have backed their party regardless . They were the voters who would have backed an orangutan if it had had a smart haircut and a blue rosette . At best , a few apathetics had been persuaded to go to the polls by that nice man who did the BBC documentary on the invention of the steam train .
The young man , however , had reached out to an altogether different class of voter , and he didn ’ t have to stand on a doorstep in the pissing rain to do it . He had joined the party while at university because he wanted a job , but he was already a big deal in politics – a version of politics which the old man could not begin to fathom . Through his socials he connected with a demographic whom the party had long since written off as non-participants at best and lefties at worst – the young .
The elderly voters they spoke to on the doorstep were often disgruntled , or weary , or peeved , and the old man was convinced that he could convert that sentiment into votes . As energy transfers went , it was an inefficient one – like trying to run the national grid off a paper windmill . They had their pensions and savings , and no one was going to take those away from them . There might be a few too many potholes on the roads , or a few too many brown faces on the highstreet , but broadly speaking , their interests were already spoken for .
Meanwhile , with the teenage boys the young man encountered online , there was a red hot core of rage just waiting to be tapped . These boys knew they were angry , but they did not yet know what , or whom , they were angry at , and that was what made them so useful . Because the young man was handsome and charismatic and funny , but the right kind of funny – less Alan Bennett and more Jimmy Carr – and that was all it took . While the party was sitting comfortably on terra firma , huddling around the meagre warmth of the campfire , singing Kumbaya , the young man was busy pounding the hard rock bottom – fomenting resentment and rage and siphoning off the noxious byproduct to be bottled and brought to bank . Not that the party had thanked him for this . What he wouldn ’ t give for a little fracking gratitude .
‘ All I ’ m saying is that there ’ s a real appetite out there for radicalism – our members wouldn ’ t have chosen her otherwise – and if we ignore it , then –’
‘ Radicalism ?’ The old man snorts derisorily . ‘ You ’ re starting to sound more like the other lot . People don ’ t vote for us for radicalism .’ ‘ At the moment , people don ’ t vote for us at all .’ ‘ The wheel turns , and it will turn again . You learn this when you ’ ve been in the game as long as I have . Right now , people are excited by the prospect of shaking up the system with progress and principles and equality .’ He pauses . ‘ It isn ’ t , I should add , that these aren ’ t noble
Won ’ t Win , Will Win 40