Professor AC Grayling

THERE was, Professor AC Grayling told a sold-out event at the Hay Festival, a senator in France “who said Trump is the only bull in the world who takes his own china shop with him wherever he goes”.

And while this may be a light-hearted piece of commentary, Grayling, who came to speak about his new book, For The People: Fighting Authoritarian­ism, Saving Democracy, was deadly serious. “Authoritarian politi­cians want the incon­venience of democracy swept aside,” he said.

From the undermining of the rule of law to the undermining of democracy, Grayling spoke of the real-time threats we face from authoritarianism – and what we can do to fight it. “The fact is authori­tarian sentiments are on the rise,” he said. “What lies at the heart of dem­ocracy is the authority for govern­ment comes from the expressed consent of the people.

“The democratic order, civil liberties and the rule of law are in the interests of the country. Nobody is above the law – so somebody who should be in prison is not in the White House.”

He pointed out how a 20th-century post-war consensus that held democracy as the goal for nation states is being attacked, reduced and pressured.

“At the beginning of this century there were more democracies around the world than autocracies,” he said. “That’s because after World War Two, countries wanted to become democracies. They looked to the US and western Europe, they looked at the flourishing economies and they wanted to emulate them.

“The word democracy is such a feelgood word, even the worst regimes use it – The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea. This is no longer the case – the number of democracies in the world is falling, and autocracies are on the rise.”

He told the audience there were four key reasons democracy as a concept of governance was under pressure. “We need to think carefully about what we wish to preserve and how we defend ourselves – and to do so we need a clear understanding of our problems,” he said.

“We need to recognise the problems within democracies that cause dissatisfaction. It is seen as not delivering enough for people’s aspirations and needs, trapped in political divisions that reduce its responsiveness to social and economic difficulties.”

The second element is that multinational corporations are out of the control of individual nations and cause harm that democracies cannot counter. The third element is how alter­native forms of nation states have gained an appeal – he cites the cases of China and Singapore, which have authoritarian govern­ments but strong economies. The fourth strand is based on a concerted and deliberate attempt to undermine democracy by groups who use interference and misin­formation, pow­ered by new technologies.

Grayling critiqued how the party political system creates a loyalty to a different cohort than the people – the party machine.

“The pressures created by large franchises and disciplined parties means that there are going to be people who become very sceptical and disappointed at what happens within government,” he said.

“Organised factional politics has invaded government. Just look at Prime Minister’s Question Time – it is all about scoring points.”

The fact the electorate are told lie after lie has made democracies work harder and harder, he added, highlighting how basic lies about immigration have skewed public discourse.

“The facts are immigrants are not a burden on the economy, they add to it,” he said.

“For every £1 spent, immigrants put in £1.75. They are here to contribute, not freeload. Of course a few do – in every society there will always be a percentage who do not pull their weight for one reason or another – but to focus attention on that is a mistake. In the modern world, the idea put forward by the far right is the culture of a nation should be homogeneous.

“That is a form of economic suicide.”

• For The People: Fighting Authori­tar­ian­ism, Saving Democracy. By AC Grayling, One World, £12.99