Some of you said you did sometimes want to talk about opposition parties here. I pointed out this  site deals  primarily and daily with government deeds and words. I agreed I would run the occasional piece on an  Opposition party.
Reform under Nigel Farage won five seats in Parliament and  improved its poll ratings significantly  in recent months. It changed its constitution following criticisms of its structure. This week it has catapulted itself onto front pages by removing the whip from its second most effective critic of the government, Rupert Lowe. Last November the Deputy Leader Ben Habib resigned from the party and set up a Political Action Committee to judge and criticise Reform and the Conservatives .
Here is your chance to comment on how you would like Reform, its MP s and the PAC to proceed from here.
March 8, 2025
Ben Habib was a great loss. Nigel Farage is a superb campaigner but the Party membership don’t have much say, the setup needs changing. Reform is being portrayed as a one man band and Farage needs to dispel that impression in order to continue recruiting members and getting footsoldiers in constituencies.
If he were Chairman and Habib leader, maybe they’d get more traction. Rupert Lowe is good but not as Leader, he’s not got the spark needed. It’s unlikely that will happen but the Right in the UK desperately need a functional, non-blob, MAG-like populist Party they can unite behind. Kemi’s Tories are Uniparty.
March 8, 2025
I donât know what the future will be for Reform. They will be under attack from both Conservatives and Labour who would like to see the back of them.
If Reform were out of the way, the hope for Conservatives is that their support would increase and it would be back to the old days of Bugginsâ turn for government. I am not sure that would happen. Conservatives are still a toxic brand. Labour will not last beyond the next election either.
What would fill the gap in this scenario I donât know. Needless to say, it is not Liberal Democrats either.
March 8, 2025
Alas, Peter, under our (or indeed any) electoral system, regardless of how low the turnout is, the party getting into power is often the one for which the ‘least fewest’ votes are given. In 2004 on a democratically disgraceful 59.8% turnout, Labour ‘won’ an overwhelming majority of parliamentary seats with only 20.15% electoral support – a lower percentage than Corbyn gained in 2019. I suggest three constitutional novelties: 1) Whittling down parliament to a number of its 650 seats proportional to the turnout (in this case 650 x 59.8% = 388 seats), and 2) to sentence any PM crowing about ‘a landslide victory’ with less than 45% support to ten years in jail.
March 10, 2025
Sorry, typo in line 2 – ‘In *2024* on a democratically…’ etc.
March 8, 2025
I agree mostly. Ben Habib was a great loss and the worry is that Farage has so many Conservatives who do not like him. Rupert Lowe is very competent. Yousuf I have my doubts about. The whole issue is unfortunate but was probably bound to appear sooner or later. Kemi is making ground slowly in Tortoise and Hare mode.
March 8, 2025
Reform UK can keep growing in importance, popularity and quality. Ben Habib and Rupert Lowe are high performance operators. Rupert is suspended, so an enquiry will determine whether there is anything of substance to answer. Both Rupert and Ben have been splendid advocates for much of what is best for our country. Nigel Farage is the supreme leader, attracting many other fine performers, destined toward victory with Reform.
March 8, 2025
Shot yourself in the foot a bit there, mate. Supreme leader would generally only relate to those such as in Iran and North Korea.
March 8, 2025
Opinions may vary; some generalise.
March 8, 2025
Robespierre promoted the Cult of the Supreme Being,liked to quote Voltaire’s “If God did not exist,it would be necessary to invent him” and denounced the Cult of Reason,having its atheistic proponents executed.
It also made an appearance in the Russian Revolution through Anatoly Lunacharsky,the first Bolshevik Commissar of Enlightenment,and ‘the god-builder’, ideas explored in his work ‘Religion & Socialism'(1911).
Farage has long fancied himself as a revolutionary but what he desperately wants is to be a leading figure in the Establishment.
March 8, 2025
Of course, he was touting for a safe Conservative seat for years!
March 8, 2025
Attempting to join the Conservative Party was once a quest for good, but the party has degraded.
March 9, 2025
Lynn, if you were on the Tory selection committee would you give Rupert Lowe a Tory seat? Or is he too right wing for them.
March 10, 2025
Does Rupert Lowe support any policy that a majority of sensible Britons would oppose? If he has adequate support heâs worthy of election.
Reply No one doubts he was elected as a Reform MP. The problem for him is Reform may not want him as an MP and they have suspended him from their party meetings and whip pending investigation.
March 15, 2025
I would vote to select Lowe. I would NEVER vote to select Farage.
March 8, 2025
This inevitable crisis now exercising Reform supporters and Reform organisers will pass.
I personally like Rupert Lowe for his no nonsense style and I also accept the role Nigel Farage plays in advancing the insurgency much needed n UK politics.
The uncomfortable relationship now on public display between the two key characters in Reform is tragic at this crucial time just a few weeks ahead pf the local elections which Reform are likely to do well in.
It has been said many times and proven to be correct. Nigel is a hopeless man manager and poor judge of character. He is the front of house better than any other. He is the face of resistance to the woke and to hopeless government policies. His constancy is admirable but makes him difficult to get along with.
My concern is when you shoot yourself in the foot as Reform has just done it takes time to heal and make be fatal if the damage is inflicted at a key point of survival such as the local elections.
It is bad timing and bad optics to have these disagreements in the public window. Sadly that has been Nigel’s style throughout his political career.
I sincerely hope this is not the end of a brilliant project much needed in our Uniparty political world of Westminster.
March 8, 2025
RE,
Not having held power, Reform cannot be attacked over past performance in government. That leaves the quality of the candidates and the ability of the party members to get along reasonably well over time.
Candidates have been a problem as far back as UKIP. Recently in Clacton an actor canvassing there provided opportunities for the media to attack Reform.
Douglas Carswell MP fell out with Farage as did the other one (Reckless) while UKIP was his party.
Habib and Lowe are two more high profile figures. Lee Anderson also seems the sort that might get into a dispute.
Farage is good at speaking off the cuff, not so much working in a team.
Time will tell how serious the fallout is.
March 8, 2025
I see Farage claims Lowe âwould not be in Parliamentâ were it not for him. He himself failed to win a seat 7 times with all the resources of the party specifically diverted to back him. Farage would never have been an MEP were it not for Michael Holmes, but that did not stop Farage attacking him viciously.
Nobody can work with Farage. Trump did not invite him to the inauguration, took Musk half an hour to conclude âhe does not have what it takesâ. All those who support Farage are âfirst-timersâ, and donât know him.
Hundreds of top quality people wanted to oppose the destruction of the U.K. by the established parties, but were steamrollered by Farage, this includes Norris McWhirter, Richard North, Rodney Atkinson, Philip Daviesâ father, Ben Habib, etc etc etc. Now John Hall says he is willing to fund Reform in the north, but wonders whether he will be steamrollered by Farage – he will be! Thousands of good people like those who formed Reform in Derbyshire, many never politically active, had a taste of Farage and withdrew after he started bullying and dictating to them. Chaotic meetings, aggression and theatre, Farage is just a failed Johnson.
Once again he has attacked the most able in Rupert Lowe who has done his bit for decades without requiring applause. He supported our initiative, the BDI, decades ago.
Reform will NEVER deliver itâs proposed agenda because it will have nobody of the required quality to stave off the Civil Service and the opposition. Itâs POINTLESS adopting the strategy of âhopeâ that it will all be alright on the night. Under the current circumstances it will NOT be and itâs quite possible that the biting public will conclude Farage is still not good enough and deny Reform the possible win.
Farage MUST go so that the best of the rest can join Reform and we can save Britain from itâs political class – which includes Farage – the only money he has ever made was from and because of his professional political status.
If Farage left – lock stock and barrel, Rodney and I would join, I believe Bridgen might join and perhaps we could even hope for JR to throw his weight behind a true new Conservative movement and Party. I add that I would not stand – I do not seek office, just to preempt accusations that I am envious of Farage. I am not.
March 8, 2025
Not sure of the rights and wrong on this Reform dispute – it is a shame and a great shame that Ben Habib has left the party too.
The Tory party under Kemi remain essentially a socialist, very hight taxing, pro ECHR, pro open door to low skilled immigration and pro the total insanity of net zero. Kemi is more likely to do a deal with Labour than with Reform. There is no split in the right it is a multiway split of the left Kemi’s Consocialists, Labour, Libdims, Plaid, SNP…
March 8, 2025
I agree about Ben Habib, as do many here it appears. The measured voice of reason and common sense. I do hope he can make a return to a Reform party that appreciates him and where he feels comfortable.
March 8, 2025
I don’t think Andrew Bridgen would join Reform while Richard Tice is still one of the key figures, given Ticeâs support of COVID jabs and his attack on Bridgen for highlighting data about the jabs.
March 8, 2025
Tice has money and very little else. Bridgenâs problem is Farage. We all have that problem.
March 8, 2025
The treatment of Bridgen for merely telling essentially the truth, by (I can assure the house that “The Covid Vaccines are uneqivocally Save”) Risi Sunak, many other “Conservatives” and many more was truly appalling. What honest, capable and sensible person would aspire to become an MP nowadays?
March 8, 2025
I see that many Life Insurance policies exclude “experiantal medical treatments and gene therapy” and are using this as a reason not to pay out for things like Covid Vaccine deaths.
My advice on insurance in general is:- unless you are an insurance fraudster yourself or a very poor insurance risk (but can get a normal premium) insurance is a very poor bet indeed so do not bother keep the premiums invested safely somewhere yourself instead. Cut out the middle men profits, costs, their expensive lawyer and devious ways to cheat you, the hassle of all thouse policies and claims and the 12-20% insurance tax too in the UK. Who wants a policy that just ends up with you paying lawyers to argue about where a Covid Vaccine is experimental or gene therapy – it seem to me that some of the covid vaccines were indeed both and they have clearly killed and injured rather a lot of people!
March 8, 2025
In a proper democratic party operating in a proper Sovereign Parliament, there is every expectation that the best will devote at least some of their time and energy to serving their country and people. Bridgeon by the way was NOT on the Party List because Cameron said his constituency was a âdumpâ and they did not except to win it.
We must defeat the Party Machines! All the best MP are selected freely by there would be constituents. No better system has been devised. We the people return a high quality House on both sides of the isle – with a few slip ups which canât impact the overall character of the House. Political Parties have reduced Parliament – both houses – to a laughing stock.
March 8, 2025
I must admit that (for once) I agree with you. Farage has become a liability and should go. Why would you discount yourself? You clearly have the confidence in your own abilities.
If Reform fall apart, what are we left with? Labour, âConâservatives, Lib Dems and Greens. This country is finished.
March 8, 2025
Iâm 70 and have given my all. I have worked for Brexit and for conservatism for 40 years free of charge – I hate to think of the number of hours devoted to saving our homeland – unlike Farage.
We need a new party without the liability that Farage brings. It will arise because we all reject the so called Conservatives, Labour, Lib Demâs and fellow travellers, atm all I could vote for is the DUP and they done stand in Hexham.
My husband (well known in the north as a dyed-in-the-wool-Thatcherite) spoke at meeting in Jarrow this week. He sold a vast number of books written 30 years ago âThe Failure of the Stateâ, âGovernment Against the Peopleâ and âFascist Europe Risingâ. He had an excellent reception and has another 3 speaking engagements booked. When he wrote the books, nobody believed it – well maybe JR who was fighting in the same trenches – still is.
Now everybody can see what has happened.
The people are uniting against the political class.
Farage is part of the political class.
March 8, 2025
Ironically JR is not really part of the political class. He is one of those independent minds and stands against the storm on his own platform. His name cannot be enhanced by any honour, there are very few in that category, but Enoch Powell was one, Mrs Thatcher is another and personally I can think of hardly any others.
March 8, 2025
Perhaps circa 20 more at best.
March 9, 2025
Anne Widdicombe (perhaps Nigel should seek her advice if they truly want to get Reform back),
Philip Hollobone,
There arenât many more I can think of that really could take on the Labour Party now Nigel has pulled this stunner.
Robert Jenrick needs a lot of help.
Priti Patel has done some horrendous interviews and was a complete let down in the Home Office.
March 8, 2025
LA
“It will arise because we all reject the so called Conservatives, Labour, Lib Demâs and fellow travellers…”
Alternatively apathy or disengagement with politics may mean we drift back to the same old same old.
Reform, whatever its’ faults (or Farage’s) has a presence. It is not a simple task to replicate that.
If Reform folds then I don’t know what happens next.
March 15, 2025
I donât want Reform to fold. To STOP it folding Farage must be removed. As Tice says, he built Reform to 14%. This is not about personalities although Farageâs tactic personality can crash our last hope, itâs about policies.
Farage crashing everything was a given. There was NEVER a hope of him NOT doing this.
âFarage does not have what it takes.â
March 8, 2025
Egos seem to be getting in the way of common sense with Farage, Lowe, Habib and Yusuf all at loggerheads. With Trump successful in domestic policies but very unpopular in his foreign affair announcements, the right are currently at sea and Labour must be gloating with Starmer “leading the world”.
A week is a long time in politics and we will still be left with Reform UK as the resurgent newcomer and the Conservatives as a damaged right-of-centre party. I say damaged because, despite Kemi’s and Jenrick’s best efforts, there still seems a significant proportion of Tory MPs who, for instance, think it wrong to leave the ECHR and have no idea how to tackle the number one problem of immigration, legal or illegal.
I terms of the two parties, I personally would favour a Canadian solution with the creation of a “Reformed Conservative Party”, but egos will again be the issue. At best, there should be an electoral pact not to stand against each other in winnable constituencies.
March 8, 2025
Paraphrasing the well known saying.
You should never put all your ‘egos’ in the same basket….
March 8, 2025
The issue with a ‘reformed’ Tory party is that it can’t be reformed without removing the influence of those who decide who is put on a list of potential parliamentary candidates in the first place and those who bankroll the party in exchange for policies which are anathema to patriotic conservative minded people; in no way does the Tory party represent a rational right-of-centre political philosophy. Only an anti-establishment upstart party could achieve that. Unfortunately, the establishment is secured by the bizarre First Past the Post electoral system that can create governments supported by only 20% of the electorate as we have now. It may take other countries some time to form a new government after a multiparty election but why should that concern anyone who is not actively involved in the negotiations?
March 8, 2025
Because nobody who voted got what they wanted. Every voter lost. The politicians rewrote the âwinningâ manifesto after the election.
In addition you cannot unseat those at the top of the party list. They are the people who form the Government. Therefore the electorate cannot change the Government.
You cannot even pretend that that is democracy.
March 8, 2025
Politics is about policies not parties. When established parties prevent policies that people want from being enacted that is a definition of a lack of democracy.
People do not want to be flooded with unassimilable aliens yet that is exactly what has been happening since the British Nationality Act 1948 was put on the statute book and which no Tory government did enough to correct. What we got instead was legislation designed to shut the English up.
March 15, 2025
Parties with a whipped majority implement policies. They have to be policies for which they have a mandate from the electorate.
There is no option apart from FPTP. Face it!
Our real problem is the one that Fiji faced when the native population was outvoted by the Tamil immigrants. The Tamils were disenfranchised.
March 9, 2025
Lynn…. for 14 years nobody got what they voted for either. The Not-a-Conservative-Party ripped up the Manifesto they offered the voters the minute the crosses were counted. Labour has done the same since last July.
FPTP or a form of PR makes no difference: the voters won’t get what they vote for.
March 15, 2025
Of course they will if the select their own candidates. But you are happy for Farage to select the people you will vote for blindly. Donât complain of you find you are represented by a straw man!
March 8, 2025
Thank you for the opportunity. I despair. Ben Habib is excellent but gone. Rupert Lowe takes time to get to know but when you do you find depth and common sense. Gone. They all seem to want similar things politically so they should be able to reach a consensus on policies. I conclude the problem is just personalities. Shame, because UK needs a party of commonsense plain speaking conservatism and The Tories are not that. Without Reform the Conservative party would drift even further left than it has. On this, interestingly Richard Tice asked a few questions in a letter he sent out several months ago asking if we support Reform in order to nudge the Tories to the Right or because we want a proper conservative party. I haven’t seen the result of his poll. I have said many times the Conservatives broad church is so broad it leaves a vacuum at the core of the Conservative Party where there ought to be a conservative philosophy of government in the national interest. Whatever Reform’s difficulties, it is still the only party with a conservative core. the Tory party has always held that elections are won by a broad church. Trump has shown this is no longer true. If Reform got its act together, it could do in UK what Trump did in the USA and heaven knows UK needs it.
March 8, 2025
Don’t agree that Habib is excellent. I saw him advocate sinking the migrant boats in the channel. Rather too right wing for my liking. The excellent Nana Akua rightly condemned him.
The best government is middle ground, lurching neither to the left nor the right. It needs to embrace socialist policies (like universal primary and secondary education regardless of the ability to pay) as well as right wing ones (like recognising entrepreneurs take on enterprise to advance themselves not pay tax to profligate government).
March 8, 2025
Where is the middle ground? Halfway between the Labour and Conservative Party in spite of the Conservative Party sounding like pure socialists?
You prefer the destruction of the only homeland British people have? With Islamic services held in Windsor Castle – which will now be deemed as belonging to Islam?
March 8, 2025
I don’t think universal state education is a good idea, especially where it is used to inculcate propaganda universally to produce a generation of Huxley’s Deltas as Bridget Phillipson seems to want. Even Stiglitz in his early seminal paper on the Theory of Screening recognised the role of private education in keeping state education standards honest. The institutionalised marginalisation of that role by discriminating against those who were privately educated has done all children a profound disservice, and lumbered taxpayers with a low productivity system.
The ideal might be securing education for each child in accordance with their abilities. You then need to work out how to get close to that cost effectively. Note that the concept includes providing suitable education for those with educational handicaps, not just education for the most academic. A refinement is to try to secure a return on educational investment. Again that is not just about ensuring that the best brains get stretched at university, but also about the difference between socially disruptive adults and those who contribute something to society.
March 9, 2025
I agree Mark. The next step is to remove tests so that poor quality teaching is never identified. Phillipson having benefitted from a great catholic education and Oxbridge degree wants to level down, teaching set lessons with no teacher flair, no head teachers that push up grades and try new plans, encouraging teachers to have their own flair will not be allowed. All ticking the union check list of correct political thinking and standardisation and dumbing down.
March 8, 2025
No he did not really say that, but if people keep jumping out of a boat taking then back what else do you do? You cannot submit to the blackmail of âI will kill myself unless you let me come/stay in the UKâ. Otherwise anyone can come and stay for ever by just making this threat. Next we get me ÂŁ500k and a nice house or I will kill myself!
March 8, 2025
It is important to remember Reform is a political youngster. Much needs to happen to grow the party into a credible and potential government. Fortunately there is a lot of time. We’re four years away from a general election. There is a groundswell of public support for something new and different from the tired old Uniparty.
However as was once said ” a week is a long time in politics”
March 8, 2025
Farage is NOT a political youngster. Every party he has joined he has scuppered. Face the facts!
March 8, 2025
Trump spent 4 years and a lot of effort with supporting work from others preparing to be President again. The day he started he had a huge array of legislation by executive order lined up and ready to go, people identified and appointed to start dismantling the woke DEI agenda, climate change policy etc. – not just a cast of senators for political support in Congress. Plus a huge international agenda that he seems to be trying to implement all at once, perhaps biting off more than he can chew. Even with 4 years of preparation there are a lot of rough edges in his plans, some of which are already being backpedalled.
You can’t expect to run a government on the basis of a couple of sketches on the back of an envelope in how to tackle high immigration. You may have seen dismayed criticism of Reform’s recent energy policy launch. They have one big right idea – get rid of Net Zero. But they have no clue how to do that, with policies that would crystallise massive claims for compensation under the subsidy contracts for renewables, risk blackouts by trying to ban batteries that the grid now relies on for stability, and incur huge costs to bury transmission networks, not to mention a gigantic bill for part nationalisation.
Every area of government needs to be properly evaluated, and a credible, viable prioritised programme assembled along with the teams to implement it. If voters see you have a credible plan and team they won’t simply go back to nurse in the polling booth.
March 8, 2025
Mrs Thatcherâs Tories did the same while in opposition. Prepared. With 5 MPs you still assign one to cover the FO, Home Office, Treasury, Education and Defence.
Farage has no clue of what is required even to be an MP – he is basically refusing to do the job of an MP, paying employees to do it for him so he can go and stand outside the Capitol and view Trumps inauguration on his mobile phone while smoking a cigarette, according to Katie Hopkins who bumped into him.
March 9, 2025
Cameron did too. Then threw the effort away because he wanted a coalition with Lib Dems who he courted assiduously. He failed to tackle the blob which simply grew in power. He lacked the toughness required to do the job or didn’t really want to. So preparation alone is not enough. You must have the guts to go through with it. Which is where Thatcher really scored.
March 9, 2025
The fact he wouldnât bring Katie Hopkins into Reform surprised me. I hate the modern cancel culture we allow the left to operate. Perhaps all these big ego men do need a quality woman to hold the show together.
March 8, 2025
Avoid doing your dirty washing in public.
Continue to develope a strong base in local politics.
Prepare for electoral action when the current government implodes.
Continue with national meet the people gatherings, broadcast by GBNews, at regular intervals throughout the country.
Stay onside with the people.
.
March 8, 2025
+1
March 8, 2025
AG – please add to your list:
Do everything you can to attract (and retain) people of genuine talent (& proven ability) because you are going to need well over a 100 of them to form an effective Government.
March 8, 2025
You are going to need several thousand to run quangos and think tanks to counter the civil service blob and to inject sense into councils. You really don’t want to have lobby fodder MPs either. The task would be almost as big for the Tories who failed to tackle the long march through the institutions by the left.
March 8, 2025
This has blown up incredibly quickly but since, presumably, none of us know what has been going on behind the scenes (including me) it’s pretty obvious that there has been some internal conflict brewing for some time. Ben Habib’s regrettable departure is evidence of that.
Rupert Lowe is a highly effective MP and would make a highly effective Minister. Nigel is a highly effective campaigner and speaker (the best in the country) and is the only frontman who could have grown the Party from a membership of 40,000 and 15% in the polls at the start of the General Election, to a membership of approaching 220,000 and 25% now. I think if Tice had remained Leader, the 15% polling would have reduced during the campaign and the Party would not have got any MPs.
At this stage in its development, I think Nigel is the right Leader. But both Habib and Lowe have a very valid point: the Party needs to professionalise, which it is doing, but far more quickly. It needs to look less like a Protest (which Nigel excels at) and more like a responsible Government-in-Waiting.
I doubt if many in the General Public will be aware of who Rupert Lowe is. I’m not convinced that this unfortunate episode will register with most of them.
I will continue to support the Party because I see no other way of breaking the “3-legged stool” in Westminster and reversing at least some of the destruction they have wrought on this country over the past few decades.
March 8, 2025
A very sound analysis, Donna. I would however not rule out Richard Tice. If we look at the potential political leaders across all parties, he would certainly be in my top ten, probably in my top five.
March 8, 2025
Farage is NOT the best speaker in the Country. Because the political establishment abandoned the argument for a nation state, he was gifted open goals for 25 years.
Bearing that in mind he scored remarkably seldom. He was promoted by the BBC because he was the weakest of all the âBrexiteersâ. ( I use that description to include all those who fought for Britainâs survival decades before the word was coined).
March 8, 2025
I knew youâd break your rule over only discussing government policies over this Reform spat. Loweâs departure will alienate some core Reform activists but maybe not less committed supporters. It will be interesting to see the next polls. However Loweâs criticisms are serious – it is literally incredible that a party with only 5 MPs was having no policy or other team meetings at all never mind weekly which would seem the minimum necessary. On their lack of policies themselves, it seems odd but the Conservatives are doing the same.
March 8, 2025
Reform and the Conservatives party must come to some accommodation before the next general election. There is not much difference in their policies and, if they remain separate, Labour could easily get in again thanks to a divided centre-right vote. The Conservatives could agree not to stand in red wall seats where they stand little chance of winning and Reform could leave the South East alone. Iâm sure a government could be bout together out of the two parties.
March 8, 2025
You think the electorate is stupid. Not so!
March 8, 2025
Witness the Farage effect. He fell out with UKIP and now he’s at odds with members of Reform. This is the hazard of having a man with a strong personality – he’s not capable of managing disagreement.
I believe I said some time ago the challenge for Reform was whether they could last the parliament without falling apart (probably in response to some suggesting Sir John should join them).
March 8, 2025
He is not a strong personality, he is very weak, that why the weakness is covered by aggression. He demands the limelight even when he does not know what is going on – thus he announces that the Brexit vote was LOST before a vote had been counted. The man is and always was a liability. He has NO POLITICS, if there was an opening campaigning for Return to the EU he would fill it!
He said Trump was âdangerousâ before Trumps first victory in 2016.
March 8, 2025
I’d like to see Reform MPs grow up and work together – they have to be able to take much more stick and dirty tricks than they’ve seen already.
Reform policies and ideas need more exposure so that they can become more honed. Infighting is not going to get us a new government.
I fear Farage still has some ideas that do not resonate with a Trump style awareness by reform voters, but that doesn’t mean he should attack his fellows if they become more popular than him. He needs to take advantage of their talents — Ye gods we need an honest Reform party more than ever before. It can’t be allowed to fall apart!
March 8, 2025
I agree with Reform about a lot (Sovereignty / immigration etc) but overall they come across as more ANTI stuff than PRO stuff. They just give off a bad vibe overall compared to the The Tory Party. The Tory Party needs reforming but not to become like Reform (yuck). And I think lots of people on the right agree.
March 8, 2025
At end of day there are 2 types of right-wing politicians: 1) Those who genuinely want to help their country (true patriots) or 2) Those who enjoy the thrill of power and to project their own private frustrations about life onto others (and so really more about being ANTI something than PRO under the guise of fake patriotism).
The Conservative Party has never been perfect but it produced people with the idea of genuine patriotism (it was bred into them in their schools – whether public or grammar, the army, their family and culture including church – Anglican, Catholic or chapel – in general. But modern right-wingers in general have lost this to an important degree.
(And sure Labour / Lib Dems dreadful for other reasons – socialism / WOKE etc).
But the modern world is now quickly getting rid of true, healthy, traditional Conservative values (including so some on the right who don’t chime with the right-wing politics of people such as Winston Churchill or Mrs Thatcher).
March 8, 2025
‘But modern right-wingers in general’ – some, I meant, not ‘general’ – and I was thinking more of Reform than the Conservative Party (even though the Tory Party has to pull up its socks but for different reasons)
March 8, 2025
Reform has the one job of ousting the uni-party: it now must make all else subservient to that.
Lowe, Farage et al ought to recognize that they have let the people down badly for it is accepted that voters will shun any party riven by internal strife.
March 8, 2025
You can only kill an existing party off when you can replace it – see the Labour Party displacing the Liberals.
March 8, 2025
Reform clearly needs to move beyond the one-man band that is Nigel Farage. Much as I admire the man’s tenacity and determination in delivering Brexit, he cannot form a functioning Government on his own. He needs other people of talent (like Lowe and Habib) if Reform is going to have any chance of winning the next election.
If Nigel can’t manage other ‘large’ personalities (or learn to at least exist with them) then this will not happen.
We don’t know the full facts of this matter yet but I have to say, I find Lowe more personable than the rather ‘cold fish’ Zia Yusef, who often seems lacking in humour. I do wonder exactly what exactly the form of these verbal “threats” were?
March 8, 2025
“What should Reform do now?”
I am not a member so don’t have a real say. But from the outside looking in they give the appearance of wanting to work for and with the Country and its People, staying ‘center-ground'(what ever that is) as is the majority of the UK’s People. While all the alternatives in Parliament have become factions of the same ‘left-wing’ Marxist/Socialist Cabal that prefers to fight the people and are part of the ‘in it for me’ WEF Uniparty. An extreme view? Not when you review the actions of the ‘others’ this Centaury, they have demonstrated, proved, they will fight those that empower and pay them, they demonstrate daily they take their orders from foreign unelected and unaccountable. They have proved they work for others not the UK.
We have reach the situation that we will go full on, keep morphing into a centralized controlling Socialist Dictatorship or we change. Could be the unknown, but those we know and have a record have shown they are not to be trusted.
March 8, 2025
51 criminals arrived in the UK yesterday; from the safe country of France
March 8, 2025
Earlier today Rupert Lowe posted on FB to the effect that all of this could be resolved if Nigel Farage would accept his request for a private discussion over a good dinner. At a time when the UK desperately needs a credible force to denounce everything that Starmer’s government is inflicting, and to explain exactly what it would repeal and enact in order to restore the UK’s fortunes – whether or not this credible force was of a “united right” nature – the dinner invitation cries out for acceptance. If the current fallout leads to a People’s Front of Judea farce, all hope for the UK may be lost.
March 8, 2025
Dear Mr. Redwood,
It would seem like a battle is going on for control of the future direction of the party. The loss of Ben Habib and now potentially Rupert Lowe could indicate a problem with the leadership of Nigel Farage. To lose one is unfortunate, to lose two looks like carelessness as the saying goes. It sounds like he is finding it hard to relinquish control. It can be difficult to hand over something you have worked hard on and cherished.
As one of your contributors has posted…it will pass. I think Reform-leaning voters will cut the party a great deal of slack. After all, they have witnessed the utter shambles the Conservative Party made of the country and now see the determination which the Labour Party brings to the ongoing destruction of everything that once made the United Kingdom a great place to live.
A Reform MP is suspended – shock, horror! And Labour and the Conservatives cannot hide their delight. Perhaps, if they had a long, hard look at themselves in the mirror, they might see why millions of voters are now repelled by them.
March 8, 2025
The antics of reform are absurd. Farage comes over as a petulant control freak. Musk is right – he is not a credible candidate for PM.
At the next election, as at the last one – and indeed at all since just after WW1 – the choice will be between a Labour govt and a Conservative one. Those who like Labourâs mix of big state, economic sclerosis, high taxes, two tier justice, wokery, green fundamentalism etc can either vote Labour or vote for one of the other parties which enable Labour.
Those who want to get rid of Labour – even if it means an imperfect right-of centre govt – will need to vote Conservative.
March 8, 2025
For the last 14 years, the Not-a-Conservative-Party pushed the big state, economic sclerosis, high taxes, two tier justice, wokery, green fundamentalism and mass immigration agenda just as much as Labour is. They also imposed the Covid Tyranny on us and refused to LEAVE the EU when they were given an instruction to do it.
We’re told the party is now “under new management” but the “new management” still reports to the WEF …. so nothing significant will change.
I don’t “want to get rid of Labour.” I want to get rid of the Uni-Party, so I won’t be voting Conservative under any circumstances.
March 8, 2025
Reform UK should write a comprehensive policy manifesto …..they should publish a live document on their website and update it monthly
March 8, 2025
But they canât deliver no matter what they promise. Because Farage will not tolerate anybody capable of being a challenge to him. So anybody sentient.
March 8, 2025
Politicians across all parties very clearly demonstrate that we currently have almost none who are of the quality we need to lead a party, let alone the country.
Badenoch clearly isn’t one of them, Starmer has proven that he doesn’t have the necessary political nouce, and Davey is a joke, as are all the potential leaders from Labour and the devolved administrations of Scotland and Wales.
The one candidate who stands head and shoulders above all of them, is Nigel Farage. He has his faults, like everyone, but when the history books are written, he will go down as one of three most effective politicians of the last 50 years, alongside Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.
Richard Tice would make an effective leader of Reform, and would be less of a Marmite-like figure, but he is not as effective as Nigel.
I think it would be a tragedy if Rupert Lowe were to be found guilty of bullying because he has been as extremely effective campaigner and excellent in the House and in the TV studios.
Reform have acted commendably quickly to deal with this potentially dangerous situation. Nigel and Lee Anderson had little choice, otherwise the criticism from other parties would have made life extremely difficult and Lowe would have dominated the headlines for weeks to come. We only need to look back at the Boris and Sunak eras, and Starmer’s recent experience, to see what damage can be done if you do not act quickly.
I suspect this will be nothing more than the wingeing of a few delicate flowers, rather like what happened to various excellent ministers in the Home Office and Justice Department under the Conservatives.
I hope that proves to be the case.
March 8, 2025
Keep listening to what their supporters say and where appropriate react and publish them.
Also, in constituencies where Reform came in second place, consider themselves as the Opposition MP, the MP in waiting for that seat and react to the incumbents handling, good and bad and publish how Reform would have managed the situation. Just an idea!
March 8, 2025
People are desperate for change, and radical at that. ( Radical: one dictionary definition being … seeking to ensure the removal of all diseased tissue …. sorry but it just struck a chord ) They don’t want more of the same but with the emerging issues many will see it as exactly that and the more impulsive already have or will quickly just quit. Yes that’s politics others will say and maybe patiently sit this out until further facts are brought to light. Already losing Ben Habib and now Rupert Lowe is a definite weakening of the party. So come on Reform, show your mettle, don’t retreat and go quiet on us. Expedite the truth. Talk between yourselves and restore the hope and support that many have shown you.
March 8, 2025
What other political Party has not gone through such “outrages”? Why! LOL, The Marxists Party, I suggest.
It was clear to everyone within or before joining Reform that Nigel Farage was the leader just as Mrs T was the strong leader. Those working with Farage who have fallen by the wayside before in their previous Parties obviously, have had an ego as large as the Leader’s and could not stand it.
Mr Farage is accepted as “boss” by all other of his MPs and staff so this latest show of personal ambitions before the Party demonstrates he is another out of step.
I feel Lowe is “doing” a ‘Rachel Megan Markle’ in that he thought he could take over once joining, only to find it was not going to happen.
However, it does appear the ‘severe’ vetting procedure by Reform did not pick out this man as unsuitable.
So will he now join Labour or the Conservatives or even the LibDems? I doubt he’d be accepted as leader in any of them either.
March 8, 2025
Mrs T was ELECTED! Farage has NEVER been elected as the leader.
March 9, 2025
So? He has been accepted as such by 200K+ members.
March 8, 2025
Nigel Farage has been an outstanding benefit for the UK over many years. But if he is serious about becoming PM and leading a genuinely reforming party, he has to learn to work as part of a team. Reform needs to build a national organisation that can win the next GE. If with only five MPs he falls out with one of the most effective, what happens if he has 326, 350 or even 400 MPs? Most of whom will have no experience of government!
Mr Farage needs to read about Abraham Lincoln’s style of government.
I hope Reform can grow from a protest movement, dominated by one man, to an effective, balanced party with conservative values and a willingness to rebuiold the governmemnt form the bottom up.
March 8, 2025
Put in mind of Opposition parties with eyes off the ball (or not even on the pitch), I note with distress the SNP has failed to ask Macron if Scotland is within his nuclear protection offer. Might the SNP have given up now do you think?
March 8, 2025
Ireland is so by default we can all depend on Micron to provide a shield and protect us from the Russians
March 8, 2025
I think both the Reform Party and the Conservative Party should be maximising their popular support now with a view to strengthening their position when it comes to forming an electoral coalition for the next General Election so as to defeat Labour at the next General Election and jointly become the government. If they don’t do that they risk not only another Labour government but the very survival of one or both (if for instance the Liberal Democrats were to become the official Opposition which as of now is rather likely) of those parties as a significant political force.
March 8, 2025
Reform should stop sucking up to Trump and Vance and do its own thing. A British thing. Beef up our military. Strentghen the CANZUK ties and making something of it. Fix the NHS. Stop illegal immigration. Make the woke and cancel culture illegal especially on UK government owned properties like schools and universities. That kind of thing. Get on with it. But no poodling to the Americans. They have lost the plot entirely. They are no longer leaders of the free world. CANZUK are. Even EU is better and there should be strong links between CANZUK and EU. Invite Japan to be an honorary member. And India. It’s simple.
March 8, 2025
All the things you suggest Reform do have been done by Trump, whom you trash. What exactly are you trying to say?
India is in BRICS, Canada and New Zealand on their knees. The EU is in existential crisis and hopefully will expire sooner rather than later.
March 8, 2025
What I always liked about Sir John Redwood’s contributions in the HoC was their fervour, their pointedness, and their logic as part of a coherent and consistent economic and social policy over the years.
Now, Nige was excellent and effective when fulminating reactively against Juncker, Rompuy et al in the Euro-Talky-Shoppe, but what of his policy pronouncements in recent years: how focused and consistent are they?
On all the major issues, he is brilliant at picking out the flaws in the other parties, but where is the icy determination to frame exactly what he will do in government, and how he will plan to outbox the opposition from the civil service and quango/charity/international deep state players.
March 9, 2025
This is the best thing to happen for the Tories in a couple of years. Can Kemi maximise on it. Sadly I donât see it.
March 11, 2025
I would like Nigel Farage to accept that other people have views on how a party should be run as well as him. He is acting like Trump which is probably why he gets on with him. Two of a kind? Rupert Lowe is an accomplished business man and probably is not content to sit around taking orders from people who want to be in the limelight all the time. From what I have read about him, he is a philanthropist who puts his money where his mouth is so I support him. I know plenty about Nigel and how he behaves as I was in the fight to get out of the EU for over 10 years. I know of plenty of people who tried to reason with him on issues but that was their downfall and they were outed. My MEP was for starters.
March 15, 2025
Farage does NOT âget onâ with Trump. Farage was not invited to Trumps Inauguration – Katie Hopkins was!