Tim Walker, an award-winning writer, recently announced that he is the Liberal Democrats’ candidate for the constituency of Canterbury, Whitstable & Villages. In response, he has received criticism from Remainers, who are worried that his candidacy will split the Remain vote and therefore make it easier for the Conservative Brexiteer candidate to defeat the incumbent pro-Remain Labour MP, Rosie Duffield.
One social media user, for example, tweeted that ‘If the Tories take Canterbury, this act of hubris will be remembered and not forgotten nor forgiven’. Another twitter user told Mr Walker that ‘You’re taking votes away from a pro Remain MP to let the Tories in’.
Both critics are incorrect because they wrongly assume that the Liberal Democrats will only attract votes from the people who voted Labour in 2017. Quite the contrary, Tim Walker will be as damaging and destructive, if not more so, to the Conservatives because Remainers who voted for them in 2017 are more likely to support the Lib Dems as opposed to Labour.
Proponents and advocates of Remain alliances, especially with individual Labour Party candidates, are also oblivious to the recent ‘presidentialisation’ of UK General Elections. The presidentialisation thesis refers to the increasing importance and authority of Prime Ministers and party leaders at the expense of individual constituency candidates and the parliamentary party.
Also read: My Hopes For A Brighter Future For The Young Have Driven Me Into Politics | Tim Walker
This means that words of party leaders are gold and Holy Scripture, while the sentiments and opinions of backbench Europhilic politicians are being confined to the trash can and the dumpster. It matters less what Rosie Duffield MP thinks, instead it matters more what her boss Jeremy Corbyn MP wants.
Presidentialisation of party politics is also exemplified by the leaders’ TV debate. It is the party leaders, like Jeremy Corbyn, who set the image, tone and direction of party policies. Backbench politicians, like Rosie Duffield MP for whom I have plenty of respect for, are largely excluded from this process.
Voting for Labour, regardless of how remain leaning individual candidates are, would therefore be an exuberant endorsement of Jeremy Corbyn’s political and economic extremism – and, more worryingly it would be an endorsement of Labour’s delusional and unattainable “jobs first Brexit”. In a national debate electorates are more concerned with the opinions and the direction of party leaders, instead of backbench politicians.
Critics of Tim Walker’s candidacy are also forgetting how votes for Labour (and Conservative) Remainer MPs were misinterpreted and misconstrued to argue that votes for both parties represent an endorsement for Brexit. Nothing could have been further from the truth that all MPs from the two main parties want to see Brexit being implemented. However, the Remainers in both parties were silenced and shoved aside simply because the leadership of both parties wanted one form of Brexit or another.
The public was wrongly made to belief that 84% of the votes cast for Labour and Conservative candidates meant that the public wanted to see Brexit being implemented. This was complete and utter malarkey because it overlooked the significant number of Remainer MPs in both parties who either wanted a People’s Vote or ‘Revoke and Remain’.
Every vote cast for a Labour Party candidate will be interpreted as a success of Corbynism, each additional MP elected for the Labour Party will translate into increased support for Lexit. While it is true that at this election Mr Corbyn is promising a People’s Vote, it still leaves the door open to some sort of Brexit. Plus, there is nothing to say that voting for a Remain Labour candidate won’t again be misconceived as support for Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership as it was in 2017 or Labour’s hypothetical Brexit deal.
In contrast, voting for a party, like the Liberal Democrats, that is fully committed to remaining in the EU cannot be misconstrued nor misinterpreted. Casting a ballot for a Liberal Democrat candidate will translate into a direct opposition for Brexit. Voting for Tim Walker will be a clear stamp, a clear and loud voice that Brexit should be cancelled. That’s the end of the story. No ifs, no buts. No misconstruing, no misinterpreting.
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Muhammed Raza Hussain is a MSc Political Sociology student at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is also an award-winning writer: the Extra-Mile winner of the News Quest Young Reporter Scheme 2014 and received a ‘Talent for Writing’ certificate by Young Writers. Twitter @MuhammedRaza786 | Instagram: @M.Raza.H_
