The landslide victory that Boris Johnson won in 2019 was substantially boosted by Nigel Farage’s decision to withdraw Brexit party candidates from seats with incumbent Conservative MPs.
With defeat looming on the horizon, many Tories would like a repeat of that favour from Reform UK, the current iteration of the movement that started as Ukip. Richard Tice, a leader often seen as a placeholder in expectation of a Farage comeback, ruled out any such pact on Wednesday.
Ultimately, they are worried.
Reform UK is a tiny outfit whose influence in Westminster is amplified out of all proportion to its single-digit poll rating. Tories are obsessed with it because a relatively small-scale defection of voters can cost them a lot of seats. Also, the fringe party is lavished with uncritical attention from Conservative-leaning media. Mr Farage has his own show on GB News.
Ultimately, they are worried. And since when was 10% single digits? Bear in mind that Ukip got to 14% and gave David Cameron enough jitters to trigger a referendum on our EU membership. Reform’s polling is similar to the LibDems, who are considered the third party, so hardly a tiny outfit. The Guardian, with its usual pomposity is belittling a significant proportion of the electorate here – a chunk of people who will never vote for a mainstream party again.
Mr Tice lacks Mr Farage’s strengths as a performer and struggles to convert his unearned airtime into relevance. The election agenda he set out on Wednesday is a wild mishmash of nationalist and libertarian demands – reckless tax and spending cuts; rejection of any effort to battle climate change; reducing net immigration to zero.
What’s not to like? Swingeing tax and spending cuts are only reckless to those who are busy sucking on the taxpayer’s teat. Those of us footing the bill are all in favour of getting rid of the parasitic deep state and its hangers-on. As for climate change, when they think that screwing the tectonic plates together or stopping sunspot activity is achievable, they can try to stop it. Until then, it will do its thing. Anyone who wants to stop the insane net zero bullshit gets my vote.
No responsible government could implement such a programme, but the joy of fringe politics is the liberty to advocate preposterous things without any expectation of having to make them work. The tragedy for Britain is that, via Brexit, the ethos of policymaking in wilful defiance of reality has captured the country’s oldest established party.
Trying to control the climate is the very epitome of reality denial. Fuckwits.
The Groan could very easily write a similar article about its beloved Green Party and its looney policies.
They say that they can control the climate.
But they never ask us, the plebs, what Climate we would like.
That picture of Britain, even North Britain that they tried to scare us with, ten, fifteen years ago, with grape vine rows and olives growing in our gardens appealed to me.
They can’t even fix the fucking potholes in the roads, or control the borders.
Why people believe the government can control the climate is quite beyond me.
Idiocracy.
Spot on Mr Hammer, I hope it gets tropical, sick of cold and rain.
The headless chicken response to covid and the lunatic pursuit of Net Zero policies indicate that we haven’t had a “responsible” government for years. Not that the Guardian would agree of course.
Some people appear to be a bit rattled. Reform can surely only benefit from panicky articles like this appearing in the MSM. Since Labour’s proposed policies are even more batshit crazy than the Not Conservatives, I don’t think that they have any reason to be happy about Reform either.
“The election agenda he set out on Wednesday is a wild mishmash of nationalist and libertarian demands…”
But if Reform managed to achieve a couple of them they would be far more effective than the current lot or their political alternatives.
They didn’t say too much about Reform’s threat to Labour (the party that once championed the genuine working class and now despises them), if Reform were such a danger to the fake Tories wouldn’t the Grauniad be encouraging them, which begs the question why is the Groan in the least concerned.
Despite deciding through disillusionment with all of the bastards to never vote again have now decided i will vote for an alternative (not lab or lib or green) party if by doing so it could help bring about the complete destruction of the Tory party before it manages that fully on its own.
Reform looks like its the one.
See in other news that bod Henry Bolton has been denied Toryparty membership, he claimed in the GB news interview i watched to have expelled 6000 patriots who wanted to stop immigration from UKIP whilst simultaneously telling everyone about his expertise in border control, no i couldn’t balance that either.
“Reform’s polling is similar to the LibDems, who are considered the third party, so hardly a tiny outfit.”
If the media didn’t have double standards they’d have no standards at all. Here in Scotland, the Tories have never been smaller than the third party at Holyrood, yet the country was gleefully declared a “Tory-free zone” whilst the fourth-placed LibDems were in coalition with Labour.
And does the Guardian’s disdain for fringe parties with “single-figure” poll numbers extend to the likes of, for example, our current ruling coalition, whose “Climate Change Minister”’s party won its seats on a whopping 8% share of the PR vote? I make that a good two points less than Reform’s current polling.
“…if Reform were such a danger to the fake Tories wouldn’t the Grauniad be encouraging them…”
That’s a really good question. Don’t the lefties at the Guardian want the Tories to lose?
So, to summarise, there is the square root of naff all difference between the Conservatives (who have comprehensively failed to conserve anything at all other than Labours policies implemented the last time) and labour (who have championed everyone else’s interests other than native British people and have the politics of Student Grant – a character from Viz comic). If you don’t like what either party stands for and what they are doing to the country, DO NOT vote for anyone different …
OK, message received and understood.
The Tories seem to be under the impression that people who intend to vote for Reform would switch to the Tories if Reform withdrew. I suppose some would, but I think most would do what I would do: vote for some other “small” party or if no suitable alternative presented itself, write “A plague on all your houses” or something rude on the ballot paper. I can’t see myself voting blue Labour.
Exactly, when i get to the polling station if there’s no alternative other than the Uniparty, it will be hard choosing between writing NOTA or bollocks or drawing a cock and balls on the ballot, am drawn to the last two, think it was ‘bollocks’ last time can’t remember for certain.
I wrote “I hope you all die” on one of mine.
Before belittling minor parties, it’s worth remembering that past policies of the Monster Raving Loony Party included . .
Votes at 18
Abolishing the dog license
Pet passports
24-hour licensing
Legalising commercial radio
Gay marriage
All are now fully implemented in UK law. It’s a long game.