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Event Analysis: UK March for Europe

"March for Europe 3 Sept 2016 - 01" by garryknight is marked with CC0 1.0

Although 51.9% of United Kingdom voters chose to leave the European Union in 2016 in the historical event we now call Brexit, 48.1% of voters wanted to stay - and for good reasons. Many Remain supporters felt that staying in the European Union was beneficial and worthwhile to the UK and that leaving would diminish their status as one of the biggest financial centers in the world. In addition, leaving the EU would create immense job loss and immigrants would continue to face discrimination and xenophobia. For these reasons and more, Remainers took to the streets back in 2016 to protest the referendum results and voice their concerns.

Background

Organized on social media, the anti-Brexit protest known as March for Europe was held in London on July 3rd, 2016. Subsequent protests of its kind have continued to occur over the last couple of years as well, proving that the Remainers are still trying to fight for what they believe in. Thousands of protestors marched down the streets of London equipped with posters and flags. They began their journey in Hyde Park and moved to Whitehall all the way to the Houses of Parliament. One might be wondering what exactly Remainers were aiming to accomplish with this protest since the decision to leave the EU was already made on June 23rd. Well, I’ll tell you.

Reasons for Protest

According to one of the protests’ organizers, Kieran MacDermott, protesters were hoping to stop the government from triggering Article 50, which would begin the formal process of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU. Remainers were demanding more public consultation on every stage of Brexit negotiations despite official government responses that leaving the EU is the final decision. However, although that was the final decision, the entire Vote Leave campaign was filled with misinformation and the referendum wasn’t fought on a level playing field.

Protestors were passionate and vigilant. Prominent political leaders and musicians such as Jarvis Cocker of the band Pulp, Labour MP David Lammy, and Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron even joined the march to show their support. Cocker went on to make the point that “You cannot deny geography. The UK is in Europe.” Many UK citizens are proud to be from Europe and were disheartened when the referendum results came out. They reject the populist ideologies of those in power who seek to attack the established parties and have a strong dislike for pluralism and political tolerance.

The decision to leave the EU also unveiled a lot of racism and xenophobia in the UK government system and brought it to the forefront as well. This was another core reason why Remainers began protesting. Leave supporters were infamous for wanting to close the UK’s borders and were openly opposed to immigration as they believed that migrants were causing economic grievances. Although immigration had risen in the UK in recent years, it’s been proven that immigration isn’t the cause of economic struggles. March for Europe represents a counter-movement to the growing presence of right-wing, anti-immigrant, racist, nationalist, sexist, homophobic, anti-semitic and anti-Muslim movements throughout Europe. 

Outcome

Although Remainers fought hard to stop the UK government from triggering Article 50, they were unsuccessful in swaying the decision. Though disappointing for Remainers, they continue to fight for what they believe in to this day and have organized similar protests even after 2016, including this one in October 2019 to demand that voters be given the final say on Brexit. It’s clear that they won’t give up until their voices are heard and the UK government changes their ways.

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United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) Infographic

This infographic takes a look at the United Kingdom conservative populist party UKIP as well as how it was founded, their main beliefs, their supporters, and their biggest accomplishment to date - Brexit. Being one of the United Kingdom’s largest and well-known populist parties, UKIP is worthwhile to research. These quick facts are important to remember since UKIP’s influence on the United Kingdom’s politics as well as the country as a whole has proved itself to be greater than was once anticipated.

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Profile: UK Populist Leader Nigel Farage

"Nigel Farage at CPAC 2017 February 24th 2017" by Michael Vadon is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Nigel Farage is a British activist, political commentator, broadcaster, and former politician who’s also a well-known populist leader in the United Kingdom. He served as the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) from September 2006 to November 2009 and was a strong and outspoken advocate for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union during Brexit. Nigel Farage endorsed and supported the leave campaign known as Leave.EU as it went head to head with Vote Leave, which ended up receiving the designation. In addition to these aspects of his political career, Nigel Farage has also faced criticisms for the way he portrays himself both on social media and in real life, much like Boris Johnson and Donald Trump.

Nigel Farage and Populism

Many refer to Nigel Farage as a political force and the father of Brexit. He’s actually the one who pushed former Prime Minister David Cameron into promising the 2016 Brexit referendum. Much like Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage has faced criticisms and received backlash for some of the outlandish and bigoted comments he’s made. In addition, Farage has been known to support Donald Trump and agree with his ideas. Trump, as we know, is another classic example of a populist leader in today’s world so it’s no surprise that him and Farage get along well. Both Trump and Farage seem to constantly be in hot water and stirring the pot amongst their opponents. Farage has defended Trump’s racist comments and even called them genius. UKIP has also been called a racist organization in the past as well, which Farage denies.

Nigel Farage isn’t just another politician. He thinks in his own ways and makes decisions in the spur of the moment instead of thinking strategically. Some have even referred to him as the most influential politician of the modern era. Much like Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage fashions himself as the ‘Vox Populi’, or voice of the people, by attempting to appeal to his supporters who are often working-class people and middle-class Eurosceptics. He presents himself as a man of the people who distinguishes himself from the political establishment. He claims that politics is broken and that there’s a detachment between Westminster and ordinary people. He hopes his policies and ideas can fix this divide that he claims is happening in the United Kingdom. This reminds me of Mudde and Kaltwasser’s definition of Vox Populi in their book titled Populism: A Very Short Introduction. They say that Vox Populi “consists of two distinct but interrelated processes: (1) separation from the elite and (2) connection to the people” (Mudde and Kaltwasser, 2017). Farage wants to connect to the ordinary people by criticizing and attacking the elite, which in this case would be Westminster.

Another common populist idea is a disagreement with the status quo and a general dislike, or even hatred, for the establishment. This rings true for Nigel Farage as he openly goes against the establishment of Westminster and the status quo of UK politics. After the UK voted to leave the EU, Farage said, “After tonight there is no going back, we the leavers now own the status quo.” Farage has always had a grievance with Westminster which probably has to do with his inability to win a seat in the UK Parliament seven times. Nigel Farage’s resistance to the status quo reminds me of Populism in History by Finchelstein where he says “Populists have historically regarded their critique of the status quo as a radicalization of democracy by way of returning power to the people.” I think this is exactly what Farage believes he’s doing, just like Boris Johnson and Donald Trump.

Nigel Farage and the Media

Much like other populist leaders, Nigel Farage is very outspoken and opinionated. He has a lot of controversial ideas and isn’t afraid to say them in person or on social media. With this comes a lot of incorrect statements and outbursts. One example of this would be when Farage wrongly claimed that twelve migrants arriving in Dover had tested positive for coronavirus. Home Office fact checked Farage’s tweet and stated that none of the twelve people Farage had mentioned tested positive. This reminds me a lot of Donald Trump and all the false claims he’s confidently made on Twitter in the past before his account was suspended.

Nigel Farage has also made his mark on social media by making sure that the Brexit Party - which he’s part of - has a strong social media presence. In 2019, it was announced that the Brexit Party was launching a YouTube channel called BrexBox in order to reach supporters of the party without needing to go through the mainstream media. Described as compelling and innovative, BrexBox and the Brexit Party are the clear leaders when it comes to social media policy. In fact, during the EU elections, the Brexit Party accounted for 51% of all shared content on Facebook and Twitter. In addition, BrexBox has received more interactions than any other major UK political party.

Nigel Farage’s Twitter account is where he speaks his mind and gains a lot of his supporters. However, it’s recently been exposed that a large portion of his Twitter followers were actually QAnon members. QAnon is an American far-right conspiracy theory group who believe that elite politicians are cannibalistic pedophiles who worship Satan. After Twitter suspended QAnon accounts on its platform, Nigel Farage lost 50,000 followers in that single week. This just goes to show what types of people support Nigel Farage and agree with his beliefs. It’s definitely something to think about.

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Brexit: The Uncivil War (2019) Film Review

Brexit: The Uncivil War is a British historical drama released in 2019 about the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union in what is now referred to as Brexit. The film depicts the lead-up to the referendum in 2016 and the strategies that the Vote Leave campaign used to convince the public as well as the United Kingdom parliament to leave the European Union. Directed by British director Toby Haynes, Benedict Cumberbatch plays the main character in the film, Dominic Cummings, who was the main political strategist for the Vote Leave campaign. The film begins with a disclaimer saying that some aspects of the film are fictional, but the overall plot is very much nonfiction and depicts real events. The playwright for this film knew that he had to create a film out of Brexit and said that “Something went wrong in that campaign. It was an angry, shouty, violent, toxic, awful way to conduct politics.” I think this sums it all up perfectly and the film itself definitely captured these feelings.

This film gives an in-depth behind-the-scenes look into the Leave and Remain campaigns along with their different strategies to target voters and sway their opinions. Dominic Cummings was recruited by a group of Leave supporters to form Vote Leave and use extremely targeted social media advertisements to reach any and all voters as well as undecided voters too. Cummings butted heads with the older generations of British members of parliament (or MPs) and insisted on teaming up with AggregateIQ, a Canadian political consultancy and  technology company, to make sure Vote Leave ads were finding the right people and gaining supporters to their side. Vote Leave spent £3.9m on their work with AggregateIQ, which was more than half of their £7m budget. In fact, more money was spent with AggregateIQ during all of this than with any other company. In addition, Vote Leave also gave Veterans for Britain and BeLeave, a youth Leave campaign, £100,000 and £625,000, which they spent with AggregateIQ. Vote Leave reached citizens by strongly and consistently pushing the idea of independence and taking back control of their country. They even used false narratives and unverifiable data in their ads and messages to convince voters. Although unethical, this is what got Vote Leave over the finish line and the United Kingdom out of the European Union.

According to The Guardian, AggregateIQ’s involvement with Vote Leave and the decision to leave Brexit broke privacy laws. A watchdog report even said that “When the company used and disclosed the personal information of Vote Leave supporters to Facebook ... it went beyond the purposes for which Vote Leave had consent to use that information.” Brexit: The Uncivil War depicts this in a scene where one of the heads of the remain campaign calls out Cummings for the way him and the rest of Vote Leave were spreading false news and numbers to gullible voters online. This unethical behavior and dismissal of the privacy laws set in place by the British government is reminiscent of the ideas and concepts discussed in Finchelstein’s article Populism in History. He states that some common features of populism include a weak understanding of the rule of law and a self-presentation of its standing for true democracy and against imaged or real forms of dictatorship or tyranny. This is clearly shown in the event of Brexit and everything that led up to the referendum.

As we know, the Vote Leave campaign was run by and backed by many populist leaders such as current Prime Minister Boris Johnson. They wanted to make the people afraid and make them feel as if voting to leave the EU was their only option and their saving grace. This is another idea that Finchelstein talks about in his article. He mentions how populists often describe an apocalyptic vision of politics that present electoral successes. This is exactly what populists involved in the Vote Leave campaign were doing, especially with the different media strategies that Cummings employed online.

Overall, I think that Brexit: The Uncivil War is a good film that is incredibly intriguing as well as informational. It gives viewers a lot of insight into what was really going on behind closed doors in the months leading up to the referendum. From the race for the designation between Leave.EU with Nigel Farage and UKIP and Vote Leave with Dominic Cummings to Boris Johnson endorsing Vote Leave to the head-to-head battle for votes to the final - but very narrow - results of the referendum, this film explains the entire timeline in a very easy-to-understand and interesting way. This film also really helped me understand and grasp a lot of concepts I previously didn’t understand as well. However, many claim that this film didn’t do a good job of accurately and fairly portraying certain events or people. Critics were displeased to see Boris Johnson perceived as a protagonist and believe that Farage wasn’t portrayed as the “shit-stirrer” that he really is. Obviously, this film is just one of many that will probably emerge out of this historical event and we’ll probably get to experience all sorts of different perspectives. After all, Brexit is a war, and we are only at the beginning.

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Remain vs. Leave UK Brexit Infographic

Comparing the two different sides of Brexit, or the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union in 2016, this infographic covers the different reasons why voters chose to either Remain or Leave as well as what type of people voted which particular way. In the end, the UK voted to leave the EU by just a few percentage points. This decision has proved to be a controversial one in UK politics, making both sides of the argument interesting and worthwhile to research.

Link to higher quality infographic is here.

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Profile: UK Populist Leader Boris Johnson

A prominent populist leader in the UK is the current Prime Minister Boris Johnson since 2019. He’s famously known as one of the key figures in the UK’s decision to leave the EU, or Brexit. He’s also been the leader of the Conservative Party since July 2019. Starting off as the Mayor of London in 2008, Boris Johnson has had an extensive career in UK politics and has a lot of experience under his belt. With this comes criticism. Boris Johnson has faced a lot of criticism for the way he’s involved in politics as well as his personal image and how he portrays himself. However, he still has loyal supporters and is successful in what he does as a populist leader. Whether it’s in public or on social media, Boris Johnson always finds a way to spread his ideas and beliefs.

Boris Johnson and Populism

One thing Boris Johnson is known for is keeping people guessing and this doesn’t exclude his politics. Johnson was one of the most prominent figures in the Brexit vote and helped gain supporters on the Leave side of the debate. He constantly pushes the idea of us vs. them and has been compared to Donald Trump in the way that both of them have framed their battles as populist crusades.” Both Johnson and Trump know how to mesmerize voters and step into their role as a sort of savior or hero to their party. They claim that they’re the only ones who can put out the fire that they themselves actually started in the first place.

Boris Johnson fashions himself as the ‘Vox Populi’, or voice of the people, by creating this idea to the public that he is on their side fighting for them and can be their voice. In reality, Johnson has been criticized for being an opportunist who cares more about winning power than actually leading a nation and helping its people. Many populist leaders try and relate to the people in their party and identify with their struggles. Mudde and Kaltwasser say in their book Populism: A Very Short Introduction that Vox Populi “consists of two distinct but interrelated processes: (1) separation from the elite and (2) connection to the people” (Mudde and Kaltwasser, 2017). Boris Johnson has done this many times by claiming to bring about a ‘new government’ to the people that would fit their needs despite his own party already having been in office for nine years.

Boris Johnson’s populist approach reminds me of some of the aspects of populism that Finchelstein gives in From Fascism to Populism in History. One being the notion of the populist leader as a personification of the people and another being the self-presentation of standing for true democracy and against imagined or real forms of dictatorship and tyranny. Finchelstein even gives the example of the European Union here. Boris Johnson attempts to be a personification of the people and relate to his party in order to maintain their support. He claims that he wants to fix the government for the people yet he only seems to want to help people who are like him. He has a long history of sexism, racism, and bigotry over the years so it’s hard to believe that his claims and promises are true. 

In the article titled Us vs. Them: The Birth of Populism, Judis describes rightwing populists as “championing against an elite that they accuse of favoring a third group” (Judis, 2016). Judis also describes rightwing populism as triadic: looking upward but also down upon a certain group. This all checks out when it comes to Boris Johnson in the UK. He looked down upon the ‘elites’ in the EU and pushed for the UK to leave. As previously mentioned, Boris Johnson also has a history of bigotry. He continues looking down upon groups such as women and African Americans and he has displayed Islamophobia in the past as well. He antagonizes other groups and seeks to isolate his party, much like Donald Trump and other populist leaders around the world do.

Boris Johnson and the Media

Like many other politicians and populist leaders, Boris Johnson is no stranger to the Internet and social media. Boris Johnson has social media accounts such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. but is nowhere near as chaotic and dangerously unpredictable as Donald Trump is on social media. However, Boris Johnson has his fair share of controversial moments on social media. For example, he recently put out a tweet congratulating Joe Biden on winning the US presidency, but if you look closely at the photo, you can see the word Trump right behind Biden’s name. This indicates that Johnson was expecting and hoping for Trump to win and it’s no secret that Johnson and Biden don’t get along either.

In relation to Brexit, Boris Johnson was known for supporting the Vote Leave campaign and encouraged the spread of anti-elitist and often racist and xenophobic messages on social media and in the press. This is unsurprising given that Boris Johnson and other rightwing populists in the UK have reputations of racism and xenophobia.

Another interesting way that Boris Johnson attempted to gain support for Brexit using social media would be through his use of an advertisement released in December of 2019 parodying the movie Love, Actually. This advertisement depicted Boris Johnson in a humorous and likable light yet was still spreading his populist message of leaving Brexit and urging voters to vote conservatively. He used buzzwords and slogans such as “let’s get this done” and telling voters that their vote would make “all the difference.” It was a successful campaign ad and was discussed globally, making it all the way to Australia. This ad was a creative one that Johnson’s team decided to do to grab the attention of voters and put out something new and different. I’d say they managed to do just that.

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Event Analysis: Brexit in the UK

One of the most well-known and widely talked about populist events in recent history would have to be the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union in 2016. Infamously known as Brexit, or British Exit, the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU mainly over concerns regarding immigration. It’s clear that Brexit was influenced by populist leaders who saw immigrants as a threat; a classic “us vs. them” mindset. Populist leaders such as current Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage voted in favor of leaving the EU and encouraged voters to follow their lead. The Leave campaigners spread their populist message to “take our country back!” and displayed clear dissatisfaction with the current establishment in the UK.

Why Did the UK Leave the EU?

The United Kingdom voted to leave the EU in 2016 due to a vote that came down to 51.9% opting to leave the EU. This vote followed many populist campaigns run by leaders in favor of Brexit such as Vote Leave, Leave.EU and Grassroots Out. Leaders such as current Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage successfully convinced the population to vote Leave. They claimed that voting Remain would mean living in fear even though there were logical reasons why the UK should’ve remained in the EU.

Immigration was a prominent factor in the vote to leave the EU. The UK seemed to have a good control on immigration flow from Eastern Europe but people were more concerned with the refugee flow coming from Syria, Afghanistan, and North Africa. The Leave campaigns spread their message of anti-immigration through ads that showed people at the Eastern European borders and refugees attempting to get into the country. Their ads suggested that radical measures needed to be taken in order for the UK to reassert control and get their country back. For them, Brexit was invested with hopes and dreams, of refound sovereignty and control, freedom and liberty.

Concerns from Remain Campaigns

Former USA President Barack Obama warned the UK that if they ended up leaving the EU that the United Kingdom would be put at the back of the line when it came to future trade talks with the USA. The most prominent Remain campaign group was known as British Stronger in Europe. The Prime Minister at the time, David Cameron, also backed the movement. Other Remain campaigners were concerned with the financial costs and economic risks that would come with leaving the EU. But why did the Remain campaigns fail to convince voters?

Why Remain Campaigns Failed

The Remain campaigns involved with the decision for the United Kingdom to leave the EU failed to convince more than 50% of UK voters to vote Remain. There’s a couple reasons why this occurred. Firstly, UK voters simply had more trust in leaders such as Leave campaigner Boris Johnson and weren’t convinced by Prime Minister David Cameron that leaving the EU would damage the economy. In addition, the UK people weren’t convinced that their country had benefitted from the EU in the past.

Brexit Related to Populism

Brexit can be seen as a populist event in UK’s history since it had populist leaders on the Leave side with the “us vs. them” mindset along with the idea of taking their country back. This reminds me of Mudde and Kaltwasser’s definition of populism. In their book Populism: A Very Short Introduction, they make a clear distinction between “the people” and “the corrupt elite.” In the case of Leave campaigns, “the people” would be the UK population and “the corrupt elite” would be the EU.

The event of Brexit also reminds me of the different features of populism that Finchelstein describes in his book What is Populism in History? He describes populism as an apocalyptic vision of politics which is how Brexit campaigns on both the Leave and Remain sides felt about it. Finchelstein also describes populism as speaking in the name of the people and against the elite, which is how both campaigns felt as well.

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UK Special Issue Brief: Xenophobia

A major problem that the United Kingdom is currently dealing with is xenophobia. Xenophobia can be defined as the fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners. Unfortunately, this isn’t only an issue in the UK; many countries across the globe have issues with xenophobia, which ties into immigration. One of the most recent instances of xenophobia in the United Kingdom would be when the government made the decision to leave the EU, otherwise known as Brexit. This move by the government created a lot of backlash and new problems having to do with xenophobia, which I’ll be discussing further.

Brexit and Xenophobia

Because of Brexit, it was unclear to what extent EU law-derived human rights protections would be maintained in the UK. In fact, xenophobia, austerity, and overall dissatisfaction to politics at the time very well contributed to the Brexit vote. This was especially true for EU residents who were currently living in the UK. Refugees and asylum-seekers also face xenophobia during this post-Brexit time in the United Kingdom due to the country’s restrictions on family reunion. These restrictions include not allowing families to reunite with their children over 18 years old. This is a classic example of xenophobia, fearing the idea of immigrants coming into your country so much so that you refuse to allow them to reunite with their own families. Something similar has been going on in the USA for a while now with families separated at the border and children being put into cages.

Polish Migrants Face Xenophobia

Another xenophobic consequence of the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the EU would be the negative effect it had on Polish migrants trying to come into the country. In the past, Polish migrants were actually considered desirable to the UK since they were seen as “invisible” due to their whiteness, but this has recently changed. After the economic crisis in 2008, Polish migrants began to be used as the scapegoat for UK job shortages and unemployment. Post-Brexit, Polish migrants have faced a lot of xenophobia and hatred when coming to the United Kingdom. Some tabloids even used the term “Polish Invasion” to describe Polish migrants. This reminds me a lot of the populist idea of “us vs. them.”

UK Citizens on Immigration

There’s statistics to back up these claims about xenophobia in the UK. In 2014, it was found that 17% of respondents wanted to allow no immigration from poorer European countries while 31.9% wanted to only allow “a few.” In addition, 84% of respondents chose a 6 out of 10 about the importance of speaking the country’s official language. Respondents seemed to be convinced that immigrants take out more than they put in to the country that they’re migrating to.

Conclusion

Overall, the UK has a pretty restrictive immigration system and seems to have no real goals to attain multiculturalism. This is interesting considering the UK, Britain specifically, have more citizens in their population with a multiple national identity. It’s quite clear that the United Kingdom has a problem with xenophobia in their country and populist ideas definitely play into it.

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Media Landscape Brief of the UK

The United Kingdom is similar to the United States of America in the way that media is utilized and the influence it has on its people. The UK has a reputation of public service broadcasting and are somewhat infamously known for their creative tabloids and news magazines. The media is free to report on all aspects of British life and culture and all viewpoints and perspectives are allowed and encouraged. This is a healthy system for a country to have in place so every voice and opinion can be heard. In regards to false news reports and misinformation, the UK seems to have just as many issues as the USA.

Social Media

Social media is widely used in the UK with about 66% of the population (44 million people) having a social media presence in 2018. It’s assumed that that number has risen since in 2020, social media usage and penetration in the UK was up to 71.64%. Social media is used in the UK much like in the USA. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat being some of the most popular. However, social media is also used as a vehicle to spread misinformation, or fake news. In fact, fake news is spread on social media sites, particularly Facebook, often enough that the UK parliamentary committee commenced an enquiry to try and halt the spread.

Broadcasting

Mass media is very much present in the UK and influences a lot of its culture. One of the most powerful and well-established media companies in the UK is the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). This public service broadcaster is actually the oldest national broadcaster yet faces some competition from other mass media companies such as ITV plc, the country’s primary television channel operator, and Sky Group, a media and telecommunications conglomerate. Broadcast television is huge in the UK and the country relies heavily on it for news and other forms of entertainment.

Press Freedom and Challenges to Journalism

The United Kingdom is a free country where press is allowed and encouraged. An example of this is BBC being editorially independent and simultaneously competitive with other media broadcasters yet still facing challenges from leaders such as Prime Minister Boris Johnson who considered decriminalizing nonpayment of BBC’s non-license fee during his re-election. Though the UK is a free country with press freedom, the population does have its fears. One being increased government surveillance, which the USA and many other countries face as well. Overall, the UK is pretty good at upholding press freedom in their country and although journalists do face some challenges, things could be a lot worse in this department.

Media and Populism

Many populist leaders and movements easily connect with the people and their followers through many different outlets, the most common being social media. “Social media savviness has in fact been a characteristic of many populist movements and dark horse candidates, both on the right and on the left” (Gerbaudo, 2018). Nigel Farage and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) along with other populist leaders have utilized social media to spread their message and push for an “us vs. them” mindset. According to Gerbaudo, “social media has favored populist against establishment movements by providing the former a suitable channel to invoke the support of ordinary people against the latter” (Gerbaudo, 2018). The Internet is a place where individuals go to join communities and find people with similar interests as them, meaning it’s the perfect place for populists to congregate together. Much like Donald Trump, Nigel Farage takes to Twitter quite frequently to spread his populist message. These populist leaders routinely criticize and attack journalists, other world leaders/movements, and the mainstream media. Their goal on social media is to discredit them and sway public opinion to become more divisively populist.

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Political Landscape Brief of the UK

The United Kingdom is made up of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The government system is a constitutional monarchy, which means that the head of state is executive and the monarch personally exercises their power. The Head of State is currently Queen Elizabeth II who rose to the throne in 1952 while the Prime Minister is Boris Johnson who gained his power in 2019. The UK wasn’t always a constitutional monarchy, though. It wasn’t until the 17th century that the UK was officially established as a constitutional monarchy. Before this, the UK was considered a Parliament ruled by a king. However, populism is also commonly seen in UK politics, especially as of recently with Brexit, or the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union.

Brexit and Populism in the UK

Brexit was a largely controversial and widely discussed political event all across the globe in 2016. Brexit, or British exit, is an example of populism in the UK since there was a distinct narrative of “the people” vs. “the corrupt elite.” In the case of Brexit, the EU was seen as built to keep power and control with the elites rather than the people. One problem with Brexit was that it seemed to frame “the people” as predominately white and male, ignoring the diversity of the true working class in the UK altogether (Mondon & Winter, 2019). Brexit and the Brexit Party are just one example of populism in the UK; there are other populist movements and leaders within the UK.  

Populist Leaders in the UK

One of the more prominent populist leaders in the United Kingdom is the current Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. He’s a well-known populist leader who played a major role in Brexit. Johnson has always had a desire to attract working class voters. His rise in British politics has also always shown a receptiveness to the populist signal (Flinders, 2020). Another well-known populist leader from the UK is Nigel Farage, a British politician who has been serving as the leader of the Brexit party since 2019. Although his views are clearly of a populist nature, Farage simply states, “You call it what you want to call it.” Populist leaders often find success in rallying up supporters since their ideas of"us vs. them” are so strong and uniquely unifying for those who agree. However, it’s just as easy for them to create enemies on the other side.

Challenges to Rights-Based Democracy

Since the UK left Brexit officially in January of 2020, it remained unclear as to how the UK would handle and uphold human rights protections. As far as issues regarding racism and intolerance in the UK, Northern Ireland has been pushed by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) to create a comprehensive Equality Act, yet it seems that not much progress or agreements have been made on this. However, in 2019, the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act was put into effect. This act was intended to update the counter-terrorism measures within the UK, but some believed the response was excessive. Under this act, border authorities are allowed to stop, search, and detain people at the UK borders. The British government also decided to remove British citizenship from people who had travelled to Syria or Iraq.

Another area where the UK struggles with rights-based democracy is with torture and ill-treatment. In June of 2019, the UN Committee Against Torture concluded that the UK government failed yet again to meet the Convention’s obligations. This seems to be an ongoing and continuous problem for the UK. In addition, the UK struggles with extreme poverty and is often criticized for their post-Brexit immigration policy and practice.

Something that the UK did succeed with was passing legislation to decriminalize abortion in Northern Ireland in 2019. Under this legislation, there was enabled access to abortions in certain cases and the government agreed to fund travel and healthcare costs for women who needed abortions. Although the UK has made positive strides in the realm of women’s rights, the government still falls short in providing sufficient protections for women. For example, in 2019, a Domestic Abuse Bill was introduced to Parliament without ensuring the safety of migrant women, despite recommendations and pushes from parliamentary committees. The UK must work on these rights-based areas if they want not just a better global reputation, but happier and healthier citizens overall.