parish pump politics

Definitions

Political activity that is more evidently concerned with addressing the immediate needs of the local electorate than with strategy that might affect the national interest.

Ireland, UK, derogatory, informal, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Never avoid⟳ bars or smoke-rooms, because in the former case you miss⟳ the chance of marrying a flirt, and in the latter of having your mind⟳ improved by local parish-pump politics, and your head broken by a fool in his cups.”

“Unfortunately, the parish-pump politics this perpetuates is congenitally unsuited to deal⟳ with the demands of a modern European society.”

“Where others looked at Canadian regionalism and saw⟳ a fruitful and admirable diversity of human experience⟳, Laskin saw⟳ petty fiefdoms, parish pump politics, and constricted horizons.”

CEFR level