Prof John Steel
Research Professor in Journalism in the School of Humanities and Journalism, University of Derby, UK. His latest research addresses issues of trust and legitimacy through citizen engagement in media ethics.
Email: j.steel@derby.ac.uk
UK Election 2024
Section 4: Parties and the campaign
34. A changed but over-staged Labour Party and the political marketing weaknesses behind Starmer’s win (Prof Jennifer Lees-Marshment)
35. To leaflet or not to leaflet? The question of election leafleting in Sunderland Central (Prof Angela Smith, Dr Mike Pearce)
36. Beyond ‘my dad was a toolmaker’: what it’s really like to be working class in parliament (Dr Vladimir Bortun)
37. The unforced errors of foolish men: gender, race and the calculus of harm (Prof Karen Ross)
38. Election 2024 and rise of Reform UK: the beginning of the end of the Conservatives? (Dr Anthony Ridge-Newman)
39. The Weakening of the Blue Wall (Prof Pete Dorey)
40. The Conservative party, 1832-2024: an obituary (Dr Mark Garnett)
41. Bouncing back: the Liberal Democrat campaign (Prof Peter Sloman)
42. The Greens: riding two horses (Prof Neil Carter, Dr Mitya Pearson)
43. Party organisations and the campaign (Dr Danny Rye)
44. Local campaign messaging at the 2024 General Election (Dr Siim Trumm, Prof Caitlin Milazzo)
45. The value of getting personal: reflecting upon the role of personal branding in the General Election (Dr Jenny Lloyd)
46. Which constituencies were visited by each party leader and what this told us about their campaigns (Dr Hannah Bunting, Joely Santa Cruz)
47. The culture wars and the 2024 General Election campaign (Prof John Steel)
48. “Rishi’s D-Day Disaster”: authority, leadership and British military commemoration (Dr Natalie Jester)
49. Party election broadcasts: the quest for authenticity (Dr Vincent Campbell)
Since the 2019 General Election the culture wars have loomed large over the political landscape in the UK. Whether in relation to the fractious rows concerning trans rights and biological sex, or the various panics concerning free speech and so-called ‘cancel culture’, the culture wars and their various skirmishes have never been far from the headlines. To this observer, the expectation was that this would be intensified during the six weeks of election campaigning, yet this was not the case. The culture wars have not dominated the airwaves, barring a few early forays by the Conservatives and Reform UK, with the latter’s campaign profile raised significantly by Nigel Farage’s U-turn on his decision not to stand as a candidate early in the campaign. This intensified the Conservative’s focus on small boat crossings and its Rwanda policy, with Reform UK indicating that Britain needed to give up its commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights, in order to “secure Britain’s borders”.
The few examples of culture war clashes that did surface tended to be drowned out by the key messages from the main parties. For the Conservatives, these centred around the promise of more tax cuts and the existential threat to Britain’s national security and economy if Labour gained power. While from Labour it was its ‘change’ narrative that dominated their rather timid and somewhat cautious campaign. The Liberal Democrat’s campaign also sought to stress that Britain needed a change but placed a key emphasis on social policy and social care.
Where the culture wars did make an appearance (see Jen Birks in this volume) they tended to be refracted through the larger election narratives from the main political parties. It would be wrong to see all political debates through the culture war prism, but a few exceptions did emerge. For example, Rishi Sunak’s highly controversial announcement to bring back national service for 18 year olds to ‘restore’ a sense of national civic patriotism in the nation’s youth. Such a move of course indirectly spoke to the notion, prominent in the Conservative supporting press as well as the party, that Britain’s youngsters were too soft and needed toughening up, and that the nation was in need of a return to “create a sense of purpose” and “boost the national spirit”.
Early in the election campaign there were also plans announced by the Conservatives to cull so-called ‘Mikey Mouse’ university degree courses – courses that according to the Tories and its supporters in the right leaning press, ‘rip-off young people’ and do not offer value for money. Instead the Conservatives would use funds saved from scrapping courses (and presumably jobs) to fund more skills based apprenticeships. Courses aligned to the arts, cultural industries and humanities, despite evidence to the contrary were, as they often are, targeted as not delivering value for money for young people and also allegedly pander to the ‘woke agenda’. Labour too became embroiled in culture war collateral when JK Rowling attacked their apparent prevarication over trans rights and safe spaces for women.
A recent study by More in Common suggested that voters prioritise policy during elections and that the public can see through the inauthentic nature of culture war debates, despite the rancorous noise from sections of the press. It is clear that during this election campaign key issues such as the cost of living crisis, the future of the NHS, high costs of mortgage borrowing, the climate crisis and the ongoing conflicts in Gazza and Ukraine, have dominated the political agenda for the public. These issues will be key challenges for the new Labour government for some time to come.
So what now for the culture wars? As a 2021 Kings College study into UK culture wars suggests, cultural conflict is a feature of contemporary democracy, particularly across generations. Yet as the report indicates, there are strategies available through which to ‘cool’ the temperature and political leaders have a key role to play in facilitating this. It would be unsurprising if a humiliated Conservative party, alongside an emboldened Reform UK, continue to fan the flames of the culture wars across this Parliament. As the More in Common report notes, culture wars are incredibly divisive. People “want difficult issues to be discussed in a way that points to solutions and genuinely informs the public”. The Conservative’s should take note and learn lessons as they take stock and choose how they rebuild. For Labour, they will have to hit the ground running and deliver on its promises if it wants to turn down the heat on the culture wars going forward. Starmer’s first speech as Prime Minister made a promising start when he promised that his government would serve for everyone and build bridges across this seemingly divided nation. The future of the culture wars may depend on whether his party can deliver on this promise.
