Abstract
The UK chapter by Don Flynn and Gabriella Lazaridis presents the version of populism as a mode of doing politics on the ascendency in Britain since the 1980s in the form of the “authoritarian populism” of Margaret Thatcher’s governments. The subsequent New Labour administration rested on populist methodology promoted through a “progressive lens.” The rise of the “insurgent” populist party, UKIP, is understood as, in Arditi’s phase, an example of the “threatening underside” of the democratic discourse, when conflicts within the political order are heightened and the sense of fragmentation becomes more pervasive across society. As the political discourse revolves around definitions of “the people” and presumptions of its interests, populism also provokes reactions at the base of society, giving rise to what we term the “antibodies” of populism. The processes that give rise to these actions and the way they represent themselves in the politics are considered in a series of case studies.
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Notes
- 1.
We thank the UK team for their help.
- 2.
For full interview, see https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/103485.
- 3.
The statement was made during an interview with Women’s Own magazine published on 23 September 1987. https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106689.
- 4.
For this and the following quotes, see British Political Speech archive http://www.britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm?speech=201.
- 5.
See the opening paragraph of the white paper on immigration policy published in 1998, which lauded subsequent migrants for having “made an enormous contribution to today’s British society. Every area of British life has been enriched by their presence. In politics and public life; the economy and public service; medicine, law, and teaching; and the cultural and sporting elements of our national life, individuals and communities have made a positive impact, helping Britain to develop. Part of that development is in our national identity, which now reflects our multi-cultural and multi-racial society” (Home Office 1998: para.1.1).
- 6.
See “Blunkett: no UK immigration limit” by Tom Happold, The Guardian, 13 November 2003. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/nov/13/immigrationpolicy.immigration.
- 7.
See “‘Nearly 600,000’ new EU migrants,” BBC News, 22 August 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5273356.stm.
- 8.
See “Don’t listen to the whingers – London needs immigrants” by Andrew Neather, Evening Standard, 23 October 2009, https://www.standard.co.uk/news/dont-listen-to-the-whingers-london-needs-immigrants-6786170.html.
- 9.
See “The slow-motion New Labour putsch that swept our nation away” by Peter Hitchens, MailOnline, 1 November 2009. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1224335/PETER-HITCHENS-The-slow-motion-New-Labour-putsch-swept-nation-away.html; “Was Mass Immigration a Conspiracy?”, by Sir Andrew Green, Migration Watch UK, https://www.migrationwatchuk.org/press-article/83; and “Farage accuses Mandelson and Labour of ‘rubbing our noses in diversity’,” by Rowena Mason, 17 May 2016, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/17/farage-accuses-mandelson-and-labour-of-rubbing-our-noses-in-diversity.
- 10.
See “Anger at Kilroy ‘anti-Arab rant’”, BBC News, 8 January 2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3376633.stm.
- 11.
After a few months of internal fighting with other UKIP members, he left to set up a rival party, named Veritas, in January 2005.
- 12.
See “Germany opens its gates: Berlin says all Syrian asylum-seekers are welcome to remain, as Britain is urged to make a ‘similar statement’”, by Allan Hall and John Lichfield, The Independent, 24 August 2015, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-opens-its-gates-berlin-says-all-syrian-asylum-seekers-are-welcome-to-remain-as-britain-is-10470062.html.
- 13.
The polling organization YouGov reported findings from its surveys on the 2010 general election result that 52% of the public believed that its stance on immigration was one of the main reasons why Labour suffered a heavy defeat. See “UKPOLLINGREPORT Views on why Labour lost” by Anthony Wells, 2 August 2010, http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/2769
- 14.
See “Nigel Farage: ‘Immigrants have jollified Britain and made our food better’,” by Georgia Graham, Daily Telegraph, 2 March 2014.
- 15.
Ford and Goodwin (2014) also make the point that in the period after 2010 UKIP was struggling to distinguish its message from that of the genuinely far-right British National Party. The BNP had also enjoyed an upsurge of electoral support for its anti-immigration message after 2010, but had used a language that was more overtly prejudicial and racist in tone than that which Farage was working hard to cultivate.
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Flynn, D., Lazaridis, G. (2019). Forging “the People” in the UK: The Appeal of Populism and the Resistant Antibodies. In: Siim, B., Krasteva, A., Saarinen, A. (eds) Citizens’ Activism and Solidarity Movements. Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76183-1_4
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