For once, Britain’s reliably right-wing public is not on the Tories’ side

Trade union barons bringing the country to its knees is the sort of thing that turns even the most centrist of centrist dads into a raging Thatcherite. But there is an overwhelming sense of ‘Not this time’

This Christmas, don’t send anyone a card or a present. Don’t get ill or have an accident. Don’t go and visit anyone, either – not by bus or train, or plane, or even by car. Postal workers, NHS staff, bus drivers, train drivers, driving test instructors and UK border staff are all striking.

But here’s the curious thing: where’s the anger? Trade union barons bringing the country to its knees is the sort of thing that turns even the most centrist of centrist dads into a raging Thatcherite. But there is an overwhelming sense of ‘Not this time.’

Inflation is still soaring, the cost of everyday items becoming ever more terrifying. Over the weekend I had to turn my smart meter round to face the wall, so panic-inducing was it to look at it 20 or 30 times a day. (I have never managed to work out how to edit the pre-programmed “weekly budget” figure. Last week, I had exceeded it by 11am on Tuesday.)

The days when the late Bob Crow would lock the whole of London’s workforce out of its offices every six months or so, causing mass economic damage in an effort to, in the eyes of most people, strong-arm Transport for London into giving even more money to already very well-paid train drivers, just don’t seem to be repeating themselves this time round.

Everybody, frankly, needs a pay rise. For the very large majority of people, life is tipping over into becoming straightforwardly unsustainable. Amidst all this, there appears to be a genuine sense, at least among some Tory MPs, that the desperate actions of ordinary workers are a chance to make politics at Labour’s expense. But it isn’t going to work this time.

It should be abundantly clear that there is anger out there at the government, and, generally speaking, sympathy for the strikers. If that has gone unnoticed, it is because sympathy is harder to spot than rage. People are not furious with nurses and posties and bus drivers for holding their Christmases to ransom. Their fury comes from the same place as their general sense of despair – that such bad government, for such a long time, has brought us all to this point.

Rishi Sunak’s response has been to call in the army. Ten years ago, when I was covering London 2012, I recall the army being brought in to solve the security crisis after the contract with G4S went very badly wrong. It was a tremendous success. Olympic ticket holders were patted down and scanned by men and women wearing the Queen’s uniform, rather than private security contractors.

Some service personnel were angry that planned holidays had to be cancelled. But most of those I spoke to at that time were more than slightly delighted at suddenly being called upon to do their bit for what turned out to be such a seminal national triumph (they also got quite a lot of free tickets).

To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment, sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking here

That is not quite the same as being called upon to have your Christmas ruined to cover for badly treated public service workers. Dim right-wing TV interviewers take great delight in asking union bosses whether or not they are Marxist, rather than engaging with any of the real issues. But if you happen to think it’s an outrage that the government is strong-arming one set of its poorly paid, badly treated workers (the army) into undermining strike action by another set, then you might find that both Marx and Lenin have articulated that rage for you many times over.

The numbers don’t even seem that shocking. In the past week, Sunak has indicated that to give all striking workers the inflation-linked pay rises they are requesting would cost the average household £1,000 a year. Frankly, I’d have guessed at a higher figure. After we spent two years standing on our doorsteps clapping and cheering for such people, there is a general sense that money should be put where our mouths once were.

People can feel the basic infrastructure of the country crumbling around them. The nine-hour waits for ambulances, the three-week waits for doctors’ appointments, the dysfunctional trains. And people are not so stupid as to not understand that one part of the remedy to those problems is to pay the people involved more money. That their struggle has become our struggle.

Negotiation is Sunak’s only hope. Blaming others won’t work. For once, Britain’s usually reliably right-wing public is not on the Tories’ side.