The Guardian - 01.08.2019

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:9 Edition Date:190801 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 31/7/2019 20:45 cYanmaGentaYellowbl

Thursday 1 August 2019 The Guardian •

9

Peter Walker

Political correspondent

I

t is, Downing Street has been

briefi ng, the government’s new

mantra: boosterism. There are,

however, three slight issues

with this: it’s not clear how

well the strategy works; the

word actually means something

slightly diff erent; and that defi nition

is not particularly fl attering.

Let’s start with how Boris

Johnson’s team appear to view it: as

essentially an economic credo, to be

laid down in the autumn budget, of

spending heavily on infrastructure

while also cutting taxes. As such it

combines fi scal stimulus – putting

“rocket boosters” under the

economy, as No 10 insiders have

reportedly briefed – along with a

Jessica Elgot

Chief political correspondent

Labour’s Emily Thornberry has said

the party would be “off our bloody

rockers” not to seize the chance to

remain in the EU via a second refer-

endum, in an interview which put her

at odds with comments from Jeremy

Corbyn over the weekend.

Speaking in Australia, the shadow

foreign secretary said all her meet-

ings in the country had underlined

how much better off the UK would be

inside the EU.

“People that I’ve spoken to here

appreciate that, and I have to say prac-

tically all of them ... have said if we get

an opportunity to remain in the Euro-

pean Union, we should take it. Because

more nebulous attempt to gee up

confi dence in growth, much as

Johnson is trying to do for Brexit.

Economically, this sounds like a

philosophy with a longer and fairly

chequered history: Reag anomics.

As US president, Ronald Reagan

boosted growth with his tax-cuts-

and-extra-spending combination,

but also saw public debt soar, and

inequality widen, as the promised

“trickle down” eff ect of tax cuts for

businesses and the wealthy failed

to materialise.

The secondary element of the

Johnson defi nition – talking up the

economy – is at least closer to the

accepted historic use of the word,

though again the connotations are

by no means always a compliment.

In North American usage,

“boosterism” is the heavy

promotion of a place, or person, with

a hint of hyperbole, even huckster-

ish tendencies. In the US it has

been most associated with eff orts

to support small towns through

new buildings, infrastructure or

gimmicks. Historically it has been

linked to attempts to infl ate local

property prices, perhaps excessively

so, tempting unwary investors.

T hese days it is often associated

with breakneck gentrifi cation , a

similar process except the new

money, gimmicks and sudden

unaff ordable property prices are

intended to revitalise a once-

prosperous area.

Recent pre-Johnson uses of the

term by the Guardian have tended

to focus on this sense of talking up a

place or project perhaps beyond the

realms of realism.

Perhaps the most famous, and

fundamental, use of the word is

less favourable still – in Babbitt, the

popular if idiosyncratic 1922 satirical

novel by the writer and social

reformer Sinclair Lewis.

George F Babbitt, the eponymous

protagonist, is a real estate salesman

in the fi ctional midwest city of

Zenith, where trade is bolstered by

the creed of boosterism – talking

up the city’s virtues to increase

local fortunes. Such was the novel’s

initial infl uence that for a period

“Babbittry” was used as US slang for

a sort of over-infl ated sales pitch.

Babbitt proudly wears a badge

proclaiming membership of the local

Boosters’ Club, a sort of masonic

lodge meets chamber of commerce,

around which much of his business

and social life revolved.

The novel describes his

disaff ection with this cosy,

bourgeois life. Babbitt initially

preaches conventional morality, but

then begins an aff air.

Eventually, and this could,

arguably, be the point where the

modern connection is broken, he has

a crisis of confi dence and resumes

his conventional life.

Boosterism What is PM’s new

mantra – and who inspired it?

Thornberry

‘We’d be off our

rockers’ not

to seize chance

of referendum

if we don’t, we’re off our bloody rock-

ers,” she said.

On Sunday Corbyn, the Labour

leader, said the party would cam-

paign for a second referendum and to

remain in the EU if the prime minister,

Boris Johnson, was proposing a no-

deal Brexit but would “re open talks

with the EU” about a Brexit deal if it

won an election.

Asked personally whether he would

prefer to remain in the EU or leave

with a Labour-backed deal, Corbyn

declined to make a choice. “Invest-

ment, jobs, trade and equality, both in

or out of the EU. I want those things,”

he said.

Thornberry told Sky News Australia

a second referendum should apply to

“any deal, or no deal, or whatever this

government comes up with ”.

She added: “It should be put back to

▼ Sinn Féin’s leader and deputy
Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle
O’Neill, centre, join protesters outside
Stormont PHOTOGRAPH: LIAM MCBURNEY/PA

▲ Above, Boris Johnson arrives at
Stormont; above left, Arlene Foster
and Nigel Dodds address protesters
PHOTOGRAPHS: COLM LENAGHAN/PACEMAKER/GETTY

the British people so they can be asked:

is this what you voted for? Because if

you did, that’s fi ne. But we don’t think

it is what you voted for.

“I’m fi rmly of the view that Labour’s

policy should be that whatever deal a

government comes up with – no ifs, no

buts, as Boris Johnson says – we should

put it back to the people, we should

have another referendum, and that

Labour should campaign to remain.

“When I’ve been talking to peo-

ple here in Australia ... what’s really

come home to me is that one of the

reasons for the increased success of

the Australian economy ... is that you

increased your trade with your clos-

est neighbours, and yet in Britain what

we’re doing is walking away from our

closest neighbours and our biggest

trading allies.”

This year Corbyn fi rmly committed

the party to backing a referendum on

no deal or a Tory Brexit deal, but went

further after the EU elections, saying

that if a future Labour government

were to negotiate a Brexit deal, that

would be put to a referendum too.

The party’s current position is to

back remain over no deal or any Tory-

brokered deal, but Corbyn has left

open the option of Labour backing

leave in a referendum on a deal nego-

tiated by a Labour government – or

potentially remaining neutral.

▲ The shadow foreign secretary fi nds

herself at odds with Jeremy Corbyn

▲ Ronald and Nancy Reagan at his fi rst inaugur ation in 1981: ‘Reaganomics’

boosted growth but saw public debt and inequality rise PHOTOGRAPH: CORBIS VIA GETTY

that he would have a limited under-
standing of the complexities and the
fragility of this place and those con-
cerns have been confi rmed. It is very
clear he views and understands the sit-
uation through the eyes of the DUP.”
Downing Street said Johnson “told
all of the parties he was determined
to bring this process to a successful
conclusion and would do everything
he could to make it happen”.
It said that in all Johnson’s meetings
he “made clear that the UK would be
leaving the EU on 31 October come
what may, and restated his intention
to do so with a deal. He said that in all

scenarios, the government is stead-

fast in its commitment to the Belfast

Good Friday agreement and that in no

circumstances would there be physical

checks or infrastructure on the border.

“He also made clear his belief and

commitment in the rigorous impar-

tiality set out in the Belfast Good

Friday agreement, while at the same

time reaffi rming his determination to

strengthen the union and Northern

Ireland’s place within it.”

However, McDonald said she was

sceptical about Johnson’s supposed

neutral role. “He tells us that he will

act with absolute impartiality. We’ve

told him that nobody believes that.

Nobody believes that because there

are no grounds to believe that there

is any kind of impartiality, much less

strict impartiality.”

She said Johnson needed to stop

being “the DUP’s gofer”. “We’ve made

clear to him that the ongoing indul-

gence of the DUP and rejectionist

unionism needs to stop.”

The DUP chief whip, Sir Jeff rey Don-

aldson , speaking earlier on BBC Radio 

4’s Today programme, said he believed

there was a signifi cant chance of a no-

deal Brexit, which he blamed on Irish

and EU intransigence. He also played

down the prospect of a border poll.

“I think given the response of

the Irish government in particular,

who I believe are key to this issue of

addressing UK concerns about the

backstop, I think the prospect of a no

deal is signifi cant,” he said.

Donaldson said warnings of 40,

job losses in Northern Ireland were at

the “very high end of the scale ”.

Johnson spent Tuesday night

dining with Donaldson, the DUP

leader, Arlene Foster, and her deputy

leader, Nigel Dodds, which No 10

sources said was a discussion about

the DUP’s confidence and supply

agreement with the Conservatives,

not Northern Ireland power-sharing

talks. The Northern Ireland secretary,

Julian Smith, was not present.

Johnson talked to the Irish

taoiseach, Leo Varadkar , on Tuesday

afternoon, the first time the two

leaders had spoken since he became

prime minister, with the pair clashing

over the re opening of the withdrawal

agreement.

‘Our concerns have

been confi rmed:

Johnson understands

the situation through

the eyes of the DUP’

Nichola Mallon

SDLP deputy leader

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