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\n

LONDON \u2014 England is on the cusp of joining the World Cup\u2019s final eight, and hope is tentatively starting to spread that this month could finally end 60 years of hurt for a nation that has come home emptyhanded from every tournament since.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s Westminster Insider podcast<\/a> explores the strange but powerful relationship between soccer and politics \u2014 and the unwritten rules politicians should follow if they want to use the unique emotional power of the beautiful game to their advantage.<\/p>\n

1. Get your timing right<\/b><\/p>\n

It looks highly likely that Andy Burnham will become Britain\u2019s new prime minister on July 20 \u2014 just one day after the World Cup final. If England were to lift the trophy, Burnham\u2019s first day in office would coincide with a wave of national euphoria. History suggests this could be somewhat helpful to a new prime minister.<\/p>\n

Ten days before England\u2019s 1966 World Cup triumph, Prime Minister Harold Wilson introduced an emergency package of tax rises and spending cuts as Britain grappled with inflation and economic pressure. Morale was low.<\/p>\n

Then came Geoff Hurst\u2019s hat-trick and England\u2019s glorious win over West Germany. England\u2019s victory at Wembley gave the country a huge psychological lift \u2014 and boosted the standing of the government. Richard Crossman, then leader of the House of Commons, said in his diaries there was \u201ca big change in Harold\u2019s personal position.\u201d<\/p>\n

But if Burnham is hoping for a well-timed World Cup-inspired polling boost on arrival, he should be aware that there are obvious risks if England doesn\u2019t go all the way.<\/p>\n

In 1970, Wilson had hoped another deep England run would help create a feel-good factor before a general election. Instead, England surrendered a two-goal lead to West Germany in the quarter-finals just four days before polling day.<\/p>\n

Home Secretary Roy Jenkins reported after canvassing that voters were despondent \u2014 less about the economy or immigration than who was to blame for England\u2019s defeat. Wilson lost to Ted Heath\u2019s Conservatives.<\/p>\n

The electoral impact of the 1970 World Cup disappointment is still the subject of debate, though an intriguing fact has only added to the folklore: English voters swung more towards the Conservatives than Scotland and Wales.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 It\u2019s more than a game<\/b><\/p>\n

Playwright James Graham, creator of the hit play and BBC TV series \u201cDear England,\u201d argues politicians often underestimate soccer\u2019s deeper social importance.<\/p>\n

Amid the \u201chollowing out\u201d of British civic life \u2014 declining high streets, weakened public spaces and fractured communities \u2014 the soccer stadium is one of the few places left where people still gather physically and collectively, he says. So it matters not just every two or four years during major tournaments, but every single week, shaping people\u2019s routines, their communities and even their identities.<\/p>\n

When people support their club, they are investing in something bigger than themselves: shared rituals, symbols, songs and belonging. \u201cYou have to turn up in person and in proximity with your physical community,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Graham argues that politicians who understand this are more likely to connect to voters in what he sees as an age of growing disconnection, as people\u2019s lives are increasingly shaped by AI, growth targets and digital life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a powerful opportunity to show the kind of country we are,\u201d says Labour MP Kim Leadbeater. \u201cThe very best of people coming together.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Be authentic<\/b><\/p>\n

No discussion of the potential peril of mixing football and politics is complete without mentioning David Cameron.<\/p>\n

The former prime minister \u2014 supposedly an Aston Villa supporter \u2014 famously claimed to support West Ham during the 2015 election campaign.<\/p>\n

He later blamed a \u201cbrain fade\u201d \u2014 but the damage was done.<\/p>\n

Scarlett McGwire, political commentator and former Labour adviser, says authenticity is everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the reasons it\u2019s so important for politicians to be authentic is there\u2019s this myth that politicians always lie,\u201d she says. \u201cIf they\u2019re not authentic, people think: if they\u2019re lying about this, they could be lying about everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soccer fans can smell performative fandom instantly. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage recently faced criticism<\/a> after posting what appeared to be recycled football content from Euro 2024 during this World Cup.<\/p>\n

Writer and journalist Adrian Goldberg says when politicians are genuine fans \u201cfootball can just be a little bridge between the electorate and the prime minister.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although this didn\u2019t seem to help genuine Arsenal supporter Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n

4. Remember the home nations<\/b><\/p>\n

Navigating loyalties across the United Kingdom \u2014 which fields four separate national teams \u2014 is hard.<\/p>\n

McGwire recalls former Prime Minister Gordon Brown\u2019s advisers deciding he was \u201ctoo Scottish\u201d and working to place a Daily Mail story about how he cheered on the English team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was completely set up,\u201d she says. \u201cNobody believed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scottish Labour backbench MP Brian Leishman \u2014 a long-suffering supporter of the Tartan Army \u2014 is less concerned about courting England fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be intolerable if England won the World Cup,\u201d he says. \u201cI would hate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That result could boost support for Scottish independence, he adds \u2014 only half-jokingly.<\/p>\n

5. There is no single football audience<\/b><\/p>\n

Soccer teams are cheered on by a wide range of people \u2014 from younger fans to older traditionalists, England obsessives to club loyalists, politically engaged supporters to those who simply want politics kept out of the game.<\/p>\n

It has grown more difficult for politicians to balance them without stumbling into divisive culture-war debates. Goldberg argues the controversy over players \u201ctaking the knee\u201d during the Black Lives Matter protests in the early 2020s left fans on the terraces divided.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were some fan bases where taking of the knee was booed, there were others where it was embraced and others where fans were kind of somewhere in the middle around that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

That makes targeting your desired crowd crucial. Farage and his Reform UK party appear to be seeking the support of football fans with a campaign of turquoise football shirts, and visits to clubs like Ipswich Town.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON \u2014 England is on the cusp of joining the World Cup\u2019s final eight, and hope is tentatively starting to spread that this month could finally end 60 years of hurt for a nation that has come home emptyhanded from every tournament since. This week\u2019s Westminster Insider podcast explores the strange but powerful relationship between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25357\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}