Peter Hyman: how you can beat populism and the seven deadly sins of the Left

[Tryingtokeepgoing]

Peter Hyman was an advisor to Blair, and was then brought back to steer Starmer’s campaign as well. In article in The New European (editor one Alistair Cameron) that, presumably, is intended to be thought provoking to the left, but which is of no surprise to those of us looking a things through a wider lens, he succinctly summarises where liberal/centre left/right political is at, without resorting to taunts of “far right” and ‘“Tory bo t”, so I thought perhaps it might spark a more centre/liberal debate than has otherwise been the case on MN recently. Some of those of a left leaning inclination might like to reflect on his analysis of their ‘waves of superiority’ and why they are flawed:

The tagline - “Stop shouting about how appalled we are by Trump and Farage and learn from our mistakes, to build our own disruptive new agenda of change, respect for ordinary people and pride in our country” sums it up neatly.

But first part of the article is pasted below as the New European is behind a paywall.

2025 is the year of Donald Trump’s return. It must also be the year of our fightback. But first, let’s step back. We are to blame for Trump. We created him. We gave him, and other far right populists, the space to manoeuvre and the mistakes to exploit.

We couldn’t beat someone with 34 felonies, who called all Mexicans rapists, who encouraged an insurrection, was called Hitler by his vice president and deemed unfit for office by almost every senior person who worked for him. We are the reason he is becoming president on January 20 – for the second time.

It is our collective failure – we, the progressives, the centrists, the remainers, the political elites. It’s look-in-the-mirror time. Cold water to the face time. Enter the I’m A Celebrity… jungle and eat a kangaroo’s penis time.

We have been asleep at the wheel while the populists have dusted off their megaphones, fine-tuned their algorithms, and got to work exploiting the gaping chinks in our armour. Yet somehow, we are undeterred. We are still surfing wave after wave of superiority, each one propelling us forward to the promised land of political oblivion.

The first wave is to denounce the far right populist as a monster; worse, a fascist – “he’s a threat to democracy”. “Surely this must disqualify him?”

The second wave is to be shocked that the “fascist” has won – “why are people so stupid?” “Can’t they see he is a con man?”

The third wave is to wrap ourselves in the smug embrace of a certainty – populists never have solutions, they thrive on grievances, not answers. “Mark my words, it will all go wrong very quickly.”

Just as with Brexit, nine years on, we comfort ourselves in being proved right usually well after we’ve lost the real battle and the damage has already been done.

Trump is the wake-up call that liberal democracy has needed. But it’s not the first. We’ve had the wake-up call of Brexit. Viktor Orbán in Hungary. Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. Giorgia Meloni in Italy. Coming soon, Marine Le Pen in France? The AfD in Germany? Perhaps even Nigel Farage in Britain?

Wake-up call after wake-up call. Yet we are still sleeping through the alarm, turning over and pressing the snooze button. We saw the storm too late; the world changed, and the centrists were left shouting “democratic norms” while the populists went viral.

In summary, according to his article, the Seven Deadly Sins of the Left are:

(1) It is patronising
(2) it is complacent
(3) it is too abstract
(4) its is censorious
(5) it is gullible
(6) its is conservative (small ‘c’)
(7) it is bland

Which begs the question, if their advisors know that, and why the public don’t like it, and how they’ve been outwitted, why aren’t they being advised better?

https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/how-you-can-beat-populism-peter-hyman/

Thanks for posting. That's interesting.

Unfortunately I would add an (8) to that list: it blames itself for the actions of others.

And this author does that too.

Given the others are very quick to blame the Left for their own actions, this leaves quite the responsibility deficit.

One of the laws of misogyny is that, whatever men do, it's women's fault. It dawned on me a while ago that the same dynamic is at work in current times, that whatever the Right does, it's the Left's fault.

It's one of those things you can't unsee.

As women, we have to the balance things we do to try to keep ourselves safe (not going out alone at night, appeasing the scary man in front of us, etc), with the knowledge that men's violence is their doing not ours, we didn't cause it, we can't control it, and we can't cure. And the same is true in the political arena.

So while I agree there may be very good things in the article, which I can't read because of the paywall, it's also the case that self-examination can quickly become self-blame, which can itself be very harmful. It's paralysing; it lets others off the hook for their own actions; it makes us look in the wrong place for causes and solutions ("maybe if I just wear a longer skirt..."); and it is actually just another part of the "waves of superiority" problem if I'm expected to act like a parent to others and take responsibility for their actions.

I'm not responsible for them. I'm really not.

I agree strongly with the tagline you quoted:
“Stop shouting about how appalled we are by Trump and Farage and learn from our mistakes, to build our own disruptive new agenda of change, respect for ordinary people and pride in our country”

I'm all for being a realist and for looking at useful ways to work, and what that tagline describes is essential. The article might be useful.

But I also know that any discussion about this is usually flooded by posters rushing in to encourage the Left to blame themselves for other people's actions. For some it's self-flagellation; for others it's a distraction from having their own actions noticed or taking their own responsibility.

What it achieves overall is to obstruct anyone from moving forward in the real world.

So I'd rather move forwards with the tagline as a motto.

This is a really good article and reminds me somewhat of the Jonathan Pie video on Trump:

But in answer to your question:

"Which begs the question, if their advisors know that, and why the public don’t like it, and how they’ve been outwitted, why aren’t they being advised better?"

The reason is that the advisors either don't know this or that no one wants to admit to the "seven sins".

Far easier to carry on describing supporters of the right as thick, bigoted and racist which those in the echo chamber will agree with you on. Heaven forbid that you raise these "seven sins" for fear of being labelled right wing, thick or racist for doing so.

Populism isn’t a preserve of the right. I have lived in countries with left wing populist governments. They are much like the right wing lot, just with slightly different targets for their nastiness.

I think most people vote for what they think will be best for them financially. I suspect it was people’s grocery bills that led a lot of people to vote for Trump. He will have attracted a lot of votes, not because they are stupid or particularly like his views, but because they are being pragmatic and think there is a chance they will be better off with Trump as president.

I agree that some stock taking us seriously in order, but I also agree with the PP above that we didn’t create Trump. Biden’s failure to step down certainly did help though.

I guess I am at a loss for some of the sins. It’s always just going to be easier to lie and say ‘if climate change is real it’s not a big deal’ than ‘we need to spend money to transition away from fossil fuels which will be costly and you’ll need to do things differently’. How do you fight the lies?

I also think what’s different this time is the insane financial support from incumbent industries that are against change and fighting like hell, the fossil industry in the US election are funding populists prepared to lie and the tech industry doesn’t want to be broken up via regulation and are using their vast funds to shape politics too. Another sin of the left is not to be aligned with oligarch interests?

I would add another to the list - it’s snobbish. Sneeringly intellectual whilst failing every time that most people are decent and hard working and want a better life for their kids.

@PerkingFaintly sorry about the paywall. I’ll quote the full ‘seven sins’ bit below.

But to @Diomi point, yes, populism isn’t the preserve of the right. They just seem better (if that’s the word) at this moment at connecting with that part of the electorate in much of Europe, the US and the UK that feels it’s not being heard than the centre right / left / far left, and I think some self reflection on what Hyman sees at the sins highlight why. Bluntly, the self named political ‘elite’ and well meaning left/centrists are not as clever as they think they are?

So, in the spirit of looking in the mirror, it’s time to be blunt about why we are failing to stop the populists, outline the seven deadly sins of us, the “sensible people” – and vow in 2025 to banish them to the dustbin of history.

This is how we are seen:

1. Patronising: We believe we are the clever ones. With our university degrees, metropolitan lives, greater expertise. From the comfort of knowing that money is coming through the door at regular intervals, we look down on those who are not living by our rules.

2. Complacent: We believe that the logic of our position will win out in the end, that people will see the light, and emotional appeals are slightly grubby. Yet, that rational appeal falls on deaf ears, if trust is low and you have not made a connection.

3. Abstract: The populists speak in direct terms; too often we speak in riddles. We are systems thinkers, which is good for solving problems, but when we communicate, A plus B rarely equals C.

4. Censorious: We are the thought police. We cancel those who fall short of the right kind of virtue signalling or who refuse to go along with our latest linguistic contortions. We are in the shame game, and people don’t like being shamed.

5. Gullible: We are suckers for the bait. We stop to examine every turd a Trump (or a wannabe Trump) drops on the sidewalk. Every wind-up remark, anti-woke sentiment, sexual innuendo. We do more than that. We crowd around the turd, pick it up, sniff it, debate it. We lose focus, get diverted, stop connecting to the people we want to serve, meander away from the mainstream. Meanwhile, the populist is marching forward with the smirk of someone who knows he’s got one over on us yet again.

6. Conservative: We win when we are the agents of change and when we shape the future. Yet, we have a caution born of fear – of the far right, of the far left, of the media, of failing. But too often we get boxed into defending institutions that aren’t working, giving away the mantle of change too easily, allowing others to become the disruptors on behalf of the people we once served.

7. Bland: In a world of entertainment, we do not surprise, amuse, anger, excite, charm. Our range of emotions starts at earnest and ends at sincere. We are the TikTok of an antique carriage clock, not the viral clip. And no, asking a teenager to add some sparkle to our social media pages will not work if the content remains bland.

These seven deadly sins are a barrier between us and the electorate. We are the ones who have built a wall.

I think it's quite hard as there is an honesty that the right tend to ignore

They tell endless lies , they allow people to believe stuff that isn't true , just think about brexit and the left is always on the back foot because you have no idea what lie you will have to fight against. There is one(ish) truth and a million possible lies. People believe the first thing they hear

The accusations of the left - gullible, patronising we could equally say are true of the right. I am pig sick of the "common sense man" Pontificating at me

Bland I actually think should be seems as a compliment in politics - boris was anything but bland ,

Great thread and @PerkingFaintly I have bookmarked your post as it summed things up so well for me, thank you

I agree with the author.

The left has to change it's approach. It's losing votes as a result of these things.

The problem with the one-ish truth and how to respond to lies (or views that one doesn’t agree with / aren’t substantiated) is perhaps picked up by Peter’s complacency ‘sin’.

It’s pretty clear that from a Brexit perspective that the metropolitan / political / educated ‘elite’ primarily assumed that no one would actually vote for Brexit, and that therefore their ‘view’, being the right one , would prevail. As a result no one actually ran a compelling ‘remain’ campaign. Not only did they assume that they’d win (complacency) they didn’t, in the main, want to challenge the old established party political institutions (conservative, with a small ‘c’) and therefore there was limited cross party pulling together on a remain campaign. That made it easier for a vocal, populist campaign to gain traction, because let’s be clear there were swathes of the lower / working classes that hadn’t really seen many benefits of being in the EU, or at least had them explained to them, and a ‘leave’ vote would never happen.

As for bland, I’m not so sure. Yes, Johnson was at one extreme not at all bland, and Starmer is at the other, being extremely bland. And there are times for bland. But I think Blair and Thatcher were successful centre left / centre right politicians who weren’t bland. They did have a vision, and were, each in their own way, disruptors of the status quo, which is the role that Trump and Farage have now claimed as theirs it seems.

Extremely interesting OP. The seven deadly sins explanatory paragraphs articulate a lot of what I believe. If you point any of this out on any political thread you are immediately accused of being a Tory bot or worse.

We don't always need disrupters - I wonder if in fact we generally would do better without disrupters / well it's a balance - not too much and not too little

And I think we need to separate what the political elite might be thinking and what the lefties on the street see - certainly Brexit was a great example of that disconnect

Indeed - Brexit is a great example. The left / far left metropolitan politicians have convinced themselves that brexit was a right wing construct, but the reality is most of not all of what were called the ‘red wall’ voters were pro, or at least not anti, brexit. And, at one level have done very well out of it. Look at how hard it is to find and how much it now costs to get a plumber / electrician / builder. And look at the machinations in some posts here at how they shouldn’t charge that much…they don’t even have a degree ☺️

But I think society does need disruptors, and we do need to challenge the reach of the state, and the way in which it operates. There’s a danger when it becomes so far removed from the rest of society and its purpose becomes just to exist. Look at how it’s almost impossible to have intelligent or informed debate around the NHS - the purpose of which ought to be to provide good quality healthcare in a cost effective manner. But its purpose is now just to be the NHS first and foremost. Patient outcomes are secondary, if that.

The supposed logic of classical economic determinism presumed around the turn of the last century that the more powerless and poor the majority of the population were in their work and living conditions and standards the more likely they were to form a collective rebellion to the system that exploited them and meant that the poor got poorer whilst the rich got richer because it was written into the ordinary way of doing business.

Somewhat counter-intuitively it turned out that the oppressed masses fought amongst themselves like rats in a cage demonising other poor and oppressed whilst popular support for the status quo increased, particularly right wing ideology that provided easy targets to blame.

The rise of fascism led to a radical rethinking - Gramsci's theory of hegemony sums it up:

Classical Marxism had predicted that socialist revolution was inevitable in capitalist societies. By the early 20th century, no such revolution had occurred in the most advanced nations, and those revolutions of 1917–1923, such as in Germany or the Biennio Rosso in Italy, had failed. As capitalism seemed more entrenched than ever, Gramsci suggested that it maintained control not just through violence and political and economic coercion but also through ideology. The bourgeoisie developed a hegemonic culture, which propagated its own values and norms so that they became the common sense values of all. People in the working class and other classes identified their own good with the good of the bourgeoisie and helped to maintain the status quorather than revolting.

After the last outing and defeat of fascism there was a burgeoning of increased rights of the common people that were not just gifted by the state or employers but were hard fought for by people who belonged to what could be termed counter hegemonic groups whether organised trade unions representing worker's rights or more informal groups. This effectively blocked the rise of the right by providing a means to advance and achieve and make life better for you and your offspring whilst providing a counter ideology that wasn't based on demonising other marginalised groups. On the contrary there was mutual support - eg in the 80s striking miners and gay right activists that broke down prejudices.

The last five decades have not been good for the common people. Worker's rights have been eroded and we now have zero hour contracts and low wages topped up by benefits. State services from GPs and hospitals, not to mention Dentists, mental health provision, education, housing, emergency services and council services are on their knees and failing.

Inequality is increasing at an alarming rate. The poor are getting poorer whilst the rich are getting richer and this is so normalised that the press and the Tory party are fundamentally opposed to increasing employer tax and the upcoming worker's rights bill which seeks to give basic protection to the most vulnerable.

If you tink that the poor and needy are selfish and greedy whilst the rich deserve their often unearned wealth you support the status quo.

In this context the rise of the right should be no great surprise and it is pure hubris of the left liberals to assume it only their fault because they didn't win the battle of ideas. They gave up the counter-hegemonic loci that enable and ground these ideas in real life so the common person has nothing to believe but the bogeymen presented as the 'problem' by the status quo.

Of course this context throws up so-called leaders who promise to deal with those demonised and make life better for the non-demonised by getting rid of them one way or another.

So you may be young or naive, you may really believe that asylum seekers, immigrants, unemployed, disabled or any other group are the real problem and if only we could get rid of them rents and mortgages would be cheap and property would be affordable, the health service would work, wages would enable you to live without benefit back up, grocery's would be cheaper etc.

We do need an honest discussion but we won't have one even where life and death is at stake because our elected leaders all play by the rules of the game. We need a different game in which the majority are not predestined to be losers. And the predestined winners don't play the losers to increase their power and wealth.

His premise has one massive flaw. Even if every lefty, centrist and expert in their field chooses to Be Kind, there's nothing to stop trolls. Anyone can be anyone on the internet. Do you think populist campaigns are above paying people to call others stupid, evil etc?

Those who vote against their interests because a random called them a name need to take responsibility for their own actions instead of continuing to be easily manipulated and blaming others.

The left doesn't offer enough of an alternative to the status quo.

The press and social media are used very effectively by the right wing.

There's a big push at the moment to demonise the left. I even had a 'debate' the other day about the Nazis not being left wing. We're hearing about left fascists and the fact that far right doesn't mean anything anymore.

Far right ideology is becoming mainstream. Today we had a thread about the Great Replacement theory. I've seen posts on remigration and we have thread after thread demonising Muslims and asylum seekers.

Experts are rubbished. Misinformation is rife. Alternative views are rubbished as fake news. I've noticed that anything 'woke' such as reports and statistics on racism or LGBTQ issues have been deleted.

We're in an information war.

A really interesting article and a really insightful responses.

We also need to recognise that there are lots of the current left-leaning graduate metropolitan class referred to who come from working class backgrounds in old Labour and/or red wall areas, with ties and insight into both groups - they’re not as separate as we’re often told. For many of those people, there has been concern for a long time about some of the issues discussed in the article. The votes for Brexit, the Johnson voters in the red wall, the rise of the popularity of Reform in these communities are all linked; often, it’s within communities who now feel detached from, or even abandoned by, Labour and frustrated by long-standing Labour MPs/councils (obviously, under a Tory government and austerity). Until Labour re-connect with those communities again in real terms and make sure they’re heard and part of their narrative, then opportunists like Farage will continue to fill that void.

TooBigForMyBoots · 28/01/2025 17:21
His premise has one massive flaw. Even if every lefty, centrist and expert in their field chooses to Be Kind, there's nothing to stop trolls. Anyone can be anyone on the internet. Do you think populist campaigns are above paying people to call others stupid, evil etc

There are plenty of posters on here who call Tory voters and Brexiteers stupid, racist, evil and so on. Are they paid by left wing campaigns?

Anyone can be paid by anyone. This is the internet, you have no idea who anyone is. So to base your vote on what someone said online is unwise and makes you easily manipulated.

If you vote a certain way, own it. Stop blaming others.

Just as a follow on from this thread, there is an article today from The New Statesman, that might be of interest, ‘Labour must heed the warnings from the German election.’

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/labour/2025/02/labour-must-heed-warnings-from-german-election

@Tryingtokeepgoing

Re positive remain campaigning shouldn't they have had the upper hand?
Being able to sell and just point to the glowing benefits of being part of the eu?

They couldn't because it stinks, clumsy, huge sink hole of burocratic gravy trains and corruption.
They couldn't sell it.

Oh and the irony of Jeremy corybn in charge of the left at the time who wanted us out as well!

Labour as is can't heed any warning. There were some absolutely stunning threads on here years ago in which some incredible posters gave amazing critique and insights on what was going wrong. I remember at the time posters clamouring to please show these thread if someone has membership or ties to the party.

Free critical insight on a micro level and a macro level.

They didn't change they can't.
It's so arrogant and patronising and all about bashing people and hating the nasty uk, hand in glove with the onions.

I struggle with this to be honest. I'm a Labour voter, born working class (1st in family to go to uni etc) and now postgraduate quals, metropolitan dweller, liberal. I've also worked with Peter Hyman a bit and I like him. However I feel uncomfortable about this theory. Not in the sense that it makes me uncomfortable as I feel responsible, but because the implication of the article / argument is that liberals are "to blame" and therefore right wingers are free of responsibility. I don't think that's the case

I also add that right now I don't feel the old dividing lines of lefties vs Tories, Remainers vs Leavers are relevant anymore. I think it's us against them. Us: values led moral majority who love their country, want the best for their family absolutely care about peace, climate change and security (may vote Labour or Tory) vs Them: the populists / and the outright facists.

Take the JD Vance speech at Munich Friday. I'm furious at it, because he took tiny events of truths and distorted it and amplified this distorted truth for his home audience.

I now believe, (in light of today's news that Trump is going to negotiate with Putin and exclude Ukraine and Europe, one link below) that the current US administration is out to destroy Europe. Zelensky told reporters that Trump is demanding a 50% stake in Ukraine's rare minerals and gas, and on all profits moving forward "as repayment" for security previously given (so not even with the guarantee of future support). This is outrageous colonialism. I do not believe Trump has values. The populist position is value-less and only by self-serving.

Europe and the US fought together to defeat facism and yet all that is being thrown away to serve America's profit. Putin is being welcomed in from the cold and the US, Musk, Trump, Vance, and the rest of the populists do everything they can to break Europe apart, kill our democracy and weaken Europe for their own benefit. Alliances and peace mean nothing to them.

So, do I think the left is to blame for this outcome? Only in the sense that politically we weren't quick enough to see what their plan was and stop them. Morally "we" (the left, centrists, moderates) have values, and the populates do not.

Honestly what do we do now? We are at risk from Russia and America is backing them. At war with US/Russia we would be annihilated. They are trying to come for us and make us capitulate and essentially take Europe as part of the United States of Russia and America.

We the left, centrist, moderate right need to unite now.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/16/ukraine-war-briefing-us-and-russian-officials-to-meet-in-saudi-arabia-without-ukrainians-reports?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

@dayoffvibes I agree with almost everything that you say, but I think we have to be very careful about ‘us’ claiming to have the moral high ground or better values, and I think that can actually sometimes be part of the issue.

Firstly, because there will be so much range within and variables between different issues/people, that I don’t think and us vs them mindset is always an helpful approach to take. I share a a very similar background to you, and Reform are increasingly popular in my red wall hometown; I hate that this is happening, but I recognise the factors that have led to this - it would be inaccurate and unfair to say that all of the people who support Reform are without values. It’s much more nuanced than that, although I make no such defence for self-serving leaders and grifters like Farage and co, I’m in full agreement with you there. I think it was Jonathan Reynolds just after the last election who made the point that when campaigning they’d spoken to many good people who supported Reform, but that wasn’t to say Reform are good people. I think for many (not all!), a vote for Reform is almost a protest vote against a political system that they feel has failed them. Obviously, this is problematic and flawed for many reasons.

Secondly, it’s the perceived condescension and patronising subtext that goes with it: we know/are better than you, so let us tell you what should happen. And it is this perception, whether it is valid or not, that populists exploit. Think back to Gove and his comment on people having had enough of experts and all of the hate on X directed at ‘smug lefties/liberals’, etc.

I, of course, agree with your opinions on Trump and Vance, completely; the added challenge there, with regards to the US administration in terms of values and morals, is their association with and use of Christianity as part of their politics, which blurs everything even more. That is perhaps a whole other thread!

@Sherbs12 yes I agree with your point. Clearly I don't actually wish to always refer to an us and them narrative. However given that we keep having one shoved down our throats I'm suggesting we change the dividing line between us and them. I think the lefties versus Tories / Leaver us and them idea is invented by the Daily Mail /Telegraph anyway.

I do think there's an us and them in the world, generally made up of decent folk and assholes. The populist leaders Trump, Farage etc are undoubtedly assholes, along with their kingmakers and hangers on (Musk, Andrew Tate etc).

Those red wall town Reform voters you mentioned.. There can only be three options for them can't there?

1. They were exploited by the populist leaders and voted in good faith because they were frustrated by the two leading parties.
2. They knew what they were voting for and are therefore assholes.

3.???

1. Is patronising as it implies they can't read up or understand what's going on for themselves.

1. Characterises them as assholes.

3.???

Re 1930's Germany how do we feel about all those Germans who voted for the Nazi's now? Do we feel they were exploited, or should have had their eyes open?

Genuine questions.