Centrist dads: introducing the new bugbear of online Corbynites Amid the permanent revolution of left-wing social media, a new term has emerged. It’s used to describe a particular type […]

Amid the permanent revolution of left-wing social media, a new term has emerged. It’s used to describe a particular type of opposition to online Corbynites. Wherever there is radical politics; where Brexit is mentioned; wherever a woman has something to say about policy, they’ll be there: the centrist dads.

Read more Slugs and melts: inside the language and culture of the Corbynite left The i politics newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

Dawn Foster, a Guardian columnist who regularly finds herself subject to the onslaught – and once claimed “I will never stop describing my enemies as a centrist dads” – explains:

“It’s a term used to describe certain behaviour I’ve seen a lot more of since the EU referendum and especially the election,” she says.

Explaining politics to women

“It is targeted more at women my age and younger, and is always condescending and quite snarkily aggressive.” Dawn Foster

“It is targeted more at women my age and younger, and is always condescending and quite snarkily aggressive, essentially ‘explaining’ politics to women who know plenty about the political landscape but hold different opinions.”

The intellectual roots of centrist dad-ism come from the time before Corbynism when the Labour Party appeared to have lost the argument about austerity and the economy.

The “Corbyn is unelectable” theory fits snugly in ‘dad-ism’ – and it hasn’t quite figured out the next step since the snap election.

The ‘dads’ are not quite Tories – they’re often left-wing on social issues – but they really just think we should go for the compromise option rather than the radical one, nine times out of ten.

Grown up and sensible

“I found it a handy term, as lots of middle-aged men were endlessly in my mentions explaining that centrism was ‘grown up’ and ‘sensible’,” says Foster.

“They are having the equivalent of a political mid-life crisis” Matt Zarb-Cousin

According to Matt Zarb-Cousin, a former Jeremy Corbyn spokesman and an unapologetically combative tweeter, centrist dads are “middle-aged men who cannot come to terms with the world, and politics, changing”.

“They are having the equivalent of a political mid-life crisis, lashing out at primarily young people on the left that, based on the most recent general election, appear better able to understand the concept.”

“However, centrist dads remain in denial, thinking they must know better because they are are older and wiser.

The centrist dad is ultimately a figure of some pity, however, rather than a bitter enemy of the leftist.

A source of amusement

“They are therefore a source of much amusement despite their abusive tone,” Zarb-Cousin says.

There are sniffs of moderates attempting to reclaim the term centrist dad, with comedian Andy Dawson getting behind the term after a row with left wing columnist Owen Jones.

Foster thinks that might be a wise move.

“If they want to reclaim it, good for them,” she says. “Me and others used it more because obviously when people get angry about a term it becomes far funnier.”

Of course, “centrist dads” as a term of abuse is quite specific to these types of interactions.

Blair and Hedges

Not every father who is a moderate necessarily qualifies as a “centrist dad” – it’s to do with the willingness to interject and the total confidence in the righteousness of their cause.

Latter-day Tony Blair, who wants to negotiate with Donald Trump but warns against Bernie Sanders, probably counts.

The purest distillation of the concept is Simon Hedges, a parody account of the archetypical media figure who presents himself as a concerned member of the liberal left – but in practice ends up supporting every conservative policy in the book.

“Ideologically pure Corbynites unhappy that I’m a Labour candidate just because I’ve voted Tory in the past and also will on June 8th,” he tweeted before the election.

He’s an “authentic voice of Sensible Labour & Quality Journalist”, according to his bio – and he’s also a practising centrist dad, as revealed by the acrostic he tweeted: