The Thornberry sacking – not just about social snobbery

David Green, 21 November 2014

Emily Thornberry has been sacked as a Labour shadow minister because she was a snob, but it’s not just that she feels socially superior to ‘white van man’, she also feels morally superior. Moreover, it’s not just her. She embodies the mindset of the Westminster elite that has sparked the recent rebellion against the mainstream parties. Many voters have sensed the disdain of politicians in the Thornberry mould – if you hold different views about public policy you are not just mistaken, you are a sinner. Her views are those of ‘the righteous ones’, and any disagreement puts you on a lower moral plane. That is why Ms Thornberry has always been among the first to label as racist anyone who wants a sensible immigration policy.

UKIP’s success is being widely interpreted as a reaction to the Westminster elite that refuses to grant legitimacy to the concerns of ordinary voters and the Thornberry tweet encapsulated what is truly objectionable about its mindset: they sees themselves as the elect and everyone else as the damned. In earlier times they would have been religious zealots who were quick to persecute people for petty departures from rigid doctrine.

One of the best explanations of political righteousness is Thomas Sowell’s The Vision of the Anointed. He shows the difference between trying to do the right thing and being sanctimonious, and why it matters.  Above all, feeling morally superior impairs the thinking self by blocking unwelcome facts from  the mind. The ‘righteous ones’ think unlimited immigration is a good thing but their minds are closed to any facts that contradict their expectations. If the ‘unrighteous’ say that it causes wages to fall for the lowest paid workers, or that it makes it harder to see your GP, or to get your child into the local school, they must be exaggerating, perhaps lying.

The righteous mind fights off discordant facts with indignation. Opponents of immigration must be evil, with accusations of ‘racism’ as the current favourite. Psychologists call the unwillingness to face uncomfortable facts cognitive dissonance. Instead of being self-critical and open-minded, elites who feel morally superior are ‘in denial’.

Widespread mistrust of the Westminster elite is thoroughly justified: people who have lost the capacity for self-criticism will not make good legislators. Ms Thornberry’s world is one of political apostates and heretics and Mr Miliband was right to remove her.