer to this change in mindset as being a shifting of the Overton window. This window is not named after the pleasant village in Hampshire, but after Joseph Overton, an American political scientist who died in a plane crash at the beginning of this century. It is best to think of the Overton window as being akin to a dormer window in your partly converted attic where your teenage children take drugs, watch porn and masturbate while you believe them to be finishing their A-level revision.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in