But What Can I Do?

This is the second “our politics is completely messed up” book that I’ve read in a row, and it made an interesting contrast to Ian Dunt’s “How Westminster Works … And Why It Doesn’t?”. In the latter Dunt argues convincingly that little of the system works on a fundamental level (partially on purpose, partially because the wrong incentives are in play), but Campbell is more interested in how the changes in our society over the last decade or so have been driven by and enabled the rise of populism in a way that we would once have thought of as unthinkable.

The book comes in two parts, the first is an examination of the problem as Campbell sees it – most of which was familiar to me from listening to the Rest is Politics podcast, but is presented here in a more coherent and structured form. Essentially our society is becoming ever more polarised in a feedback loop between populist politicians who are happy to lie and deceive if it means they win and a population who feel betrayed and left behind by the people who should be leading them so turn to cynicism. This is aided & abetted by a traditional media landscape that is no longer interested in finding out the truth but instead is focused on what will make them money, and by the rise of social media where outrage gets engagement and nuance sinks & dies.

The second part is a call to action, and a discussion of how anybody can work towards changing this – the answer to the question in the title of the book. Campbell has obviously got a wealth of experience in how to run a campaign, how to operate in politics and how to get your message across. So this part of the book is full of very practical discussion of subjects like leadership and how to do that well, how to build and operate within a good team, and so on. He ends this half by talking about how you get into politics yourself, even if you don’t want to be an elected politician (as he himself didn’t).

I was interested to read this book because of the promise of the first half, but it turned out to have little new given I’ve listened to every episode of the Rest is Politics. The second half then surprised me by being more interesting than I expected, because even though Campbell’s focus is on politics and political campaigning much of what he says is more broadly applicable. But I’m still unconvinced that getting into politics is something I’d want to do, or be terribly well suited to.

It’s a well written book, and an engaging read (which you’d expect, communication was his brief in the Blair administration after all). I’d recommend it even if you don’t want to get into politics.