What Joe Could Teach Keir

“If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich”

- President John F. Kennedy – Inauguration address January 1961

I guess if you were to ask Progressives to summarise 2020, the answer would be along the line of “better than it could have been”. It was indeed a year of mixed fortunes. Jacinda Arden’s resounding General Election victory in New Zealand and the pushback of Marine Le Pen in France were offset by Bolsonaro recovering his popularity in Brazil despite his disastrous handling of the Pandemic; Erdoğan in Turkey continuing to undermine the institutions of a secular democracy and the rule of law and the leaders in Poland and Hungary continuing to shift their countries to a religious right-wing populist position. However, the big plus was Trump’s resounding Presidential Election defeat. The Electoral College system made the race look closer than it really was with Joe Biden winning the popular vote by some 8 million.

There is little doubt that where the US Republicans go today, the UK Conservatives follow tomorrow. Indeed, British Ministers visiting the US in the months leading up to last November only beat a path to the White House door and never ventured near Biden’s team. This was a bad tactical error for which they could pay a heavy price over the coming years. Trump ticks all the boxes when it comes to populist politics – strong white male leader, the nursing of grievances, only appealing to a white low information base etc. Biden took this on and won. It begs the question what he can teach Sir Keir Starmer, as no doubt he will be facing similar tactics to those used by Trump as the UK moves towards its next General Election sometime within 4 years. The early signs are there to be seen with one of Boris Johnson’s keenest outriders (and rival for the leadership) Priti Patel letting right-wing newspapers know she intends to ensure a steady flow of deportations to Jamaica, attacking what she calls left-wing activist lawyers, and hinting at the return of capital punishment.

So what were Biden’s tactics in the face of the populist onslaught he faced?

1. Ignore your Opponent – Biden just simply ignored Trump’s jibes, insults, name calling and provocations many of which where about his family or his age. There is nothing a populist likes more than a fight in the gutter. It is where they are most skilled. Joe just refused to jump in much to Trump’s frustration as it denied him opportunities for Twitter-fuelled tirades. Johnson’s gutter will run with insults about Keir Starmer’s background as a lawyer, his record as a Remainer and the fact he lives in Islington, the supposed home of metropolitan liberal politics (where ironically Johnson once lived)

2. Look the Part – whenever Joe Biden appeared in public he looked like a President in waiting, he dressed like a President, he spoke like a President and, crucially, presented himself as a President of all the people, irrespective of Party loyalty, in contrast to Trump’s partisan politics. Keir Starmer already looks like a Prime Minister in waiting simply because he combs his hair and does not play fast and loose with the facts.

3. Build Your Base – Joe Biden built a broad base of supporters that eventually carried him to victory. Biden’s base was broader than Trump’s, reaching far beyond the self-limiting politics of grievance. Under 50s, college graduates, the African American community and residents of the suburbs. People who could either see straight through Trump’s offer or were genuinely threatened by it. It appears that in the UK the old class-based parties are a thing of the past so Keir needs to think carefully about the new Party base he needs to form.

4. Policy Offer – Joe linked his policy offer to those issues of most concern to his base. He avoided a long shopping list and, therefore, avoided the criticism of having a platform that was unbelievable, unaffordable and unachievable. Tackling the Coronavirus epidemic, supporting the economy, racial harmony and tackling climate change were both issues of concern to his base and areas where Trump was weak – sometimes deliberately. I am quite sure Keir Starmer is already doing the early work on putting together a policy offer. He needs to learn from Jeremy Corbyn’s failure from having a manifesto that was so loaded, voters just did not believe it would happen even though they supported some of the individual policies.

5. Avoid Extremism – There is nothing Republicans and Conservatives like more than diverting attention away from themselves by dragging out the reds under the bed. Stoking up fears of Socialism and Communism is a right-wing party piece. Trump tried it, it appears, with some degree of success in Senate and House races. If Keir Starmer wants to fight on a turf of his own making, he needs a policy offer of practical policies that resonate with voters and avoids ideological extremes. It appears that Joe Biden was handicapped in the Senate and House races by those in his party calling for the defunding of the police. Keir Starmer needs to get rid of the less attractive elements of the Corbyn agenda. Widespread nationalisation and state control of the economy has never been attractive to UK voters.

Joe Biden took on and overcame the full barrage of what right-wing populist politics has to offer. He deserves great credit for that. In doing so he set out a road map for other progressives who follow him in other countries.

Keir Starmer has been shown the way to go. Let us hope he learns and builds on Joe Biden’s experience. I am confident he will.