Jacob Rees-Mogg is a former Leader of the House of Commons, and is MP for North East Somerset.
Any sensible, democratic politician would want to be popular and to espouse popular policies. Yet the term “populist” is seen of one of abuse rather than praise. It is seen as undignified and insufficiently high-minded, as if the job of the politician is to give nasty-tasting medicine to a reluctant voter. This condescension is part of the problem of modern politics and is why Popular Conservatism – PopCon for short – is necessary.
Currently across the world, there is a feeling that the elected are out of touch with the elector. Protests in France, Germany and Brussels in recent weeks illustrate this, as does the election results in Holland, the phenomenon of Donald Trump and the election of Giorgia Meloni in Italy and of Javier Milei in Argentina. Voters are seeking something different because they feel let down and ignored.
The rise of an international, barely accountable, governing elite is at the heart of this – remote bodies that agree righteous policies without deigning to consider the cost. This could be the IMF imposing its will on poor nations, or the climate change boffins telling nations at the COP to close down their economies. They do this with no risk of elections, in the certainty of their own beneficence.
This has happened domestically as well as internationally. The sovereignty of Parliament, as the representative of the people, has been eroded and power handed to an increasingly assertive bureaucracy, one that may no longer be blamed on Brussels. Thus, the decision for nutrient neutrality means that Natural England is able to stop house building and put pressure on farmers to retire. The bungling lawyerly administration of asylum leaves dangerous criminals in this country pretending to be Christian and able to throw corrosive substances at people while the courts place themselves above Parliament despite entering the political fray.
It is particularly interesting to note in the context of the courts that Baroness Hale, former President of the Supreme Court, has revealed her true colours by voting with the Liberal Democrats against the Second Reading of the Rwanda Bill. It is rare and of dubious political legitimacy for the Lords to reject a bill outright at so early a stage but for a senior, albeit retired, judge to do so indicates her lack of sympathy for the norms of the constitution and the apparent politicisation that she brought to the Supreme Court.
All these panjandrums, without yet mentioning the bungling Bank of England and the woefully inaccurate Office for Budget Responsibility, which have, to quote Stanley Baldwin, “power without responsibility – the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages”. The elected representative retains responsibility, but has lost power – and this is the fundamental challenge that underlines PopCon. Democracy needs reinvigorating to provide the policies that people want and which will make them better off. It also returns choice to voters, how you vote will determine how you are governed. The power of the bureaucracy currently limits the change that is possible.
As it is Parliament that created this bureaucratic leviathan so Parliament can bind it again. Several Acts including the Human Rights Act, the Climate Change Act and the Equality Act corral governments into decisions made by their predecessors. This development seeks to undermine but fortunately does not eradicate, the principle that Parliament cannot bind its successors. It has, however, tried very hard to do so.
Legislation may reverse this but, first, a reassertion of the legitimacy of the nation state is needed. International Law is not about how countries behave internally, but how they behave towards each other. Allowing a foreign court to determine how Parliament legislates is an illegitimate abdication of power that belongs to the British people and its views can never be more than advisory to a sovereign parliament. The Blairite constitutional settlement that set the Supreme Court effectively above the High Court of Parliament needs to be reversed, since the final arbiter of law must be the King in Parliament, not the Supreme Court. It judges how the law applies, Parliament decides what it says.
The executive needs to take back control of decision making. There is no body of wise men who will make unbiased decisions that are fair to all. Decision-making is by its nature political and will be influenced by the opinion of the decision maker. It is preferable that decisions should be honestly and straightforwardly political – thus accountable to, even punishable by, the electorate – rather than though choices made by remote and immovable bodies
Once the ability to make decisions has been restored and the blocking blob removed, then popular conservative policies may be introduced. The global travails of modern government are as much caused by their perceived powerlessness as by their failures. This is when the smaller state, lower taxes and less regulation can be introduced – but the blocks need to be removed first.
Jacob Rees-Mogg is a former Leader of the House of Commons, and is MP for North East Somerset.
Any sensible, democratic politician would want to be popular and to espouse popular policies. Yet the term “populist” is seen of one of abuse rather than praise. It is seen as undignified and insufficiently high-minded, as if the job of the politician is to give nasty-tasting medicine to a reluctant voter. This condescension is part of the problem of modern politics and is why Popular Conservatism – PopCon for short – is necessary.
Currently across the world, there is a feeling that the elected are out of touch with the elector. Protests in France, Germany and Brussels in recent weeks illustrate this, as does the election results in Holland, the phenomenon of Donald Trump and the election of Giorgia Meloni in Italy and of Javier Milei in Argentina. Voters are seeking something different because they feel let down and ignored.
The rise of an international, barely accountable, governing elite is at the heart of this – remote bodies that agree righteous policies without deigning to consider the cost. This could be the IMF imposing its will on poor nations, or the climate change boffins telling nations at the COP to close down their economies. They do this with no risk of elections, in the certainty of their own beneficence.
This has happened domestically as well as internationally. The sovereignty of Parliament, as the representative of the people, has been eroded and power handed to an increasingly assertive bureaucracy, one that may no longer be blamed on Brussels. Thus, the decision for nutrient neutrality means that Natural England is able to stop house building and put pressure on farmers to retire. The bungling lawyerly administration of asylum leaves dangerous criminals in this country pretending to be Christian and able to throw corrosive substances at people while the courts place themselves above Parliament despite entering the political fray.
It is particularly interesting to note in the context of the courts that Baroness Hale, former President of the Supreme Court, has revealed her true colours by voting with the Liberal Democrats against the Second Reading of the Rwanda Bill. It is rare and of dubious political legitimacy for the Lords to reject a bill outright at so early a stage but for a senior, albeit retired, judge to do so indicates her lack of sympathy for the norms of the constitution and the apparent politicisation that she brought to the Supreme Court.
All these panjandrums, without yet mentioning the bungling Bank of England and the woefully inaccurate Office for Budget Responsibility, which have, to quote Stanley Baldwin, “power without responsibility – the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages”. The elected representative retains responsibility, but has lost power – and this is the fundamental challenge that underlines PopCon. Democracy needs reinvigorating to provide the policies that people want and which will make them better off. It also returns choice to voters, how you vote will determine how you are governed. The power of the bureaucracy currently limits the change that is possible.
As it is Parliament that created this bureaucratic leviathan so Parliament can bind it again. Several Acts including the Human Rights Act, the Climate Change Act and the Equality Act corral governments into decisions made by their predecessors. This development seeks to undermine but fortunately does not eradicate, the principle that Parliament cannot bind its successors. It has, however, tried very hard to do so.
Legislation may reverse this but, first, a reassertion of the legitimacy of the nation state is needed. International Law is not about how countries behave internally, but how they behave towards each other. Allowing a foreign court to determine how Parliament legislates is an illegitimate abdication of power that belongs to the British people and its views can never be more than advisory to a sovereign parliament. The Blairite constitutional settlement that set the Supreme Court effectively above the High Court of Parliament needs to be reversed, since the final arbiter of law must be the King in Parliament, not the Supreme Court. It judges how the law applies, Parliament decides what it says.
The executive needs to take back control of decision making. There is no body of wise men who will make unbiased decisions that are fair to all. Decision-making is by its nature political and will be influenced by the opinion of the decision maker. It is preferable that decisions should be honestly and straightforwardly political – thus accountable to, even punishable by, the electorate – rather than though choices made by remote and immovable bodies
Once the ability to make decisions has been restored and the blocking blob removed, then popular conservative policies may be introduced. The global travails of modern government are as much caused by their perceived powerlessness as by their failures. This is when the smaller state, lower taxes and less regulation can be introduced – but the blocks need to be removed first.