Ordinary voters have no time for ‘culture wars’ but will punish politicians at the election if they talk down Britain
ORDINARY people do not overhear conversations about “cultural appropriation” on the bus into town.
Nor do they chat about trans rights in their local Costa.
These are issues at the heart of the “culture war” currently raging in Westminster — but they have passed most voters by.
When heating bills need paying and sick relatives need looking after in under-staffed hospitals, debates about “pronouns” seem bizarrely detached from daily life.
As a political market researcher, I have spent many years poring over polling data and conducting focus groups on issues ranging from the most mainstream to the most obscure.
In all that time, I can count on one hand the times supposedly controversial cultural issues have come up unprompted.
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But this could finally be set to change — and in ways that could have a massive impact on domestic politics for the first time.
For there are two issues emerging that could grab and hold voters’ attention.
The first of these is the prospect of a major challenge to British national identity as we know it — specifically, whether British people should be ashamed of our history.
Hard-Left activists and politicians have been harshly condemning Britain’s history for many decades.
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Voters have learned to tune them out, mostly seeing them as irrelevant provocateurs.
But suggestions the King is to look in detail at possible historic links which the Royal Family has to the slave trade changes the game entirely.
This exercise by the royals, which follows the lead of a raft of other elite organisations, will provoke an unprecedented wave of attacks on what it means to be British — the first time many voters will have seen such criticism.
Force for good
We do not yet know what the King has in mind, nor what any historical investigation will show.
But we do know this: British people will not change their minds about our fundamental national story.
Nor will they approve taxpayer-funded payments designed to atone for past wrongs.
The vast majority of people readily accept that parts of our past disgrace us, including Britain’s involvement in the slave trade.
They know many appalling incidents took place when Britain had the Empire and they want these frankly acknowledged.
But they overwhelmingly think Britain’s past overall was great and that we were (and are) a force for good in the world.
Patriotism is one of the values that really defines most voters’ attitudes and outlook.
While strongly held, it is quiet and dignified — very far from aggressive, expansionary nationalism.
They will react badly to suggestions that we should now start to feel shame for our history — and they will punish politicians at the polls if told they must now do so.
Here, the risk is Keir Starmer’s primarily. While PM Rishi Sunak’s Conservative activists will line up almost entirely behind public opinion, Starmer will face at least some internal pressure to condemn Britain.
He knows this is coming and it will be giving him sleepless nights.
The second issue is sex education in schools. This has the power to make challenges to national identity look trivial.
Parents worry about different things. A few weeks ago, Conservative MP Miriam Cates sparked a media storm with claims of outrageous and explicit examples of sex education in schools.
This included reports that six-year-olds had been taught about masturbation and that older children were being taught about “rough sex”.
Elsewhere, there have been stories of children being taught confusing lessons about the supposedly vast numbers of genders there are, and being encouraged to question their identity in ways parents find uncomfortable.
Some claim Cates over-reached and has insufficient proof — time will tell.
Politically, however, the point is this — the impact of her claims was such that Rishi Sunak ordered an immediate review of sex education.
It shows there is genuine concern here.
What are parents nervous about?
They have long been relaxed about teaching the mechanics of sex (and safe sex) — and teaching about same-sex relationships, and people’s right to be different, are now well-accepted.
Rather, parents get jumpy when their younger children are exposed to discussions on more grown-up themes such as sexual attraction, or when their kids see imagery which is lost on them but looks blatantly adult to their parents, or when they are encouraged to question the most fundamental aspects of their identity when they barely yet understand it.
Shocking errors
I suspect the review the PM has ordered will show that most sex education is conventional and extremely boring (even to hormonal youngsters), but that there have been shocking errors.
However, these errors will not only put sex education in the minds of parents, they will demand reassurance from politicians that they are all on the same page.
As with the issue of national identity, the greater risk on sex education lies with Starmer.
Conservatives will support Sunak’s tough approach, while some Labour activists will demand Starmer confront public opinion in the name of diversity.
This will be difficult to handle.
The “culture war” has never truly got going for voters, but soon it might.
Both the main party leaders must tread carefully to avoid missteps which could devastate them electorally.
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But the Conservatives know their approach resonates with voters on issues that matter politically.
With this in mind, and with the Conservatives looking to reduce a 15-point deficit in the polls, Rishi Sunak is likely to welcome the prospect of real attention and real rows.