We’ll never find the heir to Blair

The ghost of 1997 haunts the 2024 election. The defining image of this year’s contest, barring any major upsets over the next fortnight, is already clear: Rishi Sunak drenched like a drowned chipmunk outside 10 Downing Street as he called the snap election. ‘Things Can Only Get Better’, Labour’s ’97 campaign anthem, was blasted out in the background. It was a pitiable sight: Sunak looked hapless, luckless and friendless. A John Major for the 21st century.

Like many people of a conservative temperament, I am often accused of living in the past. Maybe you get that thrown at you, too. A particular twist of this castigation is that one is nostalgic for ‘a time that never existed’ (usually the 1950s). But surely that is true of all nostalgia? The citizens of Britain in 1974 (strikes, bombings, power cuts) would be astonished to discover that anybody would be thinking fondly of their era, including their future selves.