It is an observation of holistic political economy that our politicians are out of step with what people think with all that entails for disengagement and disillusionment. The war in Gaza can be added to the list of things that throws this into high relief. The the ICC issue of arrest warrants (and their rejection even though we are signatory) demonstrates, once again, how "the west" is seen as hypocritical on issues of justice and out of step with reasonable world opinion. Circa 27 June 2024, postscript added.
These two things are things illustrated by recent articles.
Internal tensions
The first observes that the ruling of the ICC will “increase pressure on the UK and the US”. The article "UN’s top court orders Israel to halt Rafah offensive" https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/24/icj-orders-israel-to-halt-rafah-offensive-new-ruling
So why does it create pressure? Kier Starmer likes to emphasise how much he has changed the Labour Party. However its constitution (much debated by those who support public ownership) still says; “Labour is committed to the defence and security of the British people and to co-operating in European institutions, the United Nations, the Commonwealth and other international bodies to secure peace, freedom, democracy, economic security and environmental protection for all”
We might, based on this, naively expect Labour to present a robust summary of how it will live up to this and support the ICC in full, especially during an election campaign where issues of security have been raised by the outgoing government party leader.
The fact that Labour doesn't make this case is puzzling. Elsewhere it has been pointed out that the big story about the local elections was the success of independents who made more gains than Labour. So on pragmatic grounds (seeking to maximise the vote) we might have expected more. This whole issue shows just how easy it is to lose one's moral compass by continually hedging - its isnt reasonable, moral or justifiable to fix a wrong by creating a bigger wrong and hiding behind the (so called) rules of war.
Foreign Policy
It is not about us and our parochial politics, it is a foreign policy issue.
Commentators have noted that the US possition is likely based on creating an anti Iran grouping (majoring on Israel and Saudi Arabia). Nesrine Malik covers the instant dismissing of calls for Netanyahu’s arrest, pointing out that the west is undermining its own world order (and long term best interests) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/27/icc-israel-benjamin-netanyahu-arrest-warrant-us-west
She concludes: "One day, the Gaza war will be over. And what will confront Israel’s allies is a world in which that logic, now plainly stated, is rejected once and for all. The stakes are higher than they realise. They will reap not only moral disgrace, but the crumbling of their entire postwar world order."
It's hard to disagee, except perhaps to note that the rules based world order was always more apparent than real.
Political Misalignment
Politically what's on the menu is out of alignment with what people want and what we need. This is on everything - raising the money, running and funding public services, democracy and accountability, climate policy, reducing it to managing the current settlement better (will be a relief from the circus) but wont solve underlying problems far off what is needed.
This Venn Diagram by Richard Murphy captures the issue (ok its not a Venn diagram but who cares).
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/05/25/venn-diagrams-for-our-times-the-government-we-need/
I heartily recommend his blog especially if you are tempted to believe we cannot afford to do the right things.
Postscript, as of 23 June 2024
The Labour Party has said that it will obey the rulings of the ICC.
As we are now in the last stages of the general election one take this at face value and say about time, or wonder if the "Gaza" effect is biting and showing up in the labour parties internal polling.