No chance. Blair will demand full adherence to WEF and EU globalist agendas. Best join Reform now and help ensure it develops as party the working man can support.
If I’d woken up to an Embery government, rather than a Starmer one, I’d be bouncing off the walls with excitement today. We didn’t, so I’m not.
Instead, I’m caught in 2 minds between thinking I should give the new government a chance and dread. Alright, maybe not quite dread, more foreboding. That’s because while they haven’t had a chance in government yet, we’ve seen what these guys stand for in opposition, which is exactly what we’ve endured over the last 5 years, but worse.
I intended to vote SDP but, on the day itself, I didn’t. Bar through Paul’s Substack, I haven’t heard a peep out of them the whole time. Their candidate couldn’t even be bothered to drop a leaflet through my door, let alone ring the bell. When I spoke to my friends and family about them, nobody even knew they existed. While I am absolutely onside with their message, I’m coming to the conclusion that they’re a ‘half-arsed’ party, who would rather stay irrelevant. If this ever changes, I’m ready to reassess.
In the meantime, I voted Reform. Okay, I’ve never been a fan of Thatcherite economics, but the cold, hard truth is that there’s now a choice between 5 serious parties, at least 3 of whom believe in it. Let’s face it, the national character and political landscape have changed since the early ‘90s, never mind the ‘70s.
Nowadays, the Conservatives and Labour are the same thing. They believe in Thatcherite economics, but completely geared towards big business and the large multinationals. They are both socially ‘progressive’ too. Forget being a ‘river of many converging steams’ and a ‘broad church’, these 2 parties now only pay lip service to anything that differs from what they’re told to do by their globalist masters.
The Lib Dems and Greens might be more palatable in terms of economics, but they’re off the scale in terms of being socially ‘progressive’. So, while I would (and do) vote for them at local elections to sort out road crossings and clean up our parks (the Greens, in particular, are very good at it), there’s no chance of me trying to put one of them in the House of Commons.
The other option, Reform, is admittedly Thatcherite, but primarily bats for SMALL business. That makes it a partial tick from me. They’re socially conservative too – a big plus. Add in the Farage factor (I love the man) and, unless the SDP wakes up out of its slumber, I’m now nailing my colours to Reform’s mast.
In short, one can’t have everything one wants, but a little bit of it is better than none at all.
Good comment and I agree with most. Personally though, I think the Reform ‘party’ in the Commons will now be torn apart by the various egos in it. I predict they will end up independents or in some cases joining/rejoining the Tories, where they have a spiritual home. Farage in the House will prove entertaining though. I voted SDP but entirely sympathise with your viewpoint, my own decision was based on my moral stance on a number of issues, but the candidate here lost his deposit.
I was caught in 2 minds and only decided to vote Reform as I was walking into the polling booth. In many ways, I feel bad for being so indecisive, but I’ve just tried to be honest with myself.
While I really like what the SDP stands for too, and remember one of the contributors on here saying that William Clouston is a very impressive man, I just don’t see how they’re going to make any real progress. If they’ve got an exciting message but aren’t willing to put in the legwork to get it heard, more fool them.
To me, Reform now appears to be the only credible alternative to the status quo and, as Matt Davies said, maybe the best idea is to try and shape that movement from within rather than rely on another party emerging?
With regards to your point about Reform imploding, and still thinking about Thatcherite economics, do you know what I think is going to happen? A reverse takeover of the Conservative Party (laughs out loud)! Perhaps a better Tory Party will then emerge - one that's more en'TICE'ing to old Labour voters?
Beau, anything could happen and you could well be right. I was interested in your initial line though - that sums up EXACTLY how my wife and I felt yesterday. I only finally decided in the booth. I imagine there were many like us.
Great discourse my friend and well argued. Thank you
A good take on this. The immigration issue seems to me to be the one that impacts all the rest - NHS, Housing etc. our university system needs to stand on its own merit and not be a place to get visas for students and especially not their families. Students should get a visa for the time of their study and for themselves only.
It would be good to tax the wealthy but in reality if this isn’t done carefully then they leave in large numbers and there’s nothing to tax and revenues fall from existing levels. Labour have never understood simple economics of lower taxes bring larger revenue and inward investment. Large capital outflows would be disastrous.
That's a STUNNING post Paul but you missed off the warning for Labour not to turn a blind eye to rabid, far far right religious groups with values totally at odds with yours just for the sake of easy votes; because they will make a MOCKERY of Labour's 'values' and eventually turn on you all. Aren't you self censoring and pretending that there isn't a VERY large elephant in the room? That is a slippery road to catastrophe.
As far as I'm aware, 'rabid, far far right religious groups' don't exist in the UK. If they do, they'll be so small in number that there's no need to worry about any party wanting to pander to them for votes.
You are wrong there is a far right religion in this country. It is a religion that hates all other religions, hates women having autonomy over their own lives, hates democracy and wants to change our laws to comply with their religious beliefs.
If trans ideology is not routed out of schools in the next 5 years, you'll have an army of angry parents and broken children and families to deal with. Parental groups are already coalescing and our voices are getting louder by the day.
As a long standing Conservative voter, I could not vote for that party at this election because of their dire betrayal of the British voters, who had given them a large majority in 2019, by not fulfilling the promises they had made to the electorate.
I couldn't vote for Labour because of all the issues you relate in your article. So I voted Reform.
Interesting, isn't it, that we come from polar opposite political orientations but I find myself in agreement with every word you wrote!
That is what gives me hope for the future - that people can find common ground even if they start with different outlooks.
We shall be living in interesting times. We now will have a new dictatorship governing us, with a massive majority that will see Sir Keir through to 2029 easily.
Unfortunately the Labour Party is a Liberal Party, not a ‘socialist’ one now. It’s not been for a long time. I remember even in the 1970s when I was a kid it was ‘progressive’, so really this is not new.
Don’t forget we now have a Prime Minister who once said ‘99.9% of women do not have penises…’ Lawyer talk that alludes to ‘degrees’ of the truth. That’s what we will see, denial of facts in pursuit of one version of equality.
I hope they will at least prove competent in sorting out the utilities and resolving the strike in my own industry, the railways. I can’t believe they will do anything with the NHS other than increase the percentage of GDP that goes into it. We risk being a health service with a nation attached to it. I can’t believe they will take a sensible line on Ukraine and start to insist talks begin because they’ve nailed their colours to the mast in that one. More of the same again, whilst actually cutting our defences and making both the armed forces and police wings of the Social Services with primary aims to be ‘diverse’ and ‘equal’ rather than defending the realm and protecting life and property and preventing and detecting crime. I hope they can find a way clear to reinvigorating high-tech industry in this country, which should be our future course but requires improvements to our education system I don’t expect to see.
The break up of the family unit will continue at a gallop and assisted killing will be introduced to eradicate the old and the weak, but nobody sees the parallels here with the Nazi regime because it’s dressed up as caring instead of eugenics.
I have no idea what they will do about the borders and immigration because all they say is they wouldn’t do what the Tories are doing. We shall see. As there is no hope of them departing the ECHR they have tied their own hands and ensured that they issue will still be a live one throughout their incumbency.
I predict more of the same. Plus a closer alignment to the EU.
It’s also worth noting that Reform actually got more votes and a larger percentage of the national vote than the Lib Dem’s but got 4 MPs elected, as opposed to 70. The Greens with a much smaller percentage got the same number. I don’t have an answer here, but something MUST be wrong there?
I was born in the early ‘70s. As my parents were both passionate about politics (both old-school Bennite Labour), I started developing an interest in it from the early ‘80s.
You’re right that Labour has always had a big ‘progressive’ streak running through it. The Attlee Government achieved some amazing things. Later, you had the likes of Benn and Shore, who spoke a lot of sense. While I disagree with a lot of what he says, in many ways I admire Corbyn too because he’s a man of principle.
Thing is, these people were/ are genuinely progressive. The bulk of those who now use that label are simply the establishment's 'useful fools' - nothing more and nothing less. All they do is endlessly spout non-sensical sh*te, which diverts people’s attention away from the major inequality that matters most – the ever-widening gap between rich and poor.
Well said. Full employment is indeed a key responsibility of government. Productive employment is a key to personal worth. On fracking - how right! Energy self-sufficiency is crucial insurance in an uncertain world. But couple that with food self-sufficiency… Let’s hope that Starmer’s policy-lite manifesto will be fleshed out along the lines you suggest.
No chance. Blair will demand full adherence to WEF and EU globalist agendas. Best join Reform now and help ensure it develops as party the working man can support.
If I’d woken up to an Embery government, rather than a Starmer one, I’d be bouncing off the walls with excitement today. We didn’t, so I’m not.
Instead, I’m caught in 2 minds between thinking I should give the new government a chance and dread. Alright, maybe not quite dread, more foreboding. That’s because while they haven’t had a chance in government yet, we’ve seen what these guys stand for in opposition, which is exactly what we’ve endured over the last 5 years, but worse.
I intended to vote SDP but, on the day itself, I didn’t. Bar through Paul’s Substack, I haven’t heard a peep out of them the whole time. Their candidate couldn’t even be bothered to drop a leaflet through my door, let alone ring the bell. When I spoke to my friends and family about them, nobody even knew they existed. While I am absolutely onside with their message, I’m coming to the conclusion that they’re a ‘half-arsed’ party, who would rather stay irrelevant. If this ever changes, I’m ready to reassess.
In the meantime, I voted Reform. Okay, I’ve never been a fan of Thatcherite economics, but the cold, hard truth is that there’s now a choice between 5 serious parties, at least 3 of whom believe in it. Let’s face it, the national character and political landscape have changed since the early ‘90s, never mind the ‘70s.
Nowadays, the Conservatives and Labour are the same thing. They believe in Thatcherite economics, but completely geared towards big business and the large multinationals. They are both socially ‘progressive’ too. Forget being a ‘river of many converging steams’ and a ‘broad church’, these 2 parties now only pay lip service to anything that differs from what they’re told to do by their globalist masters.
The Lib Dems and Greens might be more palatable in terms of economics, but they’re off the scale in terms of being socially ‘progressive’. So, while I would (and do) vote for them at local elections to sort out road crossings and clean up our parks (the Greens, in particular, are very good at it), there’s no chance of me trying to put one of them in the House of Commons.
The other option, Reform, is admittedly Thatcherite, but primarily bats for SMALL business. That makes it a partial tick from me. They’re socially conservative too – a big plus. Add in the Farage factor (I love the man) and, unless the SDP wakes up out of its slumber, I’m now nailing my colours to Reform’s mast.
In short, one can’t have everything one wants, but a little bit of it is better than none at all.
Good comment and I agree with most. Personally though, I think the Reform ‘party’ in the Commons will now be torn apart by the various egos in it. I predict they will end up independents or in some cases joining/rejoining the Tories, where they have a spiritual home. Farage in the House will prove entertaining though. I voted SDP but entirely sympathise with your viewpoint, my own decision was based on my moral stance on a number of issues, but the candidate here lost his deposit.
I was caught in 2 minds and only decided to vote Reform as I was walking into the polling booth. In many ways, I feel bad for being so indecisive, but I’ve just tried to be honest with myself.
While I really like what the SDP stands for too, and remember one of the contributors on here saying that William Clouston is a very impressive man, I just don’t see how they’re going to make any real progress. If they’ve got an exciting message but aren’t willing to put in the legwork to get it heard, more fool them.
To me, Reform now appears to be the only credible alternative to the status quo and, as Matt Davies said, maybe the best idea is to try and shape that movement from within rather than rely on another party emerging?
With regards to your point about Reform imploding, and still thinking about Thatcherite economics, do you know what I think is going to happen? A reverse takeover of the Conservative Party (laughs out loud)! Perhaps a better Tory Party will then emerge - one that's more en'TICE'ing to old Labour voters?
Beau, anything could happen and you could well be right. I was interested in your initial line though - that sums up EXACTLY how my wife and I felt yesterday. I only finally decided in the booth. I imagine there were many like us.
Great discourse my friend and well argued. Thank you
SDP are the nearest to the policies discussed.
A good take on this. The immigration issue seems to me to be the one that impacts all the rest - NHS, Housing etc. our university system needs to stand on its own merit and not be a place to get visas for students and especially not their families. Students should get a visa for the time of their study and for themselves only.
It would be good to tax the wealthy but in reality if this isn’t done carefully then they leave in large numbers and there’s nothing to tax and revenues fall from existing levels. Labour have never understood simple economics of lower taxes bring larger revenue and inward investment. Large capital outflows would be disastrous.
I thought you already had taxes on the wealthy. Rock stars and others have left, few remain.
That's a STUNNING post Paul but you missed off the warning for Labour not to turn a blind eye to rabid, far far right religious groups with values totally at odds with yours just for the sake of easy votes; because they will make a MOCKERY of Labour's 'values' and eventually turn on you all. Aren't you self censoring and pretending that there isn't a VERY large elephant in the room? That is a slippery road to catastrophe.
We know who you are talking about and it isn't Reform, it is radical and militant Islam.
As far as I'm aware, 'rabid, far far right religious groups' don't exist in the UK. If they do, they'll be so small in number that there's no need to worry about any party wanting to pander to them for votes.
You are wrong there is a far right religion in this country. It is a religion that hates all other religions, hates women having autonomy over their own lives, hates democracy and wants to change our laws to comply with their religious beliefs.
Fabulous example of not seeing the elephant, rock on.
I’d be intrigued to know the groups to which you refer? I personally can’t think of them. Are you referring to Islamist groups?
I'll let you work that out but here is a very good Muslim speaker with his heart in the right place: https://youtu.be/HQHn_RivO2Q?si=sqPUv9KlkSrZvdas
If trans ideology is not routed out of schools in the next 5 years, you'll have an army of angry parents and broken children and families to deal with. Parental groups are already coalescing and our voices are getting louder by the day.
Great article, Paul.
As a long standing Conservative voter, I could not vote for that party at this election because of their dire betrayal of the British voters, who had given them a large majority in 2019, by not fulfilling the promises they had made to the electorate.
I couldn't vote for Labour because of all the issues you relate in your article. So I voted Reform.
Interesting, isn't it, that we come from polar opposite political orientations but I find myself in agreement with every word you wrote!
That is what gives me hope for the future - that people can find common ground even if they start with different outlooks.
Thank you for giving me that.
Thank you, Mike.
You’re right, they won’t listen! I said it before and I’ll say it again, you should be PM!
Have said this for ages. If Labour had more people with the common sense politics of Paul Embury, I would not be fearful of a Labour government.
I totally agree!
We shall be living in interesting times. We now will have a new dictatorship governing us, with a massive majority that will see Sir Keir through to 2029 easily.
Unfortunately the Labour Party is a Liberal Party, not a ‘socialist’ one now. It’s not been for a long time. I remember even in the 1970s when I was a kid it was ‘progressive’, so really this is not new.
Don’t forget we now have a Prime Minister who once said ‘99.9% of women do not have penises…’ Lawyer talk that alludes to ‘degrees’ of the truth. That’s what we will see, denial of facts in pursuit of one version of equality.
I hope they will at least prove competent in sorting out the utilities and resolving the strike in my own industry, the railways. I can’t believe they will do anything with the NHS other than increase the percentage of GDP that goes into it. We risk being a health service with a nation attached to it. I can’t believe they will take a sensible line on Ukraine and start to insist talks begin because they’ve nailed their colours to the mast in that one. More of the same again, whilst actually cutting our defences and making both the armed forces and police wings of the Social Services with primary aims to be ‘diverse’ and ‘equal’ rather than defending the realm and protecting life and property and preventing and detecting crime. I hope they can find a way clear to reinvigorating high-tech industry in this country, which should be our future course but requires improvements to our education system I don’t expect to see.
The break up of the family unit will continue at a gallop and assisted killing will be introduced to eradicate the old and the weak, but nobody sees the parallels here with the Nazi regime because it’s dressed up as caring instead of eugenics.
I have no idea what they will do about the borders and immigration because all they say is they wouldn’t do what the Tories are doing. We shall see. As there is no hope of them departing the ECHR they have tied their own hands and ensured that they issue will still be a live one throughout their incumbency.
I predict more of the same. Plus a closer alignment to the EU.
It’s also worth noting that Reform actually got more votes and a larger percentage of the national vote than the Lib Dem’s but got 4 MPs elected, as opposed to 70. The Greens with a much smaller percentage got the same number. I don’t have an answer here, but something MUST be wrong there?
I was born in the early ‘70s. As my parents were both passionate about politics (both old-school Bennite Labour), I started developing an interest in it from the early ‘80s.
You’re right that Labour has always had a big ‘progressive’ streak running through it. The Attlee Government achieved some amazing things. Later, you had the likes of Benn and Shore, who spoke a lot of sense. While I disagree with a lot of what he says, in many ways I admire Corbyn too because he’s a man of principle.
Thing is, these people were/ are genuinely progressive. The bulk of those who now use that label are simply the establishment's 'useful fools' - nothing more and nothing less. All they do is endlessly spout non-sensical sh*te, which diverts people’s attention away from the major inequality that matters most – the ever-widening gap between rich and poor.
I do hope they listen, Paul, though somehow I doubt it.
Well said. Full employment is indeed a key responsibility of government. Productive employment is a key to personal worth. On fracking - how right! Energy self-sufficiency is crucial insurance in an uncertain world. But couple that with food self-sufficiency… Let’s hope that Starmer’s policy-lite manifesto will be fleshed out along the lines you suggest.
An absolutely excellent article
Pretty sensible stuff but not sure if the labour party will heed any of your warnings. I really hope they do but time will tell.
Fantastic. Refreshing voice of/from the Left
I comend your naiveté. As what you wrote is almost deemed far right now by most of Labour...
Here's hoping you keep that moral compass and act when the time comes. And will come
Thanks and good luck
Many, many warnings.
It's a pity Lammy is not in the country to hear them. Have a word when he comes back from Berleymont. Paul....you never know.
I voted Reform! However I agree with what you say!