I'll tell you who should be ashamed. The three main parties who have consistently failed to represent the ordinary majority, the squeezed middle. They have failed to address or deal with the big issues that worry those people most, and fail to listen to their fears and frustrations for the future. Fiddling while Rome burns, the lot of them. Prioritising everything except the biggest things that are staring us all squarely in the face.
If they could actually find it in themselves to listen, care enough and act, then there would be no need for populist parties where some people with unpleasant views get more of a platform than is ideal. Look at Trump. He's clearly a very strange and charmless man on just about every level and he has said some very unpleasant things, but I think people cease to care about that after a while. What they want is someone who listens to their concerns and is prepared to act on them, firmly and decisively without giving too much of a shit about what the bleeding hearts think. And there is plenty of evidence to show that life improved under Trump for the majority of ordinary Americans.
Charm and charisma and is all very well, but if presidents and prime ministers smile at you, snake charm you with their slick, smoke and mirrors oratory and soothe you with promises, while systematically implementing policies that erode your standard or living, undermine your culture, your job security, your ability to make a fair living or build a business, or to have a decent home, or to keep your family healthy and safe, then it all counts for nothing.
I think people are starting to care less about optics and carefully curated image, and more about listening to what a politician says they will do, then watching to see if they will actually do it. Unfortunately, both the main parties have consistently demonstrated that in spite of what they say, they don't really care about what ordinary British people think, or need, or want, or lay awake at night worrying about.