Reform are up in the polls because the LibLabCon are so utterly useless and corrupt NOT because of anything clever they are doing. Reform couldn't run a bath, never mind a superior political party. They are a one man band with no recognisable Shadow Cabinet, no Spokesmen or women. Unless they change fast, they will not save Britain from the looming catastrophe.
Your right of course but it just shows how far out of touch mainstream political parties have now become that people are now considering voting for Reform
Tend to agree with you Mrs B. My feeling is that the inherent tensions in Reform will lead to there being ONE Reform PM and four Independent MPs by the end of this Parliament. They are already squabbling.
Reform are a protest vote. UKIP were the same but in their case their success was that they made membership of the EU such an issue that Cameron HAD to make calling a referendum a manifesto priority. Once that was won, UKIP dissolved and largely morphed into Reform.
Even the SDP in the 80s finally came a cropper, and that was created by the ‘gang of four’ - all of whom had been MPs from the same party but ultimately with differing political stances. They flashed in the pan, but as much as anything were destroyed by Thatcher’s apparent success in the Falklands War (although very few ever seemed to challenge her on her governments culpability for its starting in the first place!) and sank into increasing irrelevance before being subsumed into the Liberals, its only real legacy being the ‘democrats’ part of the Liberal Democrat’ name. I suspect the future holds a similar fate for Reform with the Tories playing the part of the Liberals.
I have long thought that Reform would limit its appeal if seen as a Thatcherite Tribute Act. But maybe this will be out of date? I don’t think Farrage is that ideological and some of his interviews at least nod to working class concerns. He needs to breach the Red Wall if he wants to do more than divide the Tories. Also he will follow his idol, Trump, who seems to triangulate trade unions and tech bros, oil workers and billionaires, staunch Christians and libertarian gays. It’s weird and incoherent but maybe, maybe, there is a just enough of a winning formula? Maybe family, flag and free speech will do their bit? The other factor is that Britain is seriously broke and has been brought to this pass by the two main legacy parties who will not be trusted to clear up their own mess.
All Reform needs is a few Blue Labour types not to tilt the party but to force it to be genuinely popular, and populist.
Whether we like it or not most people still rely on MSM and BBC for their news 'input' who have branded Reform and Farage as racists (wrongly). So I think Reform will really have to work hard to get their name across. Plus Starmer is determined to remove our rights to vote as we've already seen with local council election gerrymandering. We have a dictator in No 10 with a very large, undeserved majority. Getting him out and a return to any form of democracy is going to be an uphill struggle.
The challenge is whether Reform can evolve to be a party that engages and listens to voters. That in essence re-engages with the reality of what democracy means. That would entail some pretty big shifts from its current MPs and leadership, almost along the lines of the new conservative thinking coming out of America (more nation based snd recognising the need for those who work to actually have work that pays enough to live on). The ‘left’ have been wholly captured by progressivism and vacated the field. The Tories, as far as they seem to have a strategy, are planning on moving leftward and then blackmailing voters with an “either it’s us or Labour” message. If they do, I hope my fellow countrymen would rise to the challenge and vote anyone but the establishment - a plague on all their houses!
Excellent points here that Reform's only attraction to working-class voters is the immigration issue and that, if Labour gets a grip on this - particularly stopping employers from using it to drive down wages - then any electoral threat from Reform will be diminished.
But as well as getting a grip on immigration, Labour also needs to set out a robust social-democratic economic and political agenda. This needs to be - as you point out in your article - based on renationalisation of key utilities, limiting (or even banning in some cases) imports of items we can manufacture here, investing heavily in rebuilding our manufacturing sector and investing heavily in skill/craft apprenticeships for our youngers. While also making clear that we will never rejoin the EU or adopt any of its policies.
These are the kinds of solid social-democratic policies which can be best for our country and our people and also ensure that any growth in support for Reform comes only at the expense of the Tories.
Reform are up in the polls because the LibLabCon are so utterly useless and corrupt NOT because of anything clever they are doing. Reform couldn't run a bath, never mind a superior political party. They are a one man band with no recognisable Shadow Cabinet, no Spokesmen or women. Unless they change fast, they will not save Britain from the looming catastrophe.
Your right of course but it just shows how far out of touch mainstream political parties have now become that people are now considering voting for Reform
Tend to agree with you Mrs B. My feeling is that the inherent tensions in Reform will lead to there being ONE Reform PM and four Independent MPs by the end of this Parliament. They are already squabbling.
Reform are a protest vote. UKIP were the same but in their case their success was that they made membership of the EU such an issue that Cameron HAD to make calling a referendum a manifesto priority. Once that was won, UKIP dissolved and largely morphed into Reform.
Even the SDP in the 80s finally came a cropper, and that was created by the ‘gang of four’ - all of whom had been MPs from the same party but ultimately with differing political stances. They flashed in the pan, but as much as anything were destroyed by Thatcher’s apparent success in the Falklands War (although very few ever seemed to challenge her on her governments culpability for its starting in the first place!) and sank into increasing irrelevance before being subsumed into the Liberals, its only real legacy being the ‘democrats’ part of the Liberal Democrat’ name. I suspect the future holds a similar fate for Reform with the Tories playing the part of the Liberals.
I have long thought that Reform would limit its appeal if seen as a Thatcherite Tribute Act. But maybe this will be out of date? I don’t think Farrage is that ideological and some of his interviews at least nod to working class concerns. He needs to breach the Red Wall if he wants to do more than divide the Tories. Also he will follow his idol, Trump, who seems to triangulate trade unions and tech bros, oil workers and billionaires, staunch Christians and libertarian gays. It’s weird and incoherent but maybe, maybe, there is a just enough of a winning formula? Maybe family, flag and free speech will do their bit? The other factor is that Britain is seriously broke and has been brought to this pass by the two main legacy parties who will not be trusted to clear up their own mess.
All Reform needs is a few Blue Labour types not to tilt the party but to force it to be genuinely popular, and populist.
Interesting points articulated there.
Whether we like it or not most people still rely on MSM and BBC for their news 'input' who have branded Reform and Farage as racists (wrongly). So I think Reform will really have to work hard to get their name across. Plus Starmer is determined to remove our rights to vote as we've already seen with local council election gerrymandering. We have a dictator in No 10 with a very large, undeserved majority. Getting him out and a return to any form of democracy is going to be an uphill struggle.
The challenge is whether Reform can evolve to be a party that engages and listens to voters. That in essence re-engages with the reality of what democracy means. That would entail some pretty big shifts from its current MPs and leadership, almost along the lines of the new conservative thinking coming out of America (more nation based snd recognising the need for those who work to actually have work that pays enough to live on). The ‘left’ have been wholly captured by progressivism and vacated the field. The Tories, as far as they seem to have a strategy, are planning on moving leftward and then blackmailing voters with an “either it’s us or Labour” message. If they do, I hope my fellow countrymen would rise to the challenge and vote anyone but the establishment - a plague on all their houses!
Excellent points here that Reform's only attraction to working-class voters is the immigration issue and that, if Labour gets a grip on this - particularly stopping employers from using it to drive down wages - then any electoral threat from Reform will be diminished.
But as well as getting a grip on immigration, Labour also needs to set out a robust social-democratic economic and political agenda. This needs to be - as you point out in your article - based on renationalisation of key utilities, limiting (or even banning in some cases) imports of items we can manufacture here, investing heavily in rebuilding our manufacturing sector and investing heavily in skill/craft apprenticeships for our youngers. While also making clear that we will never rejoin the EU or adopt any of its policies.
These are the kinds of solid social-democratic policies which can be best for our country and our people and also ensure that any growth in support for Reform comes only at the expense of the Tories.