I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his leadjng role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is absolutely imperative for British society
More MPs follow Jenrick over the next few months. Badenoch's authority evaporates. By-elections are bloodbaths with Tories coming third. Donors threaten to pull funding. She survives a confidence vote in spring but 40%+ vote against her.
Then the real madness begins. Truss and her allies start pushing the "I was right all along" narrative - pointing to economic data, claiming the mini-budget was just bad timing. She's been banging on about immigration and culture war stuff since leaving office, so she can credibly say she'd stop the Reform bleeding.
Local elections in May are a disaster. Badenoch quits. Parliamentary party is in full panic mode about extinction. In the rushed leadership contest, Truss becomes the "unity candidate". She’s bold, recognisable, appeals to both traditional Tories and the right wing. Someone steps down so she can get back in the Commons.
Liz Truss is back to "finish what I started.". Labour collapse and a GE is called…somehow (I need to figure that bit out) and hey presto, Liz is back in Parliament, back in Number 10.
Get on that train before it leaves the station. You heard it here first.
Truss is now more likely to lead Reform than the Tories
Liz Truss is not a natural fit for Reform, being more interested in the economy than migration.
Indeed, this shows the dilemma, and possibly the elephant trap, for Kemi and the Conservative Party. Should it embrace culture war issues, chase after Reform on boats and hotels, or try to carve out a distinct but credible niche on the economy and perhaps competence and efficiency in public services. Kemi might do worse than ask Jeremy Hunt for some ideas on low-hanging fruit. He's been around the top of government for years and (more importantly perhaps, is not after Kemi's job).
But whatever route is chosen, Kemi still needs at some point to answer voters' most basic question – what is the Conservative Party for?
Having hitched itself to the grey vote, can they abandon their core support and switch to the aspiring upwardly mobile? They won't appeal to the red wall patriots and are unlikely to wish to hose more largesse at them (it being reserved for the grey vote) So basically they are in terminal decline and need to go.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
No, we have to win via democratic means, differently from the intentions of Trump and certain elements in his tribute act of Reform, who are quite openly and fundamentally, ideologically antipathetic to democracy.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
Silly comment- beating Reform at the Ballot box is not beating them up in the streets. It is Reform that challenges the democratic norms, not their opponents.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
No, we have to win via democratic means, differently from the intentions of Trump and certain elements in his tribute act of Reform, who are quite openly and fundamentally, ideologically antipathetic to democracy.
There may only be one chance to stop it.
Quite right and I think anti-Reform tactical voting should be across the rest of the political spectrum.
I would vote for any of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories or Greens in the next election if they were clearly best placed to beat Reform in my seat.
Even the parties above who I disagree with on almost all policies are preferable as they would not be a threat to UK democracy in the way Reform are.
If the 70% of the population who is not currently supporting Reform thinks likewise, then they won't be leading the next government.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
Some of these council election cancellations have a whiff of that.
Yes, she is recovering well but slowly. Mentally she is fine if a bit tearful at times.
I got a real feeling at Christmas that she may not make another, so its good to spend time with her.
The politics is tricky though. If political debate is about tax rates or whether the railways should be nationalised it is simple to debate. It becomes impossible when it becomes about cultural issues such as deporting all Muslims etc. I saw on Social Media similar comments from Americans at Thanksgiving.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
Silly comment- beating Reform at the Ballot box is not beating them up in the streets. It is Reform that challenges the democratic norms, not their opponents.
I must have missed the democratic norm where you cancel 25 elections.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
No, we have to win via democratic means, differently from the intentions of Trump and certain elements in his tribute act of Reform, who are quite openly and fundamentally, ideologically antipathetic to democracy.
There may only be one chance to stop it.
Quite right and I think anti-Reform tactical voting should be across the rest of the political spectrum.
I would vote for any of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories or Greens in the next election if they were clearly best placed to beat Reform in my seat.
Even the parties above who I disagree with on almost all policies are preferable as they would not be a threat to UK democracy in the way Reform are.
If the 70% of the population who is not currently supporting Reform thinks likewise, then they won't be leading the next government.
And that would simply be democracy in action.
Indeed. A large part of the future of British constitutional norms, society and democracy probably now rests on that single issue of tactical voting.
The message needs to be got across to people of how much is at stake.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
No, we have to win via democratic means, differently from the intentions of Trump and certain elements in his tribute act of Reform, who are quite openly and fundamentally, ideologically antipathetic to democracy.
There may only be one chance to stop it.
Quite right and I think anti-Reform tactical voting should be across the rest of the political spectrum.
I would vote for any of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories or Greens in the next election if they were clearly best placed to beat Reform in my seat.
Even the parties above who I disagree with on almost all policies are preferable as they would not be a threat to UK democracy in the way Reform are.
If the 70% of the population who is not currently supporting Reform thinks likewise, then they won't be leading the next government.
And that would simply be democracy in action.
Indeed. A large part of the future of British constitutional norms, society and democracy probably now rests on that single issue of tactical voting.
The message needs to be got across to people of how much is at stake.
AI and global tech will take over soon enough anyway. Sorry.
I keep saying they are too complacent. Having said that, Gosport isn't naturally a LibDem place, so the surprise is not that they lost it but that they held in in the first place.
It's not consistent with the post-2024 Lib Dem map for sure. It really goes back to the 1970s Liberal theory of pavement politics; identify local (even parochial) grumbles and play them back to people. And now Reform play that game more effectively.
Terrible result for the old two though. Admittedly, third and fourth in a two horse race is never a pleasant place to be. But Bridgemary used to be the Labour banker in the 80s and 90s. Since then, Right To Buy has changed the demographics massively. Suspect that the elderly RTB homeowners aren't keen on the changes caused by the people living in the private and social rented houses that remain.
Hence Reform.
Your man who was on the spot long ago.
Yes, Gosport was one of the pioneering areas for what was then the Liberals’ emerging focus on community politics, fifty years back. Just 29 votes in it last night, with the Labour vote squeezed to rock bottom. It’s a mostly working- class adjunct to Portsmouth with strong links to the navy, and hence has always had a working class right-wing vote, which gave the Tories a difficult-to-squeeze residual vote (insofar as people still associate them with strong defence) and Reform a foundation on which to take the ward last night. Labour started on a low base there, and what was their vote likely split between the LDs and Reform.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
That's either projection or paranoia. No one but you made that suggestion.
I’m wondering this morning whether the Nobel peace prize is now irrevocably dabased as an award.
It’s been increasingly politicised over decades to the point it had already lost much of its credibility. Now it’s being traded like an nft token in return for hoped-for favours.
I think the Nobel committee might want to consider dropping the peace prize from now on and focusing back on scientific achievements.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
No, we have to win via democratic means, differently from the intentions of Trump and certain elements in his tribute act of Reform, who are quite openly and fundamentally, ideologically antipathetic to democracy.
There may only be one chance to stop it.
Quite right and I think anti-Reform tactical voting should be across the rest of the political spectrum.
I would vote for any of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories or Greens in the next election if they were clearly best placed to beat Reform in my seat.
Even the parties above who I disagree with on almost all policies are preferable as they would not be a threat to UK democracy in the way Reform are.
If the 70% of the population who is not currently supporting Reform thinks likewise, then they won't be leading the next government.
And that would simply be democracy in action.
Indeed. A large part of the future of British constitutional norms, society and democracy probably now rests on that single issue of tactical voting.
The message needs to be got across to people of how much is at stake.
AI and global tech will take over soon enough anyway. Sorry.
Good morning, everyone.
There was a Canadian series about a female cop who came back in time from her own era, a near future in which global tech giants had effectively taken over the world. One of the more realistic premises of sci-fi, I think.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
No, we have to win via democratic means, differently from the intentions of Trump and certain elements in his tribute act of Reform, who are quite openly and fundamentally, ideologically antipathetic to democracy.
There may only be one chance to stop it.
Quite right and I think anti-Reform tactical voting should be across the rest of the political spectrum.
I would vote for any of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories or Greens in the next election if they were clearly best placed to beat Reform in my seat.
Even the parties above who I disagree with on almost all policies are preferable as they would not be a threat to UK democracy in the way Reform are.
If the 70% of the population who is not currently supporting Reform thinks likewise, then they won't be leading the next government.
And that would simply be democracy in action.
Indeed. A large part of the future of British constitutional norms, society and democracy probably now rests on that single issue of tactical voting.
The message needs to be got across to people of how much is at stake.
AI and global tech will take over soon enough anyway. Sorry.
I don't think either are very popular. Theres a real reaction against AI Slop and the Broligarchs. Voters are not keen.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
Picking up on your point re Sugar, Maurice Glasman is also Jewish!
Blunkett might fit in. A serially failed minister who was forced out for dodgy share dealing and abuse of power.
It is very unlikely that any Labour defection would not be an MP. An MP defector would be doing so largely to keep their job. A peer or other public figure wouldn't need to, and even if they shared some views with Reform (Blunkett, Glassman) would always stay Labour and campaign from inside.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
No, we have to win via democratic means, differently from the intentions of Trump and certain elements in his tribute act of Reform, who are quite openly and fundamentally, ideologically antipathetic to democracy.
There may only be one chance to stop it.
Quite right and I think anti-Reform tactical voting should be across the rest of the political spectrum.
I would vote for any of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories or Greens in the next election if they were clearly best placed to beat Reform in my seat.
Even the parties above who I disagree with on almost all policies are preferable as they would not be a threat to UK democracy in the way Reform are.
If the 70% of the population who is not currently supporting Reform thinks likewise, then they won't be leading the next government.
And that would simply be democracy in action.
Indeed. A large part of the future of British constitutional norms, society and democracy probably now rests on that single issue of tactical voting.
The message needs to be got across to people of how much is at stake.
AI and global tech will take over soon enough anyway. Sorry.
We need to at least mount a challenge. Probably the only way for Europe to counter U.S. and Chinese A.I. hegemony over all aspects of our lives is for Britain to urgently stop draining off all its best ideas and tech expertise to the U.S., and start integrating them with Euripean companies and funding; which is why Trump and Farage are so keen to stop this.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
Picking up on your point re Sugar, Maurice Glasman is also Jewish!
Blunkett might fit in. A serially failed minister who was forced out for dodgy share dealing and abuse of power.
It is very unlikely that any Labour defection would not be an MP. An MP defector would be doing so largely to keep their job. A peer or other public figure wouldn't need to, and even if they shared some views with Reform (Blunkett, Glassman) would always stay Labour and campaign from inside.
To keep their job? Given that the next election is 2+ years away I would love to have their crystal ball because a lot can change between then and now..
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
No, we have to win via democratic means, differently from the intentions of Trump and certain elements in his tribute act of Reform, who are quite openly and fundamentally, ideologically antipathetic to democracy.
There may only be one chance to stop it.
Quite right and I think anti-Reform tactical voting should be across the rest of the political spectrum.
I would vote for any of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories or Greens in the next election if they were clearly best placed to beat Reform in my seat.
Even the parties above who I disagree with on almost all policies are preferable as they would not be a threat to UK democracy in the way Reform are.
If the 70% of the population who is not currently supporting Reform thinks likewise, then they won't be leading the next government.
And that would simply be democracy in action.
Indeed. A large part of the future of British constitutional norms, society and democracy probably now rests on that single issue of tactical voting.
The message needs to be got across to people of how much is at stake.
Part of the problem is a lot of seats Reform are targeting are current Labour seats that were Tory seats in 2019.
In some of them Labour will be best placed and in others the Tories will be.
Hard to know which is which until we have national polling close to the election itself.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
No, we have to win via democratic means, differently from the intentions of Trump and certain elements in his tribute act of Reform, who are quite openly and fundamentally, ideologically antipathetic to democracy.
There may only be one chance to stop it.
Quite right and I think anti-Reform tactical voting should be across the rest of the political spectrum.
I would vote for any of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories or Greens in the next election if they were clearly best placed to beat Reform in my seat.
Even the parties above who I disagree with on almost all policies are preferable as they would not be a threat to UK democracy in the way Reform are.
If the 70% of the population who is not currently supporting Reform thinks likewise, then they won't be leading the next government.
And that would simply be democracy in action.
Indeed. A large part of the future of British constitutional norms, society and democracy probably now rests on that single issue of tactical voting.
The message needs to be got across to people of how much is at stake.
AI and global tech will take over soon enough anyway. Sorry.
Good morning, everyone.
There was a Canadian series about a female cop who came back in time from her own era, a near future in which global tech giants had effectively taken over the world. One of the more realistic premises of sci-fi, I think.
Of all the twentieth century fiction we could have brought into real life, why on earth have we chosen Terminator?
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
No, we have to win via democratic means, differently from the intentions of Trump and certain elements in his tribute act of Reform, who are quite openly and fundamentally, ideologically antipathetic to democracy.
There may only be one chance to stop it.
Quite right and I think anti-Reform tactical voting should be across the rest of the political spectrum.
I would vote for any of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories or Greens in the next election if they were clearly best placed to beat Reform in my seat.
Even the parties above who I disagree with on almost all policies are preferable as they would not be a threat to UK democracy in the way Reform are.
If the 70% of the population who is not currently supporting Reform thinks likewise, then they won't be leading the next government.
And that would simply be democracy in action.
Indeed. A large part of the future of British constitutional norms, society and democracy probably now rests on that single issue of tactical voting.
The message needs to be got across to people of how much is at stake.
AI and global tech will take over soon enough anyway. Sorry.
I don't think either are very popular. Theres a real reaction against AI Slop and the Broligarchs. Voters are not keen.
Sure, voters aren't keen. But whilst politicians are elected and the broligarchs control the news media, politicians might skirmish with the broligarchs but won't seek to destroy their power.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
No, we have to win via democratic means, differently from the intentions of Trump and certain elements in his tribute act of Reform, who are quite openly and fundamentally, ideologically antipathetic to democracy.
There may only be one chance to stop it.
Quite right and I think anti-Reform tactical voting should be across the rest of the political spectrum.
I would vote for any of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories or Greens in the next election if they were clearly best placed to beat Reform in my seat.
Even the parties above who I disagree with on almost all policies are preferable as they would not be a threat to UK democracy in the way Reform are.
If the 70% of the population who is not currently supporting Reform thinks likewise, then they won't be leading the next government.
And that would simply be democracy in action.
Indeed. A large part of the future of British constitutional norms, society and democracy probably now rests on that single issue of tactical voting.
The message needs to be got across to people of how much is at stake.
AI and global tech will take over soon enough anyway. Sorry.
Good morning, everyone.
There was a Canadian series about a female cop who came back in time from her own era, a near future in which global tech giants had effectively taken over the world. One of the more realistic premises of sci-fi, I think.
Of all the twentieth century fiction we could have brought into real life, why on earth have we chosen Terminator?
More like a mashup of Terminator, Brave New World and Last of the Summer Wine.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
Picking up on your point re Sugar, Maurice Glasman is also Jewish!
Blunkett might fit in. A serially failed minister who was forced out for dodgy share dealing and abuse of power.
It is very unlikely that any Labour defection would not be an MP. An MP defector would be doing so largely to keep their job. A peer or other public figure wouldn't need to, and even if they shared some views with Reform (Blunkett, Glassman) would always stay Labour and campaign from inside.
Duffield.
1) She's not Labour any more
and
2) This was her yesterday
Reform look like a total shambles. Kemi has shown up both Starmer and Farage today, stolen all the thunder. And they know it.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
Picking up on your point re Sugar, Maurice Glasman is also Jewish!
Blunkett might fit in. A serially failed minister who was forced out for dodgy share dealing and abuse of power.
It is very unlikely that any Labour defection would not be an MP. An MP defector would be doing so largely to keep their job. A peer or other public figure wouldn't need to, and even if they shared some views with Reform (Blunkett, Glassman) would always stay Labour and campaign from inside.
Duffield.
Might be right sort of area (someone who really dislikes Starmer... most defections are about personality not policy.) But Duffield left Labour in Autumn 2024.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
Picking up on your point re Sugar, Maurice Glasman is also Jewish!
Blunkett might fit in. A serially failed minister who was forced out for dodgy share dealing and abuse of power.
It is very unlikely that any Labour defection would not be an MP. An MP defector would be doing so largely to keep their job. A peer or other public figure wouldn't need to, and even if they shared some views with Reform (Blunkett, Glassman) would always stay Labour and campaign from inside.
Duffield.
Might be right sort of area (someone who really dislikes Starmer... most defections are about personality not policy.) But Duffield left Labour in Autumn 2024.
Nobody’s mentioned Sadiq Khan or Andy Burnham. It’s often who you least expect.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
It reads like a confected collage of gripes and anecdotes. It reads nothing like evidence of a party being Nazis as you've accused Reform.
Commentary on both Reform and Trump here verges on the hysterical or Hyperbolic.
Reform are a threat to democracy. Really ? How ?
Last time I looked they weren’t cancelling elections they were likely to lose. That’s third world dictator stuff.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
Picking up on your point re Sugar, Maurice Glasman is also Jewish!
Blunkett might fit in. A serially failed minister who was forced out for dodgy share dealing and abuse of power.
It is very unlikely that any Labour defection would not be an MP. An MP defector would be doing so largely to keep their job. A peer or other public figure wouldn't need to, and even if they shared some views with Reform (Blunkett, Glassman) would always stay Labour and campaign from inside.
Duffield.
Might be right sort of area (someone who really dislikes Starmer... most defections are about personality not policy.) But Duffield left Labour in Autumn 2024.
She'd still reasonably be treated as having come to Reform from Labour, she's been outspoken on issues of gender, and Kent, innit. But TSE above is right that her recent comments suggest this is an unlikely tip.
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I’m wondering this morning whether the Nobel peace prize is now irrevocably dabased as an award.
It’s been increasingly politicised over decades to the point it had already lost much of its credibility. Now it’s being traded like an nft token in return for hoped-for favours.
I think the Nobel committee might want to consider dropping the peace prize from now on and focusing back on scientific achievements.
I like the theory that the world is in the shit because the committee awarded the 2009 peace prize to Barack Obama.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
Picking up on your point re Sugar, Maurice Glasman is also Jewish!
Blunkett might fit in. A serially failed minister who was forced out for dodgy share dealing and abuse of power.
It is very unlikely that any Labour defection would not be an MP. An MP defector would be doing so largely to keep their job. A peer or other public figure wouldn't need to, and even if they shared some views with Reform (Blunkett, Glassman) would always stay Labour and campaign from inside.
Duffield.
Might be right sort of area (someone who really dislikes Starmer... most defections are about personality not policy.) But Duffield left Labour in Autumn 2024.
Nobody’s mentioned Sadiq Khan or Andy Burnham. It’s often who you least expect.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
It reads like a confected collage of gripes and anecdotes. It reads nothing like evidence of a party being Nazis as you've accused Reform.
Commentary on both Reform and Trump here verges on the hysterical or Hyperbolic.
Reform are a threat to democracy. Really ? How ?
Last time I looked they weren’t cancelling elections they were likely to lose. That’s third world dictator stuff.
Yes and no. Reform seem very much like most other populist right European parties. Trump on the other hand doesn’t exactly hide his intentions. He’s a real and present danger.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
Picking up on your point re Sugar, Maurice Glasman is also Jewish!
Blunkett might fit in. A serially failed minister who was forced out for dodgy share dealing and abuse of power.
It is very unlikely that any Labour defection would not be an MP. An MP defector would be doing so largely to keep their job. A peer or other public figure wouldn't need to, and even if they shared some views with Reform (Blunkett, Glassman) would always stay Labour and campaign from inside.
Duffield.
Might be right sort of area (someone who really dislikes Starmer... most defections are about personality not policy.) But Duffield left Labour in Autumn 2024.
She'd still reasonably be treated as having come to Reform from Labour, she's been outspoken on issues of gender, and Kent, innit. But TSE above is right that her recent comments suggest this is an unlikely tip.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his leadjng role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is absolutely imperative for British society
I might agree wholeheartedly but the trouble is the rest of the parties on offer.
I’m wondering this morning whether the Nobel peace prize is now irrevocably dabased as an award.
It’s been increasingly politicised over decades to the point it had already lost much of its credibility. Now it’s being traded like an nft token in return for hoped-for favours.
I think the Nobel committee might want to consider dropping the peace prize from now on and focusing back on scientific achievements.
I like the theory that the world is in the shit because the committee awarded the 2009 peace prize to Barack Obama.
Obama has been notably silent this last month, as Trump has gone full on nuts.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
No, we have to win via democratic means, differently from the intentions of Trump and certain elements in his tribute act of Reform, who are quite openly and fundamentally, ideologically antipathetic to democracy.
There may only be one chance to stop it.
Quite right and I think anti-Reform tactical voting should be across the rest of the political spectrum.
I would vote for any of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories or Greens in the next election if they were clearly best placed to beat Reform in my seat.
Even the parties above who I disagree with on almost all policies are preferable as they would not be a threat to UK democracy in the way Reform are.
If the 70% of the population who is not currently supporting Reform thinks likewise, then they won't be leading the next government.
And that would simply be democracy in action.
Indeed. A large part of the future of British constitutional norms, society and democracy probably now rests on that single issue of tactical voting.
The message needs to be got across to people of how much is at stake.
AI and global tech will take over soon enough anyway. Sorry.
I don't think either are very popular. Theres a real reaction against AI Slop and the Broligarchs. Voters are not keen.
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I predict this will all end in tears for Bobby J.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
That's either projection or paranoia. No one but you made that suggestion.
Well, him and Trump. Trump has also talked about not having elections.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
It reads like a confected collage of gripes and anecdotes. It reads nothing like evidence of a party being Nazis as you've accused Reform.
Commentary on both Reform and Trump here verges on the hysterical or Hyperbolic.
Reform are a threat to democracy. Really ? How ?
If they are, then probably in the same way as an Orban*. It's not as though they aren't close political bedfellows to those sorts of characters in Europe.
But I hesitate to make that judgment. They might simply be a disaster in government.
*Or indeed Trump. Those complaining about "Trump derangement syndrome" haven't exactly been vindicated recently.
I don’t see Reform going up in the polls closer to an election .
More likely as they come under more scrutiny which Farage doesn’t like their poll numbers will drop .
A host of previous controversial positions taken by Farage and so far ignored by the media will get more attention .
Alongside the inherent contradictions within Reform's policies - you can't reduce taxes while keeping your Northern welfare voters happy.
That's only a problem after the election. Before the vote, "cutting waste/woke/green/illegals will pay for it" works.
And after the election might be too late.
The question is how much Reform HQ believe the things they say, as opposed to knowing that they are rubbish. One of the things about Nigel is that he walked away after 2016 and in 2019. Does he want, does he really, really want, the responsibility of being PM?
if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
Yup
He wanted a big splashy press announcement, but it's a case of "Frog announces he will ferry scorpion who has promised not to sting him"
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
Picking up on your point re Sugar, Maurice Glasman is also Jewish!
Blunkett might fit in. A serially failed minister who was forced out for dodgy share dealing and abuse of power.
It is very unlikely that any Labour defection would not be an MP. An MP defector would be doing so largely to keep their job. A peer or other public figure wouldn't need to, and even if they shared some views with Reform (Blunkett, Glassman) would always stay Labour and campaign from inside.
Duffield.
Might be right sort of area (someone who really dislikes Starmer... most defections are about personality not policy.) But Duffield left Labour in Autumn 2024.
She'd still reasonably be treated as having come to Reform from Labour, she's been outspoken on issues of gender, and Kent, innit. But TSE above is right that her recent comments suggest this is an unlikely tip.
But for the Trans issue , if she wanted to save her seat in Canterbury, she’d be more likely to go to the Greens. Canterbury is a very different beast to the rest of Kent these days and I recall the last YouGov MRP had it as a Green gain. But Trans is an elephant in the room she can’t avoid. All of her other positions save for Gender, particularly Brexit, make her absolutely a no no for Reform.
So, when Trump says something indefensible, he's joking; and when he does the thing that's indefensible, it's fake news; and if you're suffering the result of that indefensible thing, you're labeled a "domestic terrorist" by his DOJ.
Reform are becomimg a funny motley crew now, certainly, but it doesn't make them any less dangerous.
"Sir Jake Berry" was cutting an absurd figure on the ridiculously rushed version of Newsnight last night, for instance, using the prestige of his absurd honour from Boris Johnson to slag off his erstwhile party.
"As I’ve noted before, to watch him scheming is to be reminded of a toddler hiding behind a cushion. “Where’s Robert? THERE HE IS! What’s Robert up to? WHO CAN SAY?” Like so many MPs, he thinks he’s Francis Urquhart, when in fact he’s Baldrick."
This, from the "Northern Powerhouse Rail" announcement, effectively sums up government's attitude to the North.
Given that this transport announcement is total and utter fantasy, it's not really increased it's credibility to have produce a map where there are: - Two Huddersfields - *Three* Warringtons - Hull is both north *and* south of York... - and York is also north of... itself... https://x.com/NeilDotObrien/status/2011709943012081698
if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
Yup
He wanted a big splashy press announcement, but it's a case of "Frog announces he will ferry scorpion who has promised not to sting him"
I think the way Jenrick kept him waiting at the press conference will have annoyed Farage. It could have been what is regarded as a power play. Whether deliberate or not, it made the boss look foolish and most bosses would be a bit resentful about that
In the long read of where it all went wrong between them, this will be the original sin
Reform are becomimg a funny motley crew now, certainly, but it doesn't make them any less dangerous.
"Sir Jake Berry" was cutting an absurd figure on the ridiculously rushed version of Newsnight last night, for instance, using the prestige of his absurd honour from Boris Johnson to slag off his erstwhile party.
If immigration and the small boats issue hasn’t been “fixed” by the next GE, Reform are favoured.
If immigration has been fixed but the economy hasn’t, the Tories might get a look in, if they’ve been able to land the messaging and the positioning.
If both have been fixed to some degree, Labour will likely (albeit grudgingly) be given another go.
In all of these scenarios, the leading party might still need to govern in a coalition or minority.
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I predict this will all end in tears for Bobby J.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
Such foolish thinking.
You are thinking in terms of morals, principles etc. Why?
Robert Jenrick is *more trustworthy* than most politicians.
He won’t blow up his career over principle (see the numerous MPs who committed political suicide over Brexit), for example.
I would 100% trust BJ to do whatever BJ thinks is good for BJ.
Our token presence is not something to be proud of.
Our “token presence” is someone who has been sent to asses and liaise to plan and discuss what is ended and will work. There is no point in everyone rushing plane loads of troops to greeenland when nobody knows what they will do, where they will do it and what the orders are.
We have lots of the Marines in Norway presently as well as troops in Estonia and “training troops” in Ukraine. Not many NATO or European countries exposed to multiple theatres so no need for us to feel ashamed.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
No, we have to win via democratic means, differently from the intentions of Trump and certain elements in his tribute act of Reform, who are quite openly and fundamentally, ideologically antipathetic to democracy.
There may only be one chance to stop it.
Quite right and I think anti-Reform tactical voting should be across the rest of the political spectrum.
I would vote for any of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories or Greens in the next election if they were clearly best placed to beat Reform in my seat.
Even the parties above who I disagree with on almost all policies are preferable as they would not be a threat to UK democracy in the way Reform are.
If the 70% of the population who is not currently supporting Reform thinks likewise, then they won't be leading the next government.
And that would simply be democracy in action.
Indeed. A large part of the future of British constitutional norms, society and democracy probably now rests on that single issue of tactical voting.
The message needs to be got across to people of how much is at stake.
AI and global tech will take over soon enough anyway. Sorry.
I don't think either are very popular. Theres a real reaction against AI Slop and the Broligarchs. Voters are not keen.
I don't think voters will get much choice.
Indeed. Probably only Britain co-ordinating with European tech will offer a possibility of any substantial.choice worldwide.
Trump, and his vassals like Farage, have succeeded in stopping that level of economic and technological co-operation, so far.
I don’t see Reform going up in the polls closer to an election .
More likely as they come under more scrutiny which Farage doesn’t like their poll numbers will drop .
A host of previous controversial positions taken by Farage and so far ignored by the media will get more attention .
Alongside the inherent contradictions within Reform's policies - you can't reduce taxes while keeping your Northern welfare voters happy.
That's only a problem after the election. Before the vote, "cutting waste/woke/green/illegals will pay for it" works.
And after the election might be too late.
The question is how much Reform HQ believe the things they say, as opposed to knowing that they are rubbish. One of the things about Nigel is that he walked away after 2016 and in 2019. Does he want, does he really, really want, the responsibility of being PM?
Yes. The two questions - how to win and how to govern are very different ones. There is a factor which brings them together. The voter is, arguably, fed up and has lost confidence in the process of the link between promise and reality.
Brexit could (and should) have delivered an acceptable (Swiss/Norway style) solution. It didn't due to lack of planning (Cameron), a gulf between who campaigned and who had to deliver and parliament's inability to do its job at the very moment parliament mattered more than government. In brief the elections of 2015, 2017 and 2019 delivered so much less than promised.
2024 was meant to be different. The wise knew that Labour had competence and a plan and after the Ming Vase victory would produce steady, dull, incremental improvement in all the dull areas of government. The wise were wrong.
In 2029 the voter knows these things: a majority government is unlikely, a lack of detailed policy does not imply hidden competence, Labour and Tory have both been let downs. Most (up to 70%) will also have no trust in the competence of Reform and even its supporters are unable to articulate what its fundamental principles might be, as PB regularly demonstrates.
I think, provisionally, that this dismal scene gives the best opportunity for the Tories. If, and only if, they can articulate a clear and sane set of policy objectives which don't do racist dog whistles and separates them from Reform, and pledge not to bring Reform into government whatever happens.
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I predict this will all end in tears for Bobby J.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
I'm not 100% sure about that.
Shamelessness, and even transparent shameless treachery, can be a political superpower.
Farage, for example, was able to appear unembarrassed by Jenrick's humiliating unmasking, and give him a welcome more appropriate to the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher in pint sized make form.
What might have been a disastrous introduction of the defector actually went off reasonably well in the circumstances (and allowed the BBC's political correspondent to declare it a major coup for Reform).
And the quality has done Trump little harm over the years.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
No, we have to win via democratic means, differently from the intentions of Trump and certain elements in his tribute act of Reform, who are quite openly and fundamentally, ideologically antipathetic to democracy.
There may only be one chance to stop it.
Quite right and I think anti-Reform tactical voting should be across the rest of the political spectrum.
I would vote for any of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories or Greens in the next election if they were clearly best placed to beat Reform in my seat.
Even the parties above who I disagree with on almost all policies are preferable as they would not be a threat to UK democracy in the way Reform are.
If the 70% of the population who is not currently supporting Reform thinks likewise, then they won't be leading the next government.
And that would simply be democracy in action.
Indeed. A large part of the future of British constitutional norms, society and democracy probably now rests on that single issue of tactical voting.
The message needs to be got across to people of how much is at stake.
AI and global tech will take over soon enough anyway. Sorry.
I don't think either are very popular. Theres a real reaction against AI Slop and the Broligarchs. Voters are not keen.
I don't think voters will get much choice.
Indeed. Probably only Britain co-ordinating with European tech will offer any substantial.choice worldwide.
Trump, and his vassals like Farage, have succeeded in stopping that so far.
Europe has no interest in AI or mechanisation as it’s a threat to the existing power structures and blocks. See also SpaceX strangling Arianespace.
I don’t see Reform going up in the polls closer to an election .
More likely as they come under more scrutiny which Farage doesn’t like their poll numbers will drop .
A host of previous controversial positions taken by Farage and so far ignored by the media will get more attention .
Alongside the inherent contradictions within Reform's policies - you can't reduce taxes while keeping your Northern welfare voters happy.
That's only a problem after the election. Before the vote, "cutting waste/woke/green/illegals will pay for it" works.
And after the election might be too late.
The question is how much Reform HQ believe the things they say, as opposed to knowing that they are rubbish. One of the things about Nigel is that he walked away after 2016 and in 2019. Does he want, does he really, really want, the responsibility of being PM?
Yes. The two questions - how to win and how to govern are very different ones. There is a factor which brings them together. The voter is, arguably, fed up and has lost confidence in the process of the link between promise and reality.
Brexit could (and should) have delivered an acceptable (Swiss/Norway style) solution. It didn't due to lack of planning (Cameron), a gulf between who campaigned and who had to deliver and parliament's inability to do its job at the very moment parliament mattered more than government. In brief the elections of 2015, 2017 and 2019 delivered so much less than promised.
2024 was meant to be different. The wise knew that Labour had competence and a plan and after the Ming Vase victory would produce steady, dull, incremental improvement in all the dull areas of government. The wise were wrong.
In 2029 the voter knows these things: a majority government is unlikely, a lack of detailed policy does not imply hidden competence, Labour and Tory have both been let downs. Most (up to 70%) will also have no trust in the competence of Reform and even its supporters are unable to articulate what its fundamental principles might be, as PB regularly demonstrates.
I think, provisionally, that this dismal scene gives the best opportunity for the Tories. If, and only if, they can articulate a clear and sane set of policy objectives which don't do racist dog whistles and separates them from Reform, and pledge not to bring Reform into government whatever happens.
Such a pledge will surely keep them out of government in a hung parliament
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I predict this will all end in tears for Bobby J.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
I'm not 100% sure about that.
Shamelessness, and even transparent shameless treachery, can be a political superpower.
Farage, for example, was able to appear unembarrassed by Jenrick's humiliating unmasking, and give him a welcome more appropriate to the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher in pint sized make form.
What might have been a disastrous introduction of the defector actually went off reasonably well in the circumstances (and allowed the BBC's political correspondent to declare it a major coup for Reform).
And the quality has done Trump little harm over the years.
Trump is an outlier for so many reasons though. He is able to upset the normal order of things in so many ways because he possesses, as much as it grudges many of us to accept, some quite unique talents. But Trump is a once-in-a-generation kind of figure. Robert Jenrick is not Donald Trump.
if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
Yup
He wanted a big splashy press announcement, but it's a case of "Frog announces he will ferry scorpion who has promised not to sting him"
I think the way Jenrick kept him waiting at the press conference will have annoyed Farage. It could have been what is regarded as a power play. Whether deliberate or not, it made the boss look foolish and most bosses would be a bit resentful about that
In the long read of where it all went wrong between them, this will be the original sin
The explanation, supposedly, was that the Tories had leaked Jenrick's speech to the press, as left on the photocopier, not long before the prezzer, and he was frantically rewriting it to have some new things to say
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I predict this will all end in tears for Bobby J.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
I'm not 100% sure about that.
Shamelessness, and even transparent shameless treachery, can be a political superpower.
Farage, for example, was able to appear unembarrassed by Jenrick's humiliating unmasking, and give him a welcome more appropriate to the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher in pint sized make form.
What might have been a disastrous introduction of the defector actually went off reasonably well in the circumstances (and allowed the BBC's political correspondent to declare it a major coup for Reform).
And the quality has done Trump little harm over the years.
Trump is an outlier for so many reasons though. He is able to upset the normal order of things in so many ways because he possesses, as much as it grudges many of us to accept, some quite unique talents. But Trump is a once-in-a-generation kind of figure. Robert Jenrick is not Donald Trump.
No, though Jenrick clearly sees himself as the UK JD Vance now to Farage's Trump. The intellectual heft of the populist right to the frontman showman
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I predict this will all end in tears for Bobby J.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
I'm not 100% sure about that.
Shamelessness, and even transparent shameless treachery, can be a political superpower.
Farage, for example, was able to appear unembarrassed by Jenrick's humiliating unmasking, and give him a welcome more appropriate to the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher in pint sized make form.
What might have been a disastrous introduction of the defector actually went off reasonably well in the circumstances (and allowed the BBC's political correspondent to declare it a major coup for Reform).
And the quality has done Trump little harm over the years.
Trump is an outlier for so many reasons though. He is able to upset the normal order of things in so many ways because he possesses, as much as it grudges many of us to accept, some quite unique talents. But Trump is a once-in-a-generation kind of figure. Robert Jenrick is not Donald Trump.
No, though Jenrick clearly sees himself as the UK JD Vance now to Farage's Trump. The intellectual heft of the populist right to the frontman showman
Our token presence is not something to be proud of.
Our “token presence” is someone who has been sent to asses and liaise to plan and discuss what is ended and will work. There is no point in everyone rushing plane loads of troops to greeenland when nobody knows what they will do, where they will do it and what the orders are.
We have lots of the Marines in Norway presently as well as troops in Estonia and “training troops” in Ukraine. Not many NATO or European countries exposed to multiple theatres so no need for us to feel ashamed.
It's probably more a lack of capacity to get them there and sustain them once they are there than a lack of troops. There isn't exactly a lot of infrastructure in Greenland. Outside the USSF base which isn't going to throw open the doors of their Pizza Hut.
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
It reads like a confected collage of gripes and anecdotes. It reads nothing like evidence of a party being Nazis as you've accused Reform.
Commentary on both Reform and Trump here verges on the hysterical or Hyperbolic.
Reform are a threat to democracy. Really ? How ?
Last time I looked they weren’t cancelling elections they were likely to lose. That’s third world dictator stuff.
WRT Reform I agree that the suggestion of being anti-democratic, Nazi and all that are just nonsense. Though that may be more out of respect for the UK's tradition of finding Dad's Army both very funny and also rather true than out of what Reform freely let loose would like to be. Farage as Spode!
USA is not UK and Trump is not a figure of fun. Anyone who is sure the USA will continue to have free and fair elections is under a misapprehension.
I don’t see Reform going up in the polls closer to an election .
More likely as they come under more scrutiny which Farage doesn’t like their poll numbers will drop .
A host of previous controversial positions taken by Farage and so far ignored by the media will get more attention .
Alongside the inherent contradictions within Reform's policies - you can't reduce taxes while keeping your Northern welfare voters happy.
That's only a problem after the election. Before the vote, "cutting waste/woke/green/illegals will pay for it" works.
And after the election might be too late.
The question is how much Reform HQ believe the things they say, as opposed to knowing that they are rubbish. One of the things about Nigel is that he walked away after 2016 and in 2019. Does he want, does he really, really want, the responsibility of being PM?
Yes. The two questions - how to win and how to govern are very different ones. There is a factor which brings them together. The voter is, arguably, fed up and has lost confidence in the process of the link between promise and reality.
Brexit could (and should) have delivered an acceptable (Swiss/Norway style) solution. It didn't due to lack of planning (Cameron), a gulf between who campaigned and who had to deliver and parliament's inability to do its job at the very moment parliament mattered more than government. In brief the elections of 2015, 2017 and 2019 delivered so much less than promised.
2024 was meant to be different. The wise knew that Labour had competence and a plan and after the Ming Vase victory would produce steady, dull, incremental improvement in all the dull areas of government. The wise were wrong.
In 2029 the voter knows these things: a majority government is unlikely, a lack of detailed policy does not imply hidden competence, Labour and Tory have both been let downs. Most (up to 70%) will also have no trust in the competence of Reform and even its supporters are unable to articulate what its fundamental principles might be, as PB regularly demonstrates.
I think, provisionally, that this dismal scene gives the best opportunity for the Tories. If, and only if, they can articulate a clear and sane set of policy objectives which don't do racist dog whistles and separates them from Reform, and pledge not to bring Reform into government whatever happens.
Now Jenrick has gone incumbent Tory MPs and councillors can now at least say to Labour and LD voters in their seats with a bit more credibility this morning 'please lend me a tactical vote to stop Reform' than they could yesterday.
In that sense, I think longer term yesterday's news may benefit the Tories more than Reform. Are any more Tory voters going to defect to Reform now Jenrick has left the party than had already gone? I highly doubt it, those still voting Tory even now will almost certainly be Kemi loyalists on the whole. A Jenrick free Tory party though is one liberal and left of centre voters could vote for tactically in seats held by the Tories to beat Farage's party more than a Tory party with Jenrick still in it.
Traditional Labour voters who have gone Reform may be a bit less keen with all these high profile ex Tories now in the party, so Sir Keir may also be a bit happier today.
I don’t think it will come as a shock to any of us that Bobby J bears a number of the traits of an opportunist, but there is a particular sense of whiplash to seeing him telling us all the Tories are a broken party who destroyed Britain when he was an active member of their frontbench 12 hours ago.
I do wonder if this might be the moment that Farage’s fortunes start to dwindle…. The Tory Reject narrative is starting to take hold….
It would be a funny outcome if successfully securing a high profile defection tipped the scales for people who preferred an impression of insurgent new politics.
Badenoch is already playing the “it shows the party has changed, we’re getting rid of all the bad eggs” card. It’s a bold and high risk move and far from enough, but it gives her a tiny pinch of “detoxification” magic dust that most opposition parties wait years to come into possession of.
Yes. I agree with you. It can only be good news and great day for the Conservatives the opportunist Snake has gone.
Jenrick was more open in his racism than Farage, and this was promoting and normalising doubts to the huge success cultural integration has been in the UK, doubts the Conservative Party has never, and will never hold or suggest.
We owe it to Kemi Badenoch, as the stop Jenrick candidate, to have blocked Jenrick from the leaderships most powerful position. But now as TSE explained in the earlier header, this puts Badenoch’s position in question, now she is is no longer blocking the vile and dangerous Jenrick to the right. The right have other fresh faces, far more loyal to Conservative Party values than Robert the Snake, who can throw hat in ring if the next election result is as bad as looks possible. But if Kemi cannot turn the polling around, the threats to remove her this side of the election are now to the left of her, as she can be replaced by an experienced centerist candidate James, Tom or Mel, whose political values are closer to the traditional UK centre ground so bring wider appeal across all the public, and is the party’s best hope of getting best possible result in 2029, hopefully to move us back over 200 seats.
Cleverly is now odds on to be Tory leader if Kemi fails to see the Tories beat Labour in the NEV after the May local elections. Cleverly will be more loyal to Kemi than Jenrick though and if Kemi resigned or lost a VONC Cleverly now likely gets it by coronation
I think Labour’s attack lines have become a lot easier after yet another Tory defects.
I know they’re getting a Labourite next week (although I note Farage said “Labour figure” today, not MP). Who could it be?
But the idea this is not just another Tory iteration seems harder and harder to counter.
A Labour figure - any theories?
In the history books, and plays like James Graham‘s This House, Labour MPs and the Union Barons and shop stewards are the most anti semitic, racist, misogynistic MP’s, activists, members and voters of all. This is what working class and Labour people are historically ingrained with.
A list of who is about to and later will don the Reform Nazi uniform will be easy. It should also be a successful betting opportunity for PBers.
I have Blunket top of the list. Alongside Glasman.
No chance Blunket. I'm slightly worried about Alan Sugar.
He won’t switch to them, he’s Jewish.
I know it's Reform and therefore anything is permissible, but explicit accusations of Nazism are quite gamey. Might want to rein it in a bit.
A lot of candidates Reform have dropped been for sharing Hitler memes, praised aspects of the Nazi regime, or associated with known neo-Nazi individuals and groups. For some reason they seem to attract such people, what is it?
Maybe its the excessive focus on race and immigration, that they say is main reason for everything wrong in country today, like you can’t get house, dentist, don’t have enough money, see your community changing around you etc. So the policies that will fix what is broken Britain is place “foreigners” at the bottom of housing lists, ban "transgender propaganda" in schools, etc. and remove 750,000 migrants under the “borders plan”.
Also the authoritarian streak that runs through everything Reform. A reform MPs response to a police officer stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport was: “These police should be commended, I’d give them a medal.” “My constituents,”“are fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people”.
Anything I have listed here so far that doesn’t read across to EXACTLY how NAZI parties always FISH for VOTES?
You say rein it in - but when is it acceptable political cut and thrust or should be reigned in, take this as example, fair enough from the Conservatives wasn’t it?
Ultimately is Reform not a populist party and cult of personality party, banging on about corrupt elites running the country? What political platform can be any less Nazi than that?
Morning P.B.
Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is imperative for British society
Translation: Please can we cancel democracy because the voters don't like us.
No, we have to win via democratic means, differently from the intentions of Trump and certain elements in his tribute act of Reform, who are quite openly and fundamentally, ideologically antipathetic to democracy.
There may only be one chance to stop it.
Quite right and I think anti-Reform tactical voting should be across the rest of the political spectrum.
I would vote for any of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories or Greens in the next election if they were clearly best placed to beat Reform in my seat.
Even the parties above who I disagree with on almost all policies are preferable as they would not be a threat to UK democracy in the way Reform are.
If the 70% of the population who is not currently supporting Reform thinks likewise, then they won't be leading the next government.
And that would simply be democracy in action.
Indeed. A large part of the future of British constitutional norms, society and democracy probably now rests on that single issue of tactical voting.
The message needs to be got across to people of how much is at stake.
AI and global tech will take over soon enough anyway. Sorry.
I don't think either are very popular. Theres a real reaction against AI Slop and the Broligarchs. Voters are not keen.
I don't think voters will get much choice.
Indeed. Probably only Britain co-ordinating with European tech will offer any substantial.choice worldwide.
Trump, and his vassals like Farage, have succeeded in stopping that so far.
Europe has no interest in AI or mechanisation as it’s a threat to the existing power structures and blocks. See also SpaceX strangling Arianespace.
It isn't SpaceX strangling Arianespace. They just happen to be the market leader in space, for now. Arianespace is strangling itself, by not opting for reusability.
Which, as you say, would threaten the workshare on existing rockets.
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I predict this will all end in tears for Bobby J.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
Such foolish thinking.
You are thinking in terms of morals, principles etc. Why?
Robert Jenrick is *more trustworthy* than most politicians.
He won’t blow up his career over principle (see the numerous MPs who committed political suicide over Brexit), for example.
I would 100% trust BJ to do whatever BJ thinks is good for BJ.
I don’t see Reform going up in the polls closer to an election .
More likely as they come under more scrutiny which Farage doesn’t like their poll numbers will drop .
A host of previous controversial positions taken by Farage and so far ignored by the media will get more attention .
Alongside the inherent contradictions within Reform's policies - you can't reduce taxes while keeping your Northern welfare voters happy.
That's only a problem after the election. Before the vote, "cutting waste/woke/green/illegals will pay for it" works.
And after the election might be too late.
The question is how much Reform HQ believe the things they say, as opposed to knowing that they are rubbish. One of the things about Nigel is that he walked away after 2016 and in 2019. Does he want, does he really, really want, the responsibility of being PM?
Yes. The two questions - how to win and how to govern are very different ones. There is a factor which brings them together. The voter is, arguably, fed up and has lost confidence in the process of the link between promise and reality.
Brexit could (and should) have delivered an acceptable (Swiss/Norway style) solution. It didn't due to lack of planning (Cameron), a gulf between who campaigned and who had to deliver and parliament's inability to do its job at the very moment parliament mattered more than government. In brief the elections of 2015, 2017 and 2019 delivered so much less than promised.
2024 was meant to be different. The wise knew that Labour had competence and a plan and after the Ming Vase victory would produce steady, dull, incremental improvement in all the dull areas of government. The wise were wrong.
In 2029 the voter knows these things: a majority government is unlikely, a lack of detailed policy does not imply hidden competence, Labour and Tory have both been let downs. Most (up to 70%) will also have no trust in the competence of Reform and even its supporters are unable to articulate what its fundamental principles might be, as PB regularly demonstrates.
I think, provisionally, that this dismal scene gives the best opportunity for the Tories. If, and only if, they can articulate a clear and sane set of policy objectives which don't do racist dog whistles and separates them from Reform, and pledge not to bring Reform into government whatever happens.
Such a pledge will surely keep them out of government in a hung parliament
IMHO the Tories best chance is to take risks, including that one. Few will vote Tory for the honour of being represented by a knight of the shire whose job is to keep Zahawi and Jenrick on the front bench. Quite a few might vote Tory in order to have knight of the shire MP who will do whatever is needed to keep them off the front bench.
if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
Yup
He wanted a big splashy press announcement, but it's a case of "Frog announces he will ferry scorpion who has promised not to sting him"
I think the way Jenrick kept him waiting at the press conference will have annoyed Farage. It could have been what is regarded as a power play. Whether deliberate or not, it made the boss look foolish and most bosses would be a bit resentful about that
In the long read of where it all went wrong between them, this will be the original sin
The explanation, supposedly, was that the Tories had leaked Jenrick's speech to the press, as left on the photocopier, not long before the prezzer, and he was frantically rewriting it to have some new things to say
“Later, it emerged that Jenrick had been delayed because he had got lost in the corridors of Millbank Tower, getting stuck one floor below the press conference location after failing to find his way up the stairs.”
if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
Yup
He wanted a big splashy press announcement, but it's a case of "Frog announces he will ferry scorpion who has promised not to sting him"
I think the way Jenrick kept him waiting at the press conference will have annoyed Farage. It could have been what is regarded as a power play. Whether deliberate or not, it made the boss look foolish and most bosses would be a bit resentful about that
In the long read of where it all went wrong between them, this will be the original sin
The explanation, supposedly, was that the Tories had leaked Jenrick's speech to the press, as left on the photocopier, not long before the prezzer, and he was frantically rewriting it to have some new things to say
“Later, it emerged that Jenrick had been delayed because he had got lost in the corridors of Millbank Tower, getting stuck one floor below the press conference location after failing to find his way up the stairs.”
I’m starting to think that “Robert Jenrick” is simply an AI hallucination
if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
Yup
He wanted a big splashy press announcement, but it's a case of "Frog announces he will ferry scorpion who has promised not to sting him"
I think the way Jenrick kept him waiting at the press conference will have annoyed Farage. It could have been what is regarded as a power play. Whether deliberate or not, it made the boss look foolish and most bosses would be a bit resentful about that
In the long read of where it all went wrong between them, this will be the original sin
The explanation, supposedly, was that the Tories had leaked Jenrick's speech to the press, as left on the photocopier, not long before the prezzer, and he was frantically rewriting it to have some new things to say
“Later, it emerged that Jenrick had been delayed because he had got lost in the corridors of Millbank Tower, getting stuck one floor below the press conference location after failing to find his way up the stairs.”
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I predict this will all end in tears for Bobby J.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
I'm not 100% sure about that.
Shamelessness, and even transparent shameless treachery, can be a political superpower.
Farage, for example, was able to appear unembarrassed by Jenrick's humiliating unmasking, and give him a welcome more appropriate to the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher in pint sized make form.
What might have been a disastrous introduction of the defector actually went off reasonably well in the circumstances (and allowed the BBC's political correspondent to declare it a major coup for Reform).
And the quality has done Trump little harm over the years.
Trump is an outlier for so many reasons though. He is able to upset the normal order of things in so many ways because he possesses, as much as it grudges many of us to accept, some quite unique talents. But Trump is a once-in-a-generation kind of figure. Robert Jenrick is not Donald Trump.
No, though Jenrick clearly sees himself as the UK JD Vance now to Farage's Trump. The intellectual heft of the populist right to the frontman showman
I’m wondering this morning whether the Nobel peace prize is now irrevocably dabased as an award.
It’s been increasingly politicised over decades to the point it had already lost much of its credibility. Now it’s being traded like an nft token in return for hoped-for favours.
I think the Nobel committee might want to consider dropping the peace prize from now on and focusing back on scientific achievements.
They ought to cancel last years award immediately and state clearly that you cannot sell it like a bauble.
I don’t see Reform going up in the polls closer to an election .
More likely as they come under more scrutiny which Farage doesn’t like their poll numbers will drop .
A host of previous controversial positions taken by Farage and so far ignored by the media will get more attention .
Alongside the inherent contradictions within Reform's policies - you can't reduce taxes while keeping your Northern welfare voters happy.
That's only a problem after the election. Before the vote, "cutting waste/woke/green/illegals will pay for it" works.
And after the election might be too late.
The question is how much Reform HQ believe the things they say, as opposed to knowing that they are rubbish. One of the things about Nigel is that he walked away after 2016 and in 2019. Does he want, does he really, really want, the responsibility of being PM?
Yes. The two questions - how to win and how to govern are very different ones. There is a factor which brings them together. The voter is, arguably, fed up and has lost confidence in the process of the link between promise and reality.
Brexit could (and should) have delivered an acceptable (Swiss/Norway style) solution. It didn't due to lack of planning (Cameron), a gulf between who campaigned and who had to deliver and parliament's inability to do its job at the very moment parliament mattered more than government. In brief the elections of 2015, 2017 and 2019 delivered so much less than promised.
2024 was meant to be different. The wise knew that Labour had competence and a plan and after the Ming Vase victory would produce steady, dull, incremental improvement in all the dull areas of government. The wise were wrong.
In 2029 the voter knows these things: a majority government is unlikely, a lack of detailed policy does not imply hidden competence, Labour and Tory have both been let downs. Most (up to 70%) will also have no trust in the competence of Reform and even its supporters are unable to articulate what its fundamental principles might be, as PB regularly demonstrates.
I think, provisionally, that this dismal scene gives the best opportunity for the Tories. If, and only if, they can articulate a clear and sane set of policy objectives which don't do racist dog whistles and separates them from Reform, and pledge not to bring Reform into government whatever happens.
Such a pledge will surely keep them out of government in a hung parliament
IMHO the Tories best chance is to take risks, including that one. Few will vote Tory for the honour of being represented by a knight of the shire whose job is to keep Zahawi and Jenrick on the front bench. Quite a few might vote Tory in order to have knight of the shire MP who will do whatever is needed to keep them off the front bench.
The way back - certainly toward their former educated working-age base - is to reconcile themselves with returning to a pro-EU stance, embracing closer alignment. They're progressively losing the hardcore frothers to Reform, anyway, and the change in stance is no more dramatic than dumping protectionism for free trade or, indeed, taking us into the EU and then becoming Eurosceptic no-dealers. Once upon a time they were supposed to be the party renowned for flexibly adapting to changing times.
It may however take them quite some years to work this out.
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I predict this will all end in tears for Bobby J.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
I'm not 100% sure about that.
Shamelessness, and even transparent shameless treachery, can be a political superpower.
Farage, for example, was able to appear unembarrassed by Jenrick's humiliating unmasking, and give him a welcome more appropriate to the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher in pint sized make form.
What might have been a disastrous introduction of the defector actually went off reasonably well in the circumstances (and allowed the BBC's political correspondent to declare it a major coup for Reform).
And the quality has done Trump little harm over the years.
Trump is an outlier for so many reasons though. He is able to upset the normal order of things in so many ways because he possesses, as much as it grudges many of us to accept, some quite unique talents. But Trump is a once-in-a-generation kind of figure. Robert Jenrick is not Donald Trump.
No, though Jenrick clearly sees himself as the UK JD Vance now to Farage's Trump. The intellectual heft of the populist right to the frontman showman
The morning after the day before and it remains to be seen how much impact the Jenrick defenestration/defection (delete as appropriate) will have in the wider electorate.
Jenrick has made/shat his bed (again, delete as appropriate) and I often wonder about the mindset with such public defections. When I stopped being an LD member, there was never the slightest thought I could join another party (or even vote for another party) and I can understand ambitious politicians who know full well the only way to electoral success is to have a Party machine behind, switching opportunistically.
I'm just not sure this will be the strategic triumph so many claim for Badenoch - for me, it was all a bit too theatrical. A bit more "in sorrow" and a bit less "in anger" would have been better and Jenrick has (or had) his supporters within the Conservative Party and he was, last summer, a far more active and serious Conservative campaigner than Badenoch.
Jenrick obviously came to see the Badenoch strategy as not being compatible with the Rees-Mogg desire to "unify the Right" - this starts from the premise Reform is a right-wing movement about which I'm far from convinced. Badenoch's team are correct in arguing there is no future being Reform-lite but that will leave the Conservatives (and the LDs) with some hard thinking to do about what might happen after the next election.
Badenoch wants to win a majority on her own for the Conservatives - understandably. That might still happen but realistically we are looking at somehting else. IF the door to an arrangement with Reform is closed, that either means working with other parties (including Labour, which must surely be anathema) or sitting in splendid futility on the Opposition benches while some other grouping of parties forms the next Government and runs Britain for the next four or five years.
The aim must therefore to be either the first or second party in the next Parliament - if not the Government, then the Opposition. To fall to third is to fall into irrelevance (ask the LDs) so that is the risk/reward for the Conservatives in 2029. Whether yesterday's events have helped or hindered that, time will tell - it always does.
if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
Yup
He wanted a big splashy press announcement, but it's a case of "Frog announces he will ferry scorpion who has promised not to sting him"
I think the way Jenrick kept him waiting at the press conference will have annoyed Farage. It could have been what is regarded as a power play. Whether deliberate or not, it made the boss look foolish and most bosses would be a bit resentful about that
In the long read of where it all went wrong between them, this will be the original sin
The explanation, supposedly, was that the Tories had leaked Jenrick's speech to the press, as left on the photocopier, not long before the prezzer, and he was frantically rewriting it to have some new things to say
Yes, I saw that. Probably true, but I still think Farage will have been annoyed by being made to wait around.
I’m not sure why, but after years of supporting Farage, I have kind of gone off him a bit recently. Maybe it’s the Dulwich College allegations, or that I like an underdog. Could be that Reform look a bit old fashioned compared to the Conservatives now. I’d rather Badenoch and Lam in charge than Farage and Jenrick
if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
Yup
He wanted a big splashy press announcement, but it's a case of "Frog announces he will ferry scorpion who has promised not to sting him"
I think the way Jenrick kept him waiting at the press conference will have annoyed Farage. It could have been what is regarded as a power play. Whether deliberate or not, it made the boss look foolish and most bosses would be a bit resentful about that
In the long read of where it all went wrong between them, this will be the original sin
The explanation, supposedly, was that the Tories had leaked Jenrick's speech to the press, as left on the photocopier, not long before the prezzer, and he was frantically rewriting it to have some new things to say
“Later, it emerged that Jenrick had been delayed because he had got lost in the corridors of Millbank Tower, getting stuck one floor below the press conference location after failing to find his way up the stairs.”
I’m starting to think that “Robert Jenrick” is simply an AI hallucination
I have no idea how yesterday's events will affect the polling but for this conservative the party without Jenrick is a much better place and Kemi's action were spot on
As far as a labour defection is concerned I would watc Graham Stringer
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I predict this will all end in tears for Bobby J.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
I'm not 100% sure about that.
Shamelessness, and even transparent shameless treachery, can be a political superpower.
Farage, for example, was able to appear unembarrassed by Jenrick's humiliating unmasking, and give him a welcome more appropriate to the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher in pint sized make form.
What might have been a disastrous introduction of the defector actually went off reasonably well in the circumstances (and allowed the BBC's political correspondent to declare it a major coup for Reform).
And the quality has done Trump little harm over the years.
Trump is an outlier for so many reasons though. He is able to upset the normal order of things in so many ways because he possesses, as much as it grudges many of us to accept, some quite unique talents. But Trump is a once-in-a-generation kind of figure. Robert Jenrick is not Donald Trump.
Not sure what unique talents you think Trunmp has other than being the biggest bully because he has the biggest group of knuckle draggers supporting him. The man is a moron.
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I predict this will all end in tears for Bobby J.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
I'm not 100% sure about that.
Shamelessness, and even transparent shameless treachery, can be a political superpower.
Farage, for example, was able to appear unembarrassed by Jenrick's humiliating unmasking, and give him a welcome more appropriate to the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher in pint sized make form.
What might have been a disastrous introduction of the defector actually went off reasonably well in the circumstances (and allowed the BBC's political correspondent to declare it a major coup for Reform).
And the quality has done Trump little harm over the years.
Trump is an outlier for so many reasons though. He is able to upset the normal order of things in so many ways because he possesses, as much as it grudges many of us to accept, some quite unique talents. But Trump is a once-in-a-generation kind of figure. Robert Jenrick is not Donald Trump.
No, though Jenrick clearly sees himself as the UK JD Vance now to Farage's Trump. The intellectual heft of the populist right to the frontman showman
Vance is a good analogy, I agree.
Bobby is a namby-pamby Centrist compared to Vance
Vance is a deeply unpleasant character, but you feel he probably has a whole bunch of real world skills from hunting and fishing to building a shed and mending his own car. Jenrick can't even hang onto a few pieces of paper or find his own way up the stairs.
if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
Yup
He wanted a big splashy press announcement, but it's a case of "Frog announces he will ferry scorpion who has promised not to sting him"
I think the way Jenrick kept him waiting at the press conference will have annoyed Farage. It could have been what is regarded as a power play. Whether deliberate or not, it made the boss look foolish and most bosses would be a bit resentful about that
In the long read of where it all went wrong between them, this will be the original sin
The explanation, supposedly, was that the Tories had leaked Jenrick's speech to the press, as left on the photocopier, not long before the prezzer, and he was frantically rewriting it to have some new things to say
“Later, it emerged that Jenrick had been delayed because he had got lost in the corridors of Millbank Tower, getting stuck one floor below the press conference location after failing to find his way up the stairs.”
I’m starting to think that “Robert Jenrick” is simply an AI hallucination
I have no idea how yesterday's events will affect the polling but for this conservative the party without Jenrick is a much better place and Kemi's action were spot on
As far as a labour defection is concerned I would watc Graham Stringer
The first question for any Labour defector is going to be "Why do you want to be in the same party as Jenrick?"
Yes, he was a Cameroon 10 years ago, which is why I think Sir Keir will be relatively pleased he has joined Farage. Old Labour voters who have switched to Reform never liked Cameron. They are the type of voters who would have voted for Brown in 2010, UKIP or Labour in 2015, Corbyn in 2017 and lent a vote to Boris in 2019 to get Brexit done and then for Labour or Reform in 2024 but they also hated Cameron ie economically mildly left of centre but socially very conservative and nationalist
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I predict this will all end in tears for Bobby J.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
I'm not 100% sure about that.
Shamelessness, and even transparent shameless treachery, can be a political superpower.
Farage, for example, was able to appear unembarrassed by Jenrick's humiliating unmasking, and give him a welcome more appropriate to the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher in pint sized make form.
What might have been a disastrous introduction of the defector actually went off reasonably well in the circumstances (and allowed the BBC's political correspondent to declare it a major coup for Reform).
And the quality has done Trump little harm over the years.
Trump is an outlier for so many reasons though. He is able to upset the normal order of things in so many ways because he possesses, as much as it grudges many of us to accept, some quite unique talents. But Trump is a once-in-a-generation kind of figure. Robert Jenrick is not Donald Trump.
No, though Jenrick clearly sees himself as the UK JD Vance now to Farage's Trump. The intellectual heft of the populist right to the frontman showman
Vance is a good analogy, I agree.
Bobby is a namby-pamby Centrist compared to Vance
Vance is a deeply unpleasant character, but you feel he probably has a whole bunch of real world skills from hunting and fishing to building a shed and mending his own car. Jenrick can't even hang onto a few pieces of paper or find his own way up the stairs.
It does seem to produce more than its fair share of shits certainly (though to be fair to lawyers Jenrick studied history and Vance political science and philosophy as undergrads before both went to law school)
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I predict this will all end in tears for Bobby J.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
I'm not 100% sure about that.
Shamelessness, and even transparent shameless treachery, can be a political superpower.
Farage, for example, was able to appear unembarrassed by Jenrick's humiliating unmasking, and give him a welcome more appropriate to the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher in pint sized make form.
What might have been a disastrous introduction of the defector actually went off reasonably well in the circumstances (and allowed the BBC's political correspondent to declare it a major coup for Reform).
And the quality has done Trump little harm over the years.
Trump is an outlier for so many reasons though. He is able to upset the normal order of things in so many ways because he possesses, as much as it grudges many of us to accept, some quite unique talents. But Trump is a once-in-a-generation kind of figure. Robert Jenrick is not Donald Trump.
No, though Jenrick clearly sees himself as the UK JD Vance now to Farage's Trump. The intellectual heft of the populist right to the frontman showman
Vance is a good analogy, I agree.
Bobby is a namby-pamby Centrist compared to Vance
Vance is a deeply unpleasant character, but you feel he probably has a whole bunch of real world skills from hunting and fishing to building a shed and mending his own car. Jenrick can't even hang onto a few pieces of paper or find his own way up the stairs.
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I predict this will all end in tears for Bobby J.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
I'm not 100% sure about that.
Shamelessness, and even transparent shameless treachery, can be a political superpower.
Farage, for example, was able to appear unembarrassed by Jenrick's humiliating unmasking, and give him a welcome more appropriate to the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher in pint sized make form.
What might have been a disastrous introduction of the defector actually went off reasonably well in the circumstances (and allowed the BBC's political correspondent to declare it a major coup for Reform).
And the quality has done Trump little harm over the years.
Trump is an outlier for so many reasons though. He is able to upset the normal order of things in so many ways because he possesses, as much as it grudges many of us to accept, some quite unique talents. But Trump is a once-in-a-generation kind of figure. Robert Jenrick is not Donald Trump.
Not sure what unique talents you think Trunmp has other than being the biggest bully because he has the biggest group of knuckle draggers supporting him. The man is a moron.
No one gets to where Trump is now without being talented at something, even if we find the man odious (as I do).
I have no idea how yesterday's events will affect the polling but for this conservative the party without Jenrick is a much better place and Kemi's action were spot on
As far as a labour defection is concerned I would watc Graham Stringer
A helpful reminder that up until yesterday morning Bobby J was a key member of Kemi's Shadow Cabinet, so clearly she didn't hold the view that he was a worthless piece of shit until mid morning yesterday.
Who, then, is the Labour equivalent, harbouring a deep and largely unfounded sense of grievance ?
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/ I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
I predict this will all end in tears for Bobby J.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
I'm not 100% sure about that.
Shamelessness, and even transparent shameless treachery, can be a political superpower.
Farage, for example, was able to appear unembarrassed by Jenrick's humiliating unmasking, and give him a welcome more appropriate to the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher in pint sized make form.
What might have been a disastrous introduction of the defector actually went off reasonably well in the circumstances (and allowed the BBC's political correspondent to declare it a major coup for Reform).
And the quality has done Trump little harm over the years.
Trump is an outlier for so many reasons though. He is able to upset the normal order of things in so many ways because he possesses, as much as it grudges many of us to accept, some quite unique talents. But Trump is a once-in-a-generation kind of figure. Robert Jenrick is not Donald Trump.
No, though Jenrick clearly sees himself as the UK JD Vance now to Farage's Trump. The intellectual heft of the populist right to the frontman showman
Vance is a good analogy, I agree.
Bobby is a namby-pamby Centrist compared to Vance
Vance is a deeply unpleasant character, but you feel he probably has a whole bunch of real world skills from hunting and fishing to building a shed and mending his own car. Jenrick can't even hang onto a few pieces of paper or find his own way up the stairs.
Vance, a man from a deprived background with real world skills and who has risen through his own abilities.
And the Dems thought it clever to attack Vance's background instead of his beliefs.
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Looking at the developing situation of increasing i.c.e. unaccountable and paramilitary-style violence, and considering then also that Farage is always open aboit Trump being one of his leadjng role models, it looks ever more obvious that stopping Reform is absolutely imperative for British society
There may only be one chance to stop it.
I would vote for any of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories or Greens in the next election if they were clearly best placed to beat Reform in my seat.
Even the parties above who I disagree with on almost all policies are preferable as they would not be a threat to UK democracy in the way Reform are.
If the 70% of the population who is not currently supporting Reform thinks likewise, then they won't be leading the next government.
And that would simply be democracy in action.
I got a real feeling at Christmas that she may not make another, so its good to spend time with her.
The politics is tricky though. If political debate is about tax rates or whether the railways should be nationalised it is simple to debate. It becomes impossible when it becomes about cultural issues such as deporting all Muslims etc. I saw on Social Media similar comments from Americans at Thanksgiving.
The message needs to be got across to people of how much is at stake.
No one but you made that suggestion.
It’s been increasingly politicised over decades to the point it had already lost much of its credibility. Now it’s being traded like an nft token in return for hoped-for favours.
I think the Nobel committee might want to consider dropping the peace prize from now on and focusing back on scientific achievements.
There was a Canadian series about a female cop who came back in time from her own era, a near future in which global tech giants had effectively taken over the world. One of the more realistic premises of sci-fi, I think.
To keep their job? Given that the next election is 2+ years away I would love to have their crystal ball because a lot can change between then and now..
In some of them Labour will be best placed and in others the Tories will be.
Hard to know which is which until we have national polling close to the election itself.
More likely as they come under more scrutiny which Farage doesn’t like their poll numbers will drop .
A host of previous controversial positions taken by Farage and so far ignored by the media will get more attention .
and
2) This was her yesterday
Reform look like a total shambles. Kemi has shown up both Starmer and Farage today, stolen all the thunder. And they know it.
https://x.com/RosieDuffield1/status/2011841393321218537
Reform are a threat to democracy. Really ? How ?
Last time I looked they weren’t cancelling elections they were likely to lose. That’s third world dictator stuff.
https://thecritic.co.uk/francis-urquhart-or-baldrick/
I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform..
..“It’s time for the truth,” he began. Usually this is the moment for a sketchwriter to ask caustically what we’ve been hearing up to now. But Jenrick delivered that comment himself, explaining that he’d been lying to us all about the state of the country for the last decade. “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.” Gosh, Rob, how long have things been like that? “Twenty to thirty years.” OK, and who would you say was in government for a really significant chunk of that time?
On he went, a former Housing Secretary explaining that we hadn’t built enough homes, a former immigration minister complaining about all the immigrants. Not that this was his fault, you understand. He was let down by Boris Johnson and let down by Rishi Sunak. Boy, let down by Boris, eh? If only there’d been some clue to the Johnson character when Jenrick endorsed him to be prime minister.
It was quite hard to know what to say to all this. Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls. He just wanted to serve the country. He made a catty, nasty speech in which he denounced particularly Mel Stride and Priti Patel. What unites these people? They all have or had jobs he thinks he should have got. Another angry failson joins Reform to get the respect he deserves...
Mr Jenrick seems to have lost quite a few people's respect over this.
In the Westminster bubble this sort of political treachery might get him attention and be seen as a bit of a power play, but long-term, politics is also about character and I’m not convinced that someone quite so opportunistic is going to have an easy time of it. In addition, if I were Farage I’d be sleeping with one eye open from now on - if you can look at Robert Jenrick and think “there’s a man I trust” now, more fool you.
But I hesitate to make that judgment.
They might simply be a disaster in government.
*Or indeed Trump.
Those complaining about "Trump derangement syndrome" haven't exactly been vindicated recently.
And after the election might be too late.
The question is how much Reform HQ believe the things they say, as opposed to knowing that they are rubbish. One of the things about Nigel is that he walked away after 2016 and in 2019. Does he want, does he really, really want, the responsibility of being PM?
He wanted a big splashy press announcement, but it's a case of "Frog announces he will ferry scorpion who has promised not to sting him"
So, when Trump says something indefensible, he's joking; and when he does the thing that's indefensible, it's fake news; and if you're suffering the result of that indefensible thing, you're labeled a "domestic terrorist" by his DOJ.
That's pretty much the cycle.
https://x.com/DarrigoMelanie/status/2011897758895296888?s=20
"Sir Jake Berry" was cutting an absurd figure on the ridiculously rushed version of Newsnight last night, for instance, using the prestige of his absurd honour from Boris Johnson to slag off his erstwhile party.
"As I’ve noted before, to watch him scheming is to be reminded of a toddler hiding behind a cushion. “Where’s Robert? THERE HE IS! What’s Robert up to? WHO CAN SAY?” Like so many MPs, he thinks he’s Francis Urquhart, when in fact he’s Baldrick."
https://bsky.app/profile/stevepeers.bsky.social/post/3mcij5emjhs2n
Given that this transport announcement is total and utter fantasy, it's not really increased it's credibility to have produce a map where there are:
- Two Huddersfields
- *Three* Warringtons
- Hull is both north *and* south of York...
- and York is also north of... itself...
https://x.com/NeilDotObrien/status/2011709943012081698
In the long read of where it all went wrong between them, this will be the original sin
If immigration has been fixed but the economy hasn’t, the Tories might get a look in, if they’ve been able to land the messaging and the positioning.
If both have been fixed to some degree, Labour will likely (albeit grudgingly) be given another go.
In all of these scenarios, the leading party might still need to govern in a coalition or minority.
You are thinking in terms of morals, principles etc. Why?
Robert Jenrick is *more trustworthy* than most politicians.
He won’t blow up his career over principle (see the numerous MPs who committed political suicide over Brexit), for example.
I would 100% trust BJ to do whatever BJ thinks is good for BJ.
We have lots of the Marines in Norway presently as well as troops in Estonia and “training troops” in Ukraine. Not many NATO or European countries exposed to multiple theatres so no need for us to feel ashamed.
Trump, and his vassals like Farage, have succeeded in stopping that level of economic and technological co-operation, so far.
Brexit could (and should) have delivered an acceptable (Swiss/Norway style) solution. It didn't due to lack of planning (Cameron), a gulf between who campaigned and who had to deliver and parliament's inability to do its job at the very moment parliament mattered more than government. In brief the elections of 2015, 2017 and 2019 delivered so much less than promised.
2024 was meant to be different. The wise knew that Labour had competence and a plan and after the Ming Vase victory would produce steady, dull, incremental improvement in all the dull areas of government. The wise were wrong.
In 2029 the voter knows these things: a majority government is unlikely, a lack of detailed policy does not imply hidden competence, Labour and Tory have both been let downs. Most (up to 70%) will also have no trust in the competence of Reform and even its supporters are unable to articulate what its fundamental principles might be, as PB regularly demonstrates.
I think, provisionally, that this dismal scene gives the best opportunity for the Tories. If, and only if, they can articulate a clear and sane set of policy objectives which don't do racist dog whistles and separates them from Reform, and pledge not to bring Reform into government whatever happens.
Shamelessness, and even transparent shameless treachery, can be a political superpower.
Farage, for example, was able to appear unembarrassed by Jenrick's humiliating unmasking, and give him a welcome more appropriate to the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher in pint sized make form.
What might have been a disastrous introduction of the defector actually went off reasonably well in the circumstances (and allowed the BBC's political correspondent to declare it a major coup for Reform).
And the quality has done Trump little harm over the years.
USA is not UK and Trump is not a figure of fun. Anyone who is sure the USA will continue to have free and fair elections is under a misapprehension.
In that sense, I think longer term yesterday's news may benefit the Tories more than Reform. Are any more Tory voters going to defect to Reform now Jenrick has left the party than had already gone? I highly doubt it, those still voting Tory even now will almost certainly be Kemi loyalists on the whole. A Jenrick free Tory party though is one liberal and left of centre voters could vote for tactically in seats held by the Tories to beat Farage's party more than a Tory party with Jenrick still in it.
Traditional Labour voters who have gone Reform may be a bit less keen with all these high profile ex Tories now in the party, so Sir Keir may also be a bit happier today.
An Ipsos poll for ConHome last summer was very interesting. While Jenrick was favourite amongst Reform 2024 voters to succeed Kemi as Tory leader if she was removed, even more than Boris, amongst 2024 Tory voters it was Boris, then Cleverly then Sunak, Jenrick did not even make the top 3
https://conservativehome.com/2025/08/07/the-return-of-boris-tory-voters-are-looking-back-to-the-future/
Which, as you say, would threaten the workshare on existing rockets.
Sorry, "for BJ", not "for a BJ"?
“Later, it emerged that Jenrick had been delayed because he had got lost in the corridors of Millbank Tower, getting stuck one floor below the press conference location after failing to find his way up the stairs.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jd-vance-jenrick-farage-badenoch-cotswolds-trump-b2806260.html
It may however take them quite some years to work this out.
The morning after the day before and it remains to be seen how much impact the Jenrick defenestration/defection (delete as appropriate) will have in the wider electorate.
Jenrick has made/shat his bed (again, delete as appropriate) and I often wonder about the mindset with such public defections. When I stopped being an LD member, there was never the slightest thought I could join another party (or even vote for another party) and I can understand ambitious politicians who know full well the only way to electoral success is to have a Party machine behind, switching opportunistically.
I'm just not sure this will be the strategic triumph so many claim for Badenoch - for me, it was all a bit too theatrical. A bit more "in sorrow" and a bit less "in anger" would have been better and Jenrick has (or had) his supporters within the Conservative Party and he was, last summer, a far more active and serious Conservative campaigner than Badenoch.
Jenrick obviously came to see the Badenoch strategy as not being compatible with the Rees-Mogg desire to "unify the Right" - this starts from the premise Reform is a right-wing movement about which I'm far from convinced. Badenoch's team are correct in arguing there is no future being Reform-lite but that will leave the Conservatives (and the LDs) with some hard thinking to do about what might happen after the next election.
Badenoch wants to win a majority on her own for the Conservatives - understandably. That might still happen but realistically we are looking at somehting else. IF the door to an arrangement with Reform is closed, that either means working with other parties (including Labour, which must surely be anathema) or sitting in splendid futility on the Opposition benches while some other grouping of parties forms the next Government and runs Britain for the next four or five years.
The aim must therefore to be either the first or second party in the next Parliament - if not the Government, then the Opposition. To fall to third is to fall into irrelevance (ask the LDs) so that is the risk/reward for the Conservatives in 2029. Whether yesterday's events have helped or hindered that, time will tell - it always does.
I’m not sure why, but after years of supporting Farage, I have kind of gone off him a bit recently. Maybe it’s the Dulwich College allegations, or that I like an underdog. Could be that Reform look a bit old fashioned compared to the Conservatives now. I’d rather Badenoch and Lam in charge than Farage and Jenrick
https://x.com/CrewkerneGaz/status/2011877302838403156?s=20
I have no idea how yesterday's events will affect the polling but for this conservative the party without Jenrick is a much better place and Kemi's action were spot on
As far as a labour defection is concerned I would watc Graham Stringer
Sir James will be far more loyal to Kemi than Jenrick ever was though
Police can’t decide whether it was a protester or a supporter."
And the Dems thought it clever to attack Vance's background instead of his beliefs.
"Blowback Begins for Badenoch"
Oh no, has she made a terrible mistake?
McVey On Jenrick Expulsion: “I Would Not Have Done This”
OK, as you were...
https://x.com/GuidoFawkes/status/2012087288453321056?s=20