Poor Bagehot is getting a bit jaded by British politics!
"Mr Clarkson’s appeal to the traditional bore is more obvious. For years he has revelled in the persona of a particular type of bore. On “Top Gear”, the car show that was the archetype of bore-friendly television, Mr Clarkson was a bigot in boot-cut jeans, picking fights with cyclists, the Mexican ambassador and, in that unfortunate moment, his own staff. In his columns for the Sunday Times, he tore into local councils, health-and-safety rules and the Welsh. The connecting principle was a distrust of authority, which lurked at the heart of many a Leave vote.
Some bores are surprised to find Mr Clarkson on their side. Rejoining the EU is at the heart of the nouvelle bore movement. Bores are fundamentally reactionary, raging against the status quo. Now that Britain has left the bloc, the Brexit bores are sated; the puce fury of Remainer bores has just begun. It took Nigel Farage and a cabal of right-wing Conservative mps, uber-bores all, three decades to drag Britain out of the eu. If their Remainer bore rivals have a plan to take Britain back in, Mr Clarkson would be the perfect mascot. Nearly three in five Britons think Mr Clarkson voted Leave, according to polling from Focaldata, a research outfit. In reality, he voted Remain. In fact, he once argued for a United States of Europe. If there is a path to rejoining the eu, it runs along the a361 next to Diddly Squat farm.
Mr Clarkson offers something for every bore in Britain. He is a YIMBY who sees it as his God-given right to open a restaurant on his land, West Oxfordshire District Council be damned; but he also understands the merits of wildflower meadows and wants to leave rolling countryside mainly untouched. He is a conservationist who fears for the future of British farming in the face of climate change, but who also has ten v8s in the garage. He is a European federalist who enjoyed well-paid berths at the Sun and the Sunday Times, both Leave-supporting newspapers.
Which is why, on a Saturday afternoon, bores join a slow-moving queue outside a small shed on the edge of the Cotswolds. Like medieval pilgrims, bores young and old come in their gas-guzzling Golfs, shiny Teslas and fancy Porsches to enjoy half a day in the countryside, pay homage to their hero and buy a relic. In lieu of Christ’s foreskin, why not try “Jeremy’s Sausage” (￡4.50 for four)? In a country where politicians still seek the centre ground, a good place to start looking is the incoherence of Mr Clarkson. After all, he who speaks for the bore speaks for Britain.?"
Jeremy Clarkson, patron saint of the Great British bore
https://lnkd.in/gUT_-hrX
from The Economist
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#britain #ukelections #jeremyclarkson
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