Substack diary no.146: Thursday, 7th. May 2026

People go to the polls today in Britain but only in certain parts of the country; there is no voting in my part of Devon today. I was reminded of how, once upon a time, politicians would lead and take time to listen to people and engage in meaningful conversation. Those days are, sadly, very much in the past. The question is: when did politicians become followers rather than leaders?

I often ponder this question but have never been able to pin it down, and a diary entry such as this does not provide space for extensive thoughts. However, my starting point has always been based upon my time talking to politicians and sitting on panels in Parliament. There is no doubt that politicians have access to a wide range of quality data, knowledge, information and insight from the best minds in Britain on any given topic. In my book, more knowledge equals better decision-making. However, this knowledge is no longer shared, at least in any meaningful way, with the general population. Politicians respond rather than lead. Consequently, if a constituent on the doorstop says ‘stop the boats’ they do their best to accommodate them rather than to challenge, and hence we are in the mess we are in today.

My experience canvassing for Labour in the 1980’s and 1990’s in the Peckham constituency in south London was often good, until there came a time when it wasn’t. It is difficult – and probably fruitless – to put a date on it, but I remember being told to maximise votes. If the door was answered by a racist, don’t challenge their racism, ask them to vote Labour. I was horrified. I did not want to be living alongside racists, let alone encouraging them to vote for an anti-Establishment anti-racist party. Soon after that I gave up canvassing. If you are prevented from engaging with people and providing thoughts that might make them change their minds, what is the point?

This shift from leader to follower occurred gradually over many years in the late 80’s and 90’s and was amplified by a media that invented the sound-bite. Economics in 30 seconds. It can’t be done, but the masses were led to believe that it could. It seems to me that the days of engaging with the people to understand how and why policies are made were largely dead and gone by the beginning of the new millennium. And that makes me feel sad.