If the last ten years or so have taught us anything, it should surely be that the era of the ‘good chaps’ theory of government is well and truly over, and ‘it’ (authoritarianism/oligarchy/fascism) could very easily happen here – if we don’t take steps to prevent it. It is, frankly, dewy-eyed to think otherwise and almost wilfully naïve to ignore the lessons already to be learned from what happened here under the Tories and what is happening in plain sight under President-elect Trump.
Many in our ‘defend democracy’ bubble (and it’s very sad that it is a bubble) are berated for using the F word to describe the policy direction and credo of many of the surviving Conservatives. It is written off as an insult, a gaslighting trick from the Russians, where anyone who opposes Putin is automatically a ‘fascist’, or even a nazi (see Ukraine).Trump has adopted the same strategy, and how very convenient for those pursuing a fascist agenda. Incidentally, if you have been following US politics, you will see that Trump and the Trumpists are very quick to accuse their opposition of the very things they themselves are doing, projecting their own ‘guilt’ and, thus, revealing it.
Some even quibble at the application of the fascist label to Trump. But any dispassionate comparison of his plans and actions against any of the many fascism checklists cannot but lead you to the conclusion that he personally meets the majority of the criteria and his policy proposals complete the set.
But this article is not about the fascistic horrors about to be inflicted on the American people by a Trumpist regime. I will, however, stress that it is really important to register just how far the Trumpists are prepared to go, with measures that include declaring a state of emergency in order to mobilise the military to carry out mass deportations, appointing secretaries of state and directors of government departments whose beliefs and impulses run entirely counter to the interests of the people or the planet, and promising to close down, remove the licences and even lock up those in the media with the temerity to disagree with Trump – the ‘enemies within’. The regulation burnfest for corporations operating in industries injurious to climate action, public health, human rights, food production etc is a very clear indication of corporate capture of government. So far, so fascist. And there’s all that dark money thrown into lobbying and campaigns which is about to get repaid in spades.
And you think it couldn’t happen here?
A quick reminder that the Conservatives in government happily prorogued parliament, severely curtailed your right to peaceful protest, introduced a voter-suppressing photo ID requirement, diverted billions into fraudulent deals to supply PPE, blamed just about everything on desperate people risking their lives crossing the channel in small boats, whipped up culture wars, accused judges and ‘woke’ lawyers of being ‘enemies of the people’, intentionally underfunded public services to the point of collapse, leaving the way clear for private profiteering, and stuffed the BBC and other media with their mates and ‘working’ and former MPs so as to control the narrative.
The Nolan code, established to codify decent, honest behaviour from MPs, has been systematically abused and ignored and the whole corruption/sleaze/sex crime/hate crime/racism with no consequence pretty much normalised. Their next step was going to be pulling us out of the European Convention on Human Rights. They were already reneging on climate action, so fossil-fuelled are they. What’s more, what is left of the parliamentary party is stuffed with Trump fans, which should tell you all you need to know.
So, let’s imagine for a moment that Labour only have one term. Let’s imagine for a moment that they blithely assume that just because they would not drive through an equivalent of Project 2025, that no-one else would. Smell the flipping coffee! It’s boiling over on the stove! And where are the guard rails? Where is the firewall? Where is the written constitution? These things are either weak and reliant on the ‘good chaps’ or they do not exist at all.
And we are in a wholly different political environment, now – an alternative war on truth and democracy, where PsyOps have been normalised and people have been gaslit into turning away from facts and reason, relying instead on the most powerful emotions of all – fear and hate – handily manipulated by the worst influencers and politicians currently operating.
‘The threat to our democracy and the post-war social contract has not been greater in most of our lifetimes.
‘In response, together with our friends at Open Britain, Take Back Britain, the NHAP, and Leeds Trinity University, we are initiating a new project. Our project will focus purely on defensive constitutional reform: many others are looking at ways a benevolent government might improve things (eg PR, citizens’ assemblies, greater devolution, etc) but protective measures seem to be largely overlooked – many are still relying on the ‘good chaps theory of government.’
‘The project will analyse the weaknesses in our unwritten constitution and the most likely lines of attack, set out practical steps a government could take to prevent future governments and those who would want to control future governments, and work to secure government support and action before the next election.
Why do we need this new project?
‘Democracy and the social contracts it brings are under threat in many countries.
‘In July 2024, European democracy seemed to be clinging on: in France, the newly formed Nouveau Front Populaire narrowly held off the far-right Rassemblement National; and in the UK, the Labour Party managed to defeat the increasingly far-right Conservative and Reform parties.
‘But in the US, an extremist version of the already very right-wing by global standards Republican Party triumphed in the 2024 election, winning the Presidency and securing control of both Houses. Having already taken control of the Supreme Court, they are now well placed to implement the agenda set out in Project 2025, a plan so radical that the Trump campaign was denying any links with it, until the election was secure. If enacted, the plan will remove remaining checks and balances on Presidential power, dismantle the post-war social contract – most aspects of state support for US citizens, even education and health may go – and threaten international efforts to tackle the climate emergency. Trump has also hinted at vastly reduced US support for global institutions like the UN and NATO.
‘Politicians in the UK who openly supported this Trump victory include: Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, Suella Braverman, Jacob Rees-Mogg and, of course, Nigel Farage. And the UK experience under the last government (proroguing parliament, reducing the power of the courts for judicial review, outlawing peaceful protest, removing the independence of the Electoral Commission and making it focus on voter fraud, etc) showed that the idea of a UK government systematically unwinding the checks and balances on its power is not far-fetched.
If we do not act, the UK may go the way of the US.”
What can we do? Well, as the project develops we can demand that our politicians engage with its findings and recommendations. We need protection. We demand it! We cannot go into the next election with our broken electoral system, rampant Musk-funded disinformation and targeted messaging and think that decent people will triumph. As Mark Thomas of the 99% Organisation says, it’s an asymmetric war. The dark side have the money, the platforms, the rhetoric and, in the case of the US, the guns. They’ll stop at nothing. They’ve been moving towards their goals doggedly, determinedly. We need to plan for the worst. Isn’t that what any sane person would do?