Name: Fareed’s Take: The lesson Dems should learn from Japan and UK
Uploaded: 2026-02-15T22:00:35.000Z
Duration: 5 min 30 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

What do two striking political facts tell us about the mood of the world today?

In Japan, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has just won the largest parliamentary majority in the history of the long dominant Liberal Democratic Party.

In Britain, Keir Starmer, who swept into office a year and a half ago, has sunk to the lowest popularity ratings ever recorded for a British Prime Minister.

On the surface, the stories seem unrelated.

One leader rides a landslide, another struggles to stay afloat.

But taken together, they reveal something deeper about the current political moment.

After the tumultuous premierships of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, years marked by Brexit aftershocks, ethics scandals, fiscal panic and revolving door leadership, Starmer offered something different.

He was the keep calm and carry on candidate.

He promised seriousness, stability and competence.

He would rebuild institutions, appoint capable ministers and restore Britain's standing abroad.

He would handle America's volatile politics with quiet firmness.

No drama, no ideological fireworks, no just adult supervision.

And by conventional measures, he delivered.

Markets stabilized, Cabinet government returned.

Within months, Starmer's net favorability ratings plunged into deeply negative territory.

The promise of seasoned competence took a blow when one of Labour's most prominent figures, P.

Peter Mendelssohn, long seen as the ultimate insider, faced renewed scrutiny over his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

For many voters, that episode reinforced a suspicion that restoration meant the return of the same interconnected elites they had already rejected.

The deeper problem for Britain is structural.

Immigration has been the rocket fuel of populism across the West.

Britain recorded net migration of nearly 950,000 in the year ending in March 2023, an astonishing figure for a country that had voted for Brexit partly to take back control of its borders.

Cosmopolitan elites appeared in many voters eyes to have mismanaged the issue.

Add to that Europe's long flirtation with austerity.

After the 2008 financial crisis, Britain, like much of Europe, embraced fiscal restraint.

Spending was squeezed, public investments cut and real wages stagnated for much of a decade.

GDP per capita lagged far behind the US which opted for much larger stimulus packages during the recession.

The result was a slow burn malaise that eroded trust in the political class.

Takaichi ran not on managerial calm, but on confrontation.

She spoke in fiery tones about immigration.

Even though Japan's foreign born population hovers around 3%, a fraction of Britain's, she warned of cultural erosion and social strain, she took a harder rhetorical line on China.

She promised disruption in economic policy.

After decades of cautious incrementalism, the electorate rewarded her with the largest majority the LDP has ever received.

Japan remains, by global standards, a patriarchal society.

A woman leading the government is itself a rupture.

The image signals change, even if the party machinery beneath remains intact.

In an era hungry for novelty, symbolism carries power.

There are real differences between Britain and Japan.

Japan never experienced immigration on the scale that destabilized Western politics, nor did it embrace austerity in the European style.

It did suffer from economic stagnation in recent decades.

the causes and effects were different from the austerity induced stagnation that fueled Western anger.

These structural contrasts matter, but they may matter less today than atmosphere.

Across advanced democracies, incumbents struggled at unusually high rates in 2024, a big year for global elections.

They are less interested in policy detail than in emotional validation.

Japan's prime minister has shifted the vibe.

Despite her party's longtime dominance, she projects motion, disruption and defiance.

In calmer times, that contrast might favor Britain.

The appetite for rupture may fade once its costs become clear.

But for now, in countries as different as Britain and Japan, the mood is unmistakable.

In an age of anxiety, voters prefer rebellion to restoration.

As the Democrats look forward to the midterms, they should keep this in mind.

Go to fareedzakhariya.com for a link to my Washington Post column this week.