Some disconnect in the logic here:

Phoney populism
Don’t pander to the ordinary bloke’s addiction to cars

Please do correct me if I’m wrong but “Populism” is usually thought of as pandering to the wishes of the electorate. That is, oddly enough, one of the things we expect politicians to do. I’m not sure that doing so could actually be called “phoney”. Must be something to do with the bien pensant worldview where, as we all know, the populace are too dim to understand what they should really want, rather than what they do want.