Seriously...?

Politics occurs at the intersection of two 'frames,' your values and your competencies. I've never been a conservative, large or small C (surely, not a surprise to anyone) but I have understood where those values intersected.

The conservatives are the one political movement whose name unambiguously stakes its territory: a traditionalist approach, wary of rapid social change and tilted towards free market liberal economy (and of course, I accept that, like the left, Conservatives exist along a spectrum of those values).

The party has been brilliant at dominating the values narrative, successfully framing progressive policy ideas as revolutionary, reactionary, or dangerous. As soft on crime and work-shy, wanting to give a handouts, rather than ensuring people earn their benefits themselves, a message facilitated by our largely right of centre media. These are common and effective tropes that the right has used against the left.

The party has also very effectively modeled itself as a party of competency. The public repeatedly indicate that they 'trust the conservatives with the economy,' even in the face of evidence that suggests they should not. I believe, in part that this is because they have a history of politicians who are very good at maintaining party discipline and getting policies to Royal Assent. Of politicians who were unsurpassed at maintaining the veneer of competency.

Boris Johnson

If you anonymize his CV there are glaring value and competency problems:

He's twice been fired for lying, once in print and once to Michael Howard.

He's been recorded facilitating someone planning the assault of a journalist. The assault didn't take place, and Boris Johnson laughed it off as a joke.

He’s also tremendously inarticulate outside of print.

From a competency perspective, it's even more stark. He's been in politics a long time and his achievements are few. Those achievements that he talks about are mostly during his time as Mayor and mostly achievements of messaging, capitalizing on realities that were present for his predecessor or the result of general trends rather than specific policy initiatives (even Boris Bikes were Ken Livingston's idea). We hear more about the projects that didn't work, the bendy busses, the garden bridge, the gaffes and his disastrous interventions as Foreign Secretary.

So how has a party that has relied on its image as being values driven and competent elected Boris Johnson?

Well, truly, who the hell knows? The Tory party has gotten smaller and, as a result, more radicalised. Much has been made of the old, white, male nature of the party members. Also, Jeremy Hunt is such a deeply flawed politician (there was clearly some maneuvering from the Boris team to ensure he was the candidate) who has endangered the NHS that many of those older white men have come to rely on. But I think it is deeper than that and to do with framing again.

Despite being the most establishment figure in parliament, Johnson has convinced people that he’s an outsider. That’s he’s of the people and the one to get things done. That he will streamline the state, kick the Europeans to the curve and stop the Government interfering in their lives.

That he is now PM, despite the dramatic problems in his record, suggests to me that the House no longer represents us and what we, in fact want, is to burn it down. That the business as usual of politics has left too many people behind. That no one is able to capture the imagination of the public anymore.

And then there was Brexit. Throw an unsolvable problem into an already broken political system and the result is Boris Johnson.

The left now needs to change the framing. We need to go beyond the facts and we need to recapture the narratives of values and competency. To prove that there is another way that is not a drift towards the Steve Bannons of this world.

We need to outline the ways that the state can be the best agent of personal freedom:

That you are not free if you work full time and still have to visit a food bank or claim benefits.

That you are not free when the NHS is so starved of investment (and now, with Brexit, workers) that you need to wait 3 months for a cardiology appointment.

That you are not free if you are unable to breathe the air outside, or that the sea levels have wiped out your home or that your last access to green space has been taken away from you.

That you are not free if you fear the racism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-Semitism, islamophobia and misogyny that are rising, empowered, I believe, by Brexit.

We need to reawaken the stories of competency – that the left has been the architect of the great societal endeavors of our time and that, beyond the metrics we can make your life, your family, your business, your children thrive in our society.

And we need to reconnect and sing about our values. That diversity is a gift that opens a society and brings new ideas and cultures and experiences to us. That empowering someone else’s freedom does not mean that your own is eroded. That we are outward looking and pluralistic. That we have an intergenerational respect for all the members of society and that, above all, we believe in striving to a place where no one gets left behind.

That is our job now.