Politics on the street: Postcard from Portugal on how UK political communications is evolving

It was a cacophony of honking cars and hand-held horns that seemed as sure to antagonise the surrounding population as me mentioning on every Teams call that I’m working remotely from Portugal over the course of October.

And yet, far from some kind of hostile takeover of this small seaside town in the Algarve, the convoy outside my window was in fact campaigning as part of the Portuguese local elections.

The convoys weren’t the only very visible signs that electoral politics was underway; the streets are lined with posters and billboards, full of (mostly) men in suits, political slogans and party emblems. Indeed, I’ve seen as many hammer-and-sickles on roadside banners over the past month as I saw when I was at university in London during the protests against the coalition government’s decision to increase tuition fees.

It adds up to an unmissable reminder that an election is underway. That citizens need to think about the options on offer, engage, and vote.

It's made me think a lot about how we communicate our politics. What’s normal in one country – such as convoys of cars that can be heard miles away – would be unimaginable in another. 

But at a time in which trust in the UK political process is at an all-time low, there’s good reason to rethink how we do politics. 

And the UK is beginning to have this conversation. But it’s currently one-sided and, as a result, feels accidental and unguided.

Over the past six months, many people in England have grappling with much more visible flag-bearing. Those flags represent the intentions of the people who put them up – much like, in the corner of the world in which I grew up where the kerb stones are painted red, white and blue – and are a visual representation of politics. Whether you like or agree with those politics or not, or feel as instinctively uncomfortable with what they represent as I do, they’re a reflection of the world we’re in right now and a sign that how we often do politics as a society (i.e. often trying to pretend it’s not happening) is not going to cut it.

In an era where misinformation and disinformation are rampant, where trust is low and disillusionment is high, and where society faces existential crises from the climate to artificial intelligence, we need a much more grown-up political conversation, and we need people to be involved in it.

The next generation of political leaders needs to learn how to be street-fighters – both in approach and in tone – willing to present a strategic vision and to drive a convoy through a small town, honking their horns to get people to turn out, and make their cases face-to-face. 

It’s what Nigel Farage and Zack Polanski (and, to take a trip across the Atlantic, Zohran Mamdani) are doing so well right now; will the traditional parties of government catch-up?