Something else that doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it should is the fact that left-coded political policies—higher minimum wages, stronger unions, higher taxes on the rich, more robust social safety nets—are actually really popular with the public in places like the US:

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/working-class-and-college-educated-voters-want-new-progressive-economic-policies/

So when US Democrats or UK Labour tack right to try to capture vote share from their reactionary opponents, they’re making really, obviously foolish choices.

We’re left to conclude that these parties are either really, catastrophically bad at politics, their entire reason for being, or that their leaders genuinely prefer reactionary policies, want reactionary parties to win, and prefer support by right-wing voters over appealing to the left.