Recent YouGov polling has unveiled something remarkable about Britain’s favoured political ideologies.
Even though the Conservatives have been historically dominant and every other news story appears to concern Reform UK, most Brits are actually far more progressive than the establishment is letting on.
While populism is favoured by just 13 per cent of the population and nationalism by fewer than a third (29 per cent), environmentalism (64 per cent), feminism (56 per cent) and liberalism (41 per cent) are the most accepted political beliefs.
The results conflict starkly with the national media output, where an over-use of right-wing opinions and guests is commonplace.
Research by Loughborough University has proven this to be true over the past three elections at least, with Nigel Farage managing to become the third-most ‘covered’ politician in the country in the run-up to July 4th – even though his party returned just five MPs.
Thankfully, there remains a sturdy cohort of steadfast and determined women who have campaigned passionately to keep issues such as social justice, environmentalism and feminism in the public eye.
We profile them all below:
Carol Vorderman / Anti-corruption
Former Countdown star Carol Vorderman says she felt compelled to speak out about the sorry state of British politics during the Covid-19 pandemic as the extent of the cronyism crisis became clear.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, she said: “There were wonderful people, good human beings, trying to help other human beings, yet for others it was a time of immense greed.
“I can’t get my head around it.
“To defraud the scared and the dying is the lowest you can go.
“And it was enabled by a Tory government that has never aplogised, not ever.
“Well, they say, we were doing our best but NO, NO, NO, NO.
“Doing their best would have been finding someone who said, ‘I think I can get access to PPE but I don’t want any profit, just my cost covered’.
“Not, ‘I’ve got this shell company, or I’ve just made up a company, and I want to make millions of pounds out of it’.
Baroness Jenny Jones / Environmentalist
When the Conservatives successfully moved to curtail the right to protest in the UK there was only one person standing in the way; Baroness Jenny Jones.
The Green Party peer tabled a fatal motion after the government used a Ministerial decree to overturn a vote in the House of Lords.
It was the first time ever that the government has tried to use secondary legislation to directly overturn the will of Parliament.
Unfortunately, Labour peers were nowhere to be seen on the day and the legislation sailed through.
Zoe Gardner/ Humanitarian
Misinformation surrounding the asylum debate has allowed the government to dangerously skew public discourse on the matter.
A September 2021 Committee gave Jonathan Gullis the opportunity to raise questions over why migrants don’t simply stay in the first safe country they reach rather than travel to the UK, as is parrotted by much of the right-wing press.
Thankfully, Zoe Gardner was on hand to expertly put him back in his box.
She later recalled similar opposition in this interview with The London Economic.
Marina Purkiss / Jemma Forte
Marina Purkiss and Jemma Forte have been vocal campaigners against the Conservative Party’s shocking track record in government, using their popular podcast ‘The Trawl’ to speak out about crucial issues.
Purkiss has also been particularly vocal on the UK’s damaging split with the European Union and the effect it is having on people day-in-day-out.
Here’s her most recent TLE interview:
Grace Blakeley / Economist
Corruption hasn’t been far away from UK politics over the past decade, and it extends far beyond the cronyism crisis we saw during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Here’s Grace Blakeley explaining how tax havens are so easily abused by the super-rich:
Ava Evans/ Political Correspondent
PoliticsJOE political correspondent Ava Evans is the eyes and ears inside Westminster and has been a vocal critic of the government’s asylum policy and the UK’s split from the European Union among other things.
Here she explains why the latest bid to resurface Ascension Island plans is nothing more than a waste of time and money:
Ash Sarkar / Political Correspondent
Privatisation of essential services in Britain is widely viewed as an outright disaster – that is unless you are a shareholder of said companies, in which case it has been an absolute triumph.
At the heart of the fightback to reclaim the industries UK taxpayers once owned is Novara Media’s contributing editor, Ash Sarkar.
This Question Time appearance exposes how privatisation broke the water industry:
Deborah Meaden / Entrepreneur
Brexit has dealt a hammer blow to UK businesses, with a fresh avalanche of rules and taxes set to hit them from October.
Environmentalist and businesswoman Deborah Meaden has been at the forefront of the charge against Britain’s split with the EU, outlining the damaging impact it is having on commerce and, as a result, people’s livelihoods.
Her ‘take no prisoners’ approach has seen her win plaudits from across the political divide.
And if videos like this are anything to go by, they are very much deserved.
Susanna Reid / Broadcaster
Susanna Reid is an unwitting entrant on this list, namely because her balanced and unbiased reporting means that she is not anti-government per se.
But her relentless pursuit of honesty and transparency in public debate has made her a key figurehead in Britain’s political awakening, a position that is neatly shown in this clip featuring a clash with the home secretary of the United Kingdom: