The Strange Birth of Middle England

Abstract

This article investigates the political meanings of a now ubiquitous media term 'middle England'. It explores its origins in the historical idea of the middle classes as politically moderate, beleaguered and put-upon; and more recently in a neo-conservative, anti-elitist populism, which aims to short-circuit traditional political processes and speak directly to a nominally homogeneous, but actually carefully targeted, 'people'. It argues that the concept of 'middle England' reached full political maturity in the 1990s when increasingly slick party machines began to articulate and exploit these ideas through private polling and focus groups which concentrated on crucial swing voters. 'Middle England' is a product of the increasingly close, but fractious, relationship between these party machines and influential tabloid newspapers, particularly the Daily Mail.