Middle England

I mentioned in my last blog "Middle England". Who are this, part mythical, middle ground people who political parties need to court to get into power. Within them, during the Blair years was the swing voter that rare but important section of the electoral society who could be convinced to change their vote.
People are largely tribal. Be it the type of sport or the team they follow, be it the shops they use, be it the aspirational education they wish for their children and be it the political party they vote for. This tribalism means, like electrons orbiting the proton/neutron bond they are what they are from birth to death.
Every so often an attractive force comes along which exudes such a powerful force the orbits are effected and the chemistry changed. Tony Blair was one such a force and with his charisma and a positivity he wooed Middle England. To do this he had to project a message that, "we, 'New Labour' have a commonality with your Tory aspirations but we differ because we represent your conscience", which had begun to trouble many after the right wing rhetoric of Margaret Thatcher, in the war she waged, and the societal split she developed by her demand for entrepreneurial  success without which you were a failure.
Middle England is conservative with a small "c". It values tradition and continuity, it doesn't want to rock the boat and yet it is the first in line supporting a charity for someone overseas or an animal closer to home. The conscience of Middle England is qualitative in that it doesn't want  to risk its own fundamental life style but it does see the inadequate nature of society, between the rich and the poor to which is soundly believes it doesn't belong to either. In this position of the middle ground there can be a pull, however slight towards one or the other and it's this opportunity which people like Blair exploited.
Tony Blair became one of them, but what chance has Jeremy Corbyn, with his Marxist background and a life spent challenging the Establishment, what chance has he to dislodge some of those political electrons.
As our society becomes more and more polarised and the gap widens year on year between the rich and the poor there are sufficient numbers in Middle England who feel uncomfortable about what is happening. Their conscience is troubled and if this quiet man with his quiet logic who plausibly answers questions, not with bombast but with an appeal to fair play, perhaps a new dawn in our symbiosis with each other is possible.