Tony Blair’s former communications guru, Alastair Campbell, says the UK political system was too quick to revert to overheated rhetoric and polarisation after attacks on MPs, urging politicians to “re-win the argument for democratic politics”.
More than a week after independent MP Helen Haines was allegedly targeted in an attack outside her electorate office in northern Victoria, causing her to lose both legs, Campbell said the tenor of political debate in Australia should better reflect Haines’ own approach.
Speaking to the Guardian’s Australian Politics podcast on Wednesday, the commentator said the killings of British MPs Jo Cox, David Amess and former politician Ann Widdecombe had not brought about lasting change in political culture.
“They were followed by everybody saying the right thing about how our political debate culture had to change, about how we had to address online hate and polarisation, all this stuff,” he said.
“But it didn’t take long before we kind of got right back into it. So I think it is about how we genuinely try and generate a different way of talking to each other and about each other now.”
A 43-year-old man has been charged over the alleged attack on Haines and the incident continues to be investigated by police.
The co-host of popular podcast The Rest is Politics, Campbell said Haines’ eventual return to parliament would help bring about change.
“It’s very rare these days that an individual act or incident lasts more than half a news cycle, and so we just move on. I think remembering is so important.
“In a way, the fact that she is still with us and is going to still be part of the political debate, maybe that will help people … that people will see that that is the consequence of the actions that were taken against her.”
A former journalist, Campbell is the author of more than 20 books, including diaries documenting his years working inside 10 Downing Street.
He is due to visit Australia for a speaking tour next month.
Campbell said politicians and the media should reflect on how they speak to everyday people, and why their professions are so poorly trusted.
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“It’s made more difficult at the moment because you’ve got Donald Trump in America as the loudest, most talked about politician on the planet, and he represents a lot of the things that I think we don’t want in our politics.
“We’ve got to re-win the argument for democratic politics because it’s under a lot of pressure right now,” he said.
Discussing the rise of populist politics, Campbell said the world was still struggling to grasp the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis.
“If I think of one thing that maybe ties the rise of Trump to Brexit, to the protests that we’re seeing in different parts of Europe, I think is that we haven’t really come to terms with the consequences of the financial crisis, and the sense that there was socialism for the banks who caused it, and austerity for the people, and the people who are still struggling to see their living standards rise.
“That ultimately I think is a big driver of the what the Americans call affordability, what we call cost of living, just the sense that people don’t feel that they’re able to get on.”
Campbell revealed he occasionally watches clips of Paul Keating’s parliamentary attacks as Australia’s prime minister in the 1990s.
The bestselling author’s latest book is Persevilience: The Word the World Needs Now, published by Allen and Unwin.
