What really drives Britons, these godless haters of modern politics? We’re about to find out

Soon after Shostakovich started writing his Seventh Symphony in 1941, Leningrad was besieged by the Nazis: the start of two and a half years of unimaginable deprivation. The composer carried out fireman duties while continuing work on his masterpiece, before being smuggled out of the city to Moscow. In 1942, his score was performed in Leningrad – and also in the UK at the Proms.

What an occasion that must have been. Listening to the Seventh being performed this week by the Hallé Orchestra at the Manchester Festival (brilliantly conducted by Jonathon Heyward), it was impossible not to be moved by the passion, despair and sense of doom unmissable in the music.

This is not a work with a happy ending; in Russia there was no positive outcome for anyone – particularly Shostakovich, who eventually fled to America.

Perhaps I feel gloomy because Britain also seems to be in a siege of sorts (although one not comparable to the horrors of the Second World War). But we have slid – inexorably – into a situation where politicians speak and yet no one believes them. Mentally, we are in lockdown.

There are two contenders for our next prime minister, neither of whom would be the people’s choice if there was an open ballot. Voters are disillusioned with the whole business of government, insulted by a television debate in which one of the two participants refused to answer questions, choosing to lead viewers on a magical mystery tour. “Believe in me!” he says, but why should we?

Shostakovich had a rich musical heritage to draw upon, along with deep patriotism for his country and hatred for Stalin. Listening, we are left in no doubt of his fundamental beliefs. Commitment and honesty, meanwhile, are qualities that seem pretty thin on the ground in modern British politics. Anyone who dares to be different (such as Rory Stewart) comes across as weird; a bit of an oddball.

Boris Johnson has bags of passion but no policies: big loud words with no meaning, catchphrases and bombast but no master plan. What does he believe in, other than his giant ego? Jeremy Hunt picks away on the sidelines, making much of his “business credentials”, but this is the man whose handling of the NHS caused nationwide anger and several junior doctors’ strikes. Does he really have anything to shout about? What does Hunt stand for, quiet efficiency? You could say that about a stapler or a washing machine, not someone who must galvanise and unite the British people.

Brexit looms over everything like a giant poison cloud, paralysing action on all fronts and driving businesses to despair. Much has been made this week of the slowing down of liberal thinking in the UK (particularly that the number of people who support gay marriage has slightly dropped), revealed in the 36th British Social Attitudes Survey. But there’s another, more worrying trend at the heart of the statistics: it’s hard to understand what British people believe in.

According to the survey, organised religion is steadily losing its appeal. More people than ever – 52 per cent – say they don’t have any religious beliefs. When the survey started, in 1983, two-thirds of respondents said they were Christian. Now the figure has slumped to just over a third. The number of people who believe “very strongly” remains the same, but there’s been an unrelenting decline in the number of “soft” believers. That’s in spite of recent initiatives to make Christianity appear “relevant”. The Church of England now accepts debit cards for donations, and this week issued a set of “digital commandments” via Facebook in order to fight “cynicism and abuse” on social media.

Only one in 100 of those aged between 18 and 24 said they belong to the Church of England, while two-thirds of us say that sex between same sex couples “is not wrong at all” – that’s the scale of the problem facing the Anglican Church, which refuses to allow gay priests. It makes one wonder why they are still entitled to pack the House of Lords with so many bishops when they are so out of step with the real world.

If it seems the Church has lost the battle to engage with mainstream modern Britain, Johnson and Hunt symbolise the same disconnect in politics. The British Social Attitudes Survey also revealed that ties to traditional political parties have declined from 44 per cent to about a third (35 per cent).

So what exactly drives and guides us in modern Britain, then? Is it the need for wealth? The need to own stuff? The desire for friends and social acceptance? And, if we are a broadly secular nation, then we have to take care that minorities who do “believe strongly” do not become dangerous extremists.

We must be tolerant, but the signs are not good. Students may not want to hear about anything they find “offensive” or “unacceptable”, but dissent and disagreement are essential to a rich and rewarding society.

There’s a big vacuum at the heart of British society. Perhaps we have the politicians we deserve – for now at least – until someone has the guts to start a centrist movement that truly resonates with the majority of the population.