Abstract
This chapter explores the right-wing populist surge in the UK in the last decade, examining its different manifestations before and after the 2016 EU referendum and pointing to a mainstreaming of right-wing populism which, in fact, is not new in Britain. First reflected by UKIP’s unprecedented rise, this right-wing populist surge gradually extended to the mainstream with the Conservative party increasingly co-opting UKIP’s right-wing populist rhetoric and ideas. This was illustrated by the referendum campaign which was marked by a mainstreaming of right-wing populism which appeared to resonate with the electorate as demonstrated by the victory of the Brexit vote. As the Conservative party tried to recapture this political ground post-referendum, it gradually repositioned itself as a radical right populist party, a realignment culminating in the crushing victory of Boris Johnson at the 2019 general election.
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Notes
- 1.
H. Kitschelt, The Radical Right in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis, University of Michigan Press, 1995, p. 241; R. Griffin, “No Racism Please We’re British” in M. Feldman (ed.), A Fascist Century: Essays by Roger Griffin, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, pp. 117–131; M. Goodwin, “The Extreme Right in Britain: Still an ‘Ugly Duckling’ but for How Long”, The Political Quarterly, 78:2, 2007, pp. 241–250.
- 2.
C. Mudde, The Far Right in America, Routledge, 2017; M. Rooduijn, “State of the Field: How to Study Populism and Adjacent Topics? A Plea for Both More and Less Focus”, European Journal of Political Research, 58:1, 2019, pp. 362–372.
- 3.
C. Mudde, “The Populist Zeitgeist”, Government and Opposition, 39:4, 2004, p. 543; C. Mudde, “Populism: An Ideational Approach”, in C. Rovira Kaltwasser, P. Taggart, P. Ochoa Espejo, P. Ostiguy (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Populism, Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 27–47.
- 4.
B. Onikowski, D. Halikiopoulou, E. Kaufmann, M. Rooduijn, “Populism and Nationalism in a Comparative Perspective: A Scholarly Exchange”, Nations And Nationalism, 25:1, 2019, pp. 67–73.
- 5.
H. Kitschelt, The Radical Right in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis, University of Michigan Press, 1995, p. 244; G. Almond, S. Verba, The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations, Sage Publications, 1963.
- 6.
M. Goodwin, “The Extreme Right in Britain: Still an ‘Ugly Duckling’ but for How Long”, The Political Quarterly, 2007, 78:2, p. 242.
- 7.
R. Griffin, “No Racism Please We’re British” in M. Feldman (ed.), A Fascist Century: Essays by Roger Griffin, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, pp. 124–125.
- 8.
On this subject, see for instance: M. Cronin (ed.), The Failure of British Fascism: The Far Right and the Fight for Political Recognition, Macmillan, 1996; N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: the BNP and the Quest for Legitimacy, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008; R. Eatwell, M. Goodwin (eds.), The New Extremism in 21st Century Britain, Routledge, 2010.
- 9.
P. Hainsworth (ed.), The Politics of the Extreme Right: from the Margins to the Mainstream, Pinter, 2000.
- 10.
M. A. Schain, “The Extreme-Right and Immigration Policy-Making: Measuring Direct and Indirect Effects”, West European Politics, 29:2, 2006, p. 272.
- 11.
Margaret Thatcher Foundation: margaretthatcher.org.
- 12.
H. Kitschelt, The Radical Right in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis, University of Michigan Press, 1995, pp. 242 and 249.
- 13.
Ibid., p. 254.
- 14.
On Powell’s populism, see K. Tournier-Sol, “The Ambivalence of UKIP Towards Enoch Powell’s Legacy” in O. Estèves, S. Porion (eds.), The Lives and Afterlives of Enoch Powell: The Undying Political Animal, Routledge, 2019, pp. 162–175.
- 15.
R. Griffin, op. cit., pp. 125–127.
- 16.
Peter Mair has demonstrated the populist dimension of Blair’s New Labour: P. Mair, “Populist Democracy vs Party Democracy”, in Y. Meny, Y. Surel (eds.), Democracies and the Populist Challenge, Palgrave, 2002, pp. 81–98.
- 17.
G. Evans, A. Menon, Brexit and British Politics, Polity Press, 2017.
- 18.
H. Kitschelt, op. cit., p. vii.
- 19.
J. Rydgren, “Is Extreme Right-Wing Populism Contagious? Explaining the Emergence of a New Party Family”, European Journal of Political Research, 44:3, 2005, pp. 413–437.
- 20.
K. Tournier-Sol, “Reworking the Eurosceptic and Conservative Traditions into a Populist Narrative: UKIP’s Winning Formula?”, Journal of Common Market Studies, 53:1, 2015, pp. 140–156.
- 21.
P. Taggart, Populism, Open University Press, 2000, p. 4.
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UKIP, “Create an Earthquake”, UKIP Manifesto for the European Elections, 2014, p. 3.
- 23.
E. Ivarsflaten, “Reputational Shields: Why Most Anti-Immigrant Parties Failed in Western Europe, 1980–2005”, Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, 31 August 2006. https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/politics/papers/2006/ivarsflatenapsa2006.pdf.
- 24.
N. Farage, Spring conference speech in Torquay, 28 February 2014.
- 25.
LBC interview, 16 May 2014.
- 26.
ITV Leaders’ Debate, 2 April 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc6YH4-IHME.
- 27.
M. Rooduijn, “State of the Field: How to Study Populism and Adjacent Topics? A Plea for both More and Less Focus”, European Journal of Political Research, 58:1, 2019, p. 365.
- 28.
M. Goodwin, J. Dennison, “The Radical Right in the United Kingdom”, J. Rydgren (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Radical Right, Oxford University Press, 2018, p. 535.
- 29.
J. Rydgren, “The Sociology of the Radical Right”, Annual Review of Sociology, 33, 2007, pp. 241–262.
- 30.
M. A. Schain, “The Extreme-Right and Immigration Policy-Making: Measuring Direct and Indirect Effects”, West European Politics, 29:2, 2006, p. 271; A. Menon, J. P. Salter, “Brexit: initial reflections”, International Affairs, 92:6, 2016, p. 1305.
- 31.
T. Heppell, “Cameron and Liberal Conservatism: Attitudes within the Parliamentary Conservative Party and Conservative Ministers”, The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 15:3, 2013, p. 347.
- 32.
C. Mudde, The Far Right in America, Routledge, 2017; M. Rooduijn, “State of the Field: How to Study Populism and Adjacent Topics? A Plea for both More and Less Focus”, European Journal of Political Research, 58:1, 2019, pp. 362–372.
- 33.
C. Rovira Kaltwasser, P. Taggart, P. Ochoa Espejo, P. Ostiguy (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Populism, Oxford University Press, 2017, p. 574; B. Onikowski, D. Halikiopoulou, E. Kaufmann, M. Rooduijn, “Populism And Nationalism in a Comparative Perspective: A Scholarly Exchange”, Nations And Nationalism, 25:1, 2019, pp. 75–76.
- 34.
M. A. Schain, “The Extreme-Right and Immigration Policy-Making: Measuring Direct and Indirect Effects”, West European Politics, 29:2, 2006, p. 271.
- 35.
- 36.
Conservative voters represented 40% of the Leave vote (by 2015 general election vote). Lord Ashcroft, “How the United Kingdom voted on Thursday… and why”, Lord Ashcroft Polls, 24 June 2016.
- 37.
M. Goodwin, O. Heath, “The 2016 Referendum, Brexit and the Left Behind: An Aggregate-level Analysis of the Result”, The Political Quarterly, 87:3, 2016, pp. 323–332.
- 38.
K. Swales, Understanding the Leave Vote, Natcen Social Research, 2016.
- 39.
66% of those identifying as authoritarian voted Leave. Ibid., p. 16.
- 40.
J. Curtice, “A Revolt on the Right? The Social and Political Attitudes of UKIP Supporters”, British Social Attitudes 32, 2015, NatCen Social Research.
- 41.
G. Evans, A. Menon, Brexit and British Politics, Polity Press, 2017; C. Mudde, The Far Right in America, Routledge, 2017.
- 42.
R. Behr, “How Remained Failed: The Inside Story of a Doomed Campaign”, The Guardian, 5 July 2016.
- 43.
G. Evans, A. Menon, Brexit and British Politics, Polity Press, 2017, p. 68.
- 44.
B. Onikowski, D. Halikiopoulou, E. Kaufmann, M. Rooduijn, “Populism and Nationalism in a Comparative Perspective: A Scholarly Exchange”, Nations And Nationalism, 25: 1, 2019, pp. 58–81; C. Mudde, The Far Right in America, Routledge, 2017.
- 45.
M. Rooduijn, “State of the Field: How to Study Populism and Adjacent Topics? A Plea for both More and Less Focus”, European Journal of Political Research, 58:1, 2019, p. 367.
- 46.
G. Evans, A. Menon, Brexit and British Politics, Polity Press, 2017.
- 47.
Andrew Grice, “David Cameron Wanted to Unite Us—He Has Just Shown How Divided we Really Are”, The Independent, 24 June 2016.
- 48.
Sky News Interview, 3 June 2016.
- 49.
G. Evans, A. Menon, Brexit and British Politics, Polity Press, 2017, p. 65.
- 50.
K. Swales, Understanding the Leave Vote, Natcen Social Research, 2016, p. 20.
- 51.
Jens Rydgren, “The Sociology of the Radical Right”, Annual Review of Sociology, 33, 2007, pp. 241–262.
- 52.
C. Mudde, The Far Right in America, Routledge, 2017; M. Rooduijn, “State of the Field: How to Study Populism and Adjacent Topics? A Plea for both More and Less Focus”, European Journal of Political Research, 58:1, 2019, p. 367.
- 53.
K. Swales, Understanding the Leave Vote, Natcen Social Research, 2016, p. 13; H. Clarke, P. Whiteley, M. Goodwin, Brexit: Why Britain Voted to Leave the European Union, Cambridge University Press, 2017.
- 54.
M. Goodwin, C. Milazzo, “Taking Back Control? Investigating the Role of Immigration in the 2016 Vote for Brexit”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 19:3, 2017, p. 452.
- 55.
E. Iakhnis, B. Rathbun, J. Reifler, T. J. Scotto, “Populist referendum: Was ‘Brexit’ an Expression of Nativist and Anti-Elitist Sentiment?”, Research and Politics, 5:2, 2018, pp. 1–7.
- 56.
B. Bonikowski, Y. Zhang, “Populism as Dog-Whistle Politics: Anti-Elite Discourse and Sentiments Toward Minorities in the 2016 Presidential Election”, Working Paper, Harvard University, 2017. Available at: https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/bonikowski/files/bonikowski_and_zhang_-_populism_as_dog-whistle_politics.pdf.
- 57.
B. Onikowski, D. Halikiopoulou, E. Kaufmann, M. Rooduijn, “Populism and Nationalism in a Comparative Perspective: A Scholarly Exchange”, Nations and Nationalism, 25:1, 2019, p. 60.
- 58.
K. Tournier-Sol, C. Gifford, Chris, (eds.), The UK Challenge to Europeanisation: The Persistence of British Euroscepticism, Palgrave, 2015, p. 1.
- 59.
B. Wellings, “Losing the Peace: Euroscepticism and the Foundations of Contemporary English Nationalism”, Nations and Nationalism, 2010, 16:3, p. 503.
- 60.
Lord Ashcroft, “How the United Kingdom Voted on Thursday… and Why”, Lord Ashcroft Polls, 24 June 2016.
- 61.
R. Wyn Jones et al., “England and its Two Unions: The Anatomy of a Nation and its Discontents”, IPPR, 2013; C. Jeffery et al., “Taking England Seriously: The New English Politics”, 2014.
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C. Gifford, The Making of Eurosceptic Britain, Ashgate, 2014. “The Rise of Post-Imperial Populism: The Case of Right-Wing Euroscepticism in Britain”, European Journal of Political Research, 45:5, 2006, pp. 851–869.
- 63.
In her January 2017 speech on “The government’s negotiating objectives for exiting the EU”, she famously declared: “No deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain.”
- 64.
T. May, speech at the Conservative conference, 5 October 2016.
- 65.
The party had one MP at that time, Douglas Carswell, an ex-Conservative MP who left UKIP in March 2017 to sit as an independent.
- 66.
B. Johnson, Conservative party conference speech, 2 October 2019.
- 67.
The Daily Mail had branded the three “out of touch” judges as “enemies of the people” on its front page, while the headline of The Daily Telegraph read “the judges versus the people”, both papers showing the pictures of the three judges. Conservative and UKIP MPs and representatives had also pitted the people against the elite, with Backbench Tory MP David TC Davies tweeting: “Unelected judges calling the shots. This is precisely why we voted out. Power to the people!”; Suzanne Evans, then UKIP leadership candidate, tweeted “How dare these activist judges attempt to overturn our will? It’s a power grab & undermines democracy. Time we had the right to sack them.” She later deleted the tweet.
- 68.
Conservative party, “Get Brexit Done”, Conservative Manifesto for the 2019 General Election, p. 64.
- 69.
The term comes from Benjamin Disraeli and his political novel, Sybil, or the Two Nations (1845), in which he described Britain as: “Two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets: the rich and the poor.”
- 70.
B. Johnson, 13 December 2019.
- 71.
K. Tournier-Sol, “Reworking the Eurosceptic and Conservative Traditions into a Populist Narrative: UKIP’s Winning Formula?”, Journal of Common Market Studies, 53:1, 2015, pp. 140–156.
- 72.
T. Bale, “Brexit Shows How the Populist Right Can be Powerful Without Winning Office”, UK in a Changing Europe, 11 December 2019. The article was originally published in The Washington Post under the title: “Brexit shows how a tiny party can have big consequences”, 2 December 2019.
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Tournier-Sol, K. (2021). From UKIP to Brexit: The Right-Wing Populist Surge in the UK. In: Tournier-Sol, K., Gayte, M. (eds) The Faces of Contemporary Populism in Western Europe and the US. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53889-7_1
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