I rarely write about Opposition parties, regarding the main functions of this blog to be exposing and debating government aims, policies and effectiveness. A few of you daily want to talk about Opposition parties so occasionally I relent. I have never written before about the three newish parties that have emerged that are on the right over migration and have more mixed left/right views over economies and the role of the state.
Advance revolves around Ben Habib. He was a funder and adviser to Nigel Farage who fell out with the boss and decided to run his own party as an alternative. Reform now has Nigel Farage as a powerful leader assisted by four senior spokespeople covering some of the main topics but not including Foreign Policy, defence or the NHS. All five were originally Conservative members and supporters, with two of them going on to hold senior Ministerial positions in the last Conservative led Parliament. Restore has been set up by Rupert Lowe, elected in 2024 as a Reform MP. He was removed from that party by Nigel Farage over allegations about conduct which were not proved. He decided to set up his own rival concern.
Advance has set out a Mission statement. It is a party that believes in the sovereignty of the UK. It promotes UK Christian values. It wants domestic democracy to settle more things rather than international institutions and law. It seeks greater freedom and freedom of speech. There needs to be better law and order and freedom under one unified UK law stemming from Parliament. It wants to repeal the 1988 Human Rights Act and Equality Act 2000, withdraw from the ECHR, “end state sponsored multiculturalism and foreign religious courts”, abolish IHT, reform welfare to reward work, “protect British farming, support veterans, ban first cousin marriage, ban burkas and niqabs in public places”, mandate the Union flag on public buildings.
Reform saw 5 MPs elected in 2024. Rupert Lowe was removed from the party, and James McMurdock no longer is on the whip owing to an investigation into his conduct. Reform has subsequently attracted 4 Conservative MPs to join them. None has submitted themselves for re election despite their party’s enthusiasm for elections. Reform has secured the election of one new MP in a by election and has been leading the opinion polls over the last year.
Reform has removed their big package of tax cuts presented in their 2024 Manifesto, and have abandoned their more recent ideas of abolishing the OBR and changing the Bank of England. Robert Jenrick, a former Conservative Immigration Minister has become their new Treasury Spokesman. He is saying conventional things to reassure markets. Nigel Farage has led big campaigns to highlight the illegal migrant problem. The party would take the UK out of the ECHR and make further legal changes to be able to deport illegal migrants. “Stop the boats”, “Secure and defend our border” “Deport illegal migrants” and “Scrap Indefinite leave to remain” are the four leading policies on their site. They have modified the deportation promise realising that deporting people who have lived here for some time with leave to remain, and those who who came under special schemes from Hong Kong and Ukraine is not an easy or kind thing to do.
It wishes to restore sovereignty, presumably by pulling out of various international treaties and Agreements. It wants more visible policing and tougher approaches to law and order. It wants to make work pay. It will support farmers and scrap the Family farm tax. It will scrap net zero to cut energy bills, help small business , revitalise manufacturing, rebuild armed forces, help people have children, put Britain first, dramatically cut foreign aid (which has already been substantially cut by the past and present governments), make the civil service lean and efficient. These are still largely aspirations, with more detailed policy work awaited.
Restore Britain is the work of Rupert Lowe. He has developed a large following through his social media skills and especially by holding an Enquiry into the shame of the rape gangs in the UK and promising to follow up with further action. He says he is identifying a “list of rapists, police officers, social workers, council officials, politicians. We will take out private prosecutions and civil litigation”. He says he will run hundreds of candidates at the next election who will not be politicians.
He wants to abolish the asylum system and deport any illegal arrival within 24 hours. Existing illegals will be deported. He wants more to leave than arrive and to cut back severely on legal migration. “Millions must go”. People who refuse to engage or to try to work will lose benefits. He wants to slash taxes on work and enterprise, including ending IR 35 and doubling the VAT threshold. He will back domestic energy production, manufacturing and farming. He wants to assert the Christian culture in Britain under a single law and court system. “Halal and kosher slaughter will be banned on British soil . The burqa will be outlawed”. There are some published back up papers. The one on Deportation for example says there will be “voluntary departures reaching around half a million or more a year driven by a hostile environment, and between 150,000 and 200,000 enforced removals a year”. Restore has recently recruited a group of former Reform Councillors on Reform’s largest Council, Kent County.
All three of these parties have much in common. They all major on migration and all have tougher policies to stop the flow and to remove people already here. Restore is probably the toughest. They all stress Christian culture and wish to be more intolerant of other cultures. They all three say they want to make work pay and to have some tax cuts but none have yet spelled out how they would reduce public spending in practice and in detail to make this feasible. It is likely a General Election is some years away so they have time to work out what they would do. Reform will also have to explain what it has done, as it has won some important Councils where people will now wish to see if they have found better ways to run government and to rein in wasteful and undesirable spending. So far Reform Councils have put up both spending and taxes. On current poll ratings Restore and Advance will be able to say what they wish with no check on their ability to put it into practice. Enjoy your chance here to say what you like and what you dislike about these three similar menus.
February 20, 2026
Ben Habib and Rupert Lowe should reconcile themselves with Reform UK. Fracturing the right in this way serves no useful purpose
February 20, 2026
Three is a lot. The Habib and Lowe parties currently have less recognition at the moment.
The media describe them as either far right, hard right or right wing depending on their own view of politics.
Some seem to me to be primarily anti Nigel Farage parties.
We will see how they all fare. I am not convinced that any of them will address the issues we face effectively if they gain power. Some still await the election of a party that will fix things. We have been let down too often before.
Meanwhile, another weekend approaches and the chance for Trump to attack Iran while the stock markets are closed. I understand Chinese and Russian naval vessels have now been joined by an Indian vessel. BRICS lined up against the hegemon,
February 20, 2026
We, the hard used taxpayer have a choice next GE akin to the hard working chap who has to chose one of three potential dates.
The first, with whom he had a previous relationship, lied and abused his generous and open spirit and eventually kicked him in the gut for no good reason. The second, again he had recently dated, who simply wanted to spend all his money on frivolous gifts and foreign holidays, and the third, a new girl in the village, an unknown reputation but nothing bad known, slightly odd looking but seems like a ‘fresh-face’, to get to know.
Now Lord J, Which would you chose?
Reply I do not accept your silly analogy. Only the Conservative party has worked through what needs to be done to stop migration, learning from its failure to stop international law and UK lawyers delaying and damaging its stop the boats and Rwanda deportation policy. Only the Conservatives take seriously the need to cut spending and taxes to get growth.
February 20, 2026
PW,
Reply to Reply.
The Conservatives had 14 years to deliver results. They were all talk on migration. Vast amounts were wasted on lock down. They lack credibility.
February 20, 2026
reply to reply …the former Conservatives had all those years to ‘work through what needed to be done to stop migration’ Result ? a shambles at every turn. And now you offer that the ones remaining, or Central Office, have solutions!
February 20, 2026
To your reply Lord Redwood, the Conservative party taxed and spent during their last administration like a teenaged girl trying to buy the affections of an estranged parent with the parent’s credit card and its approach to immigration (legal and illegal) was not in the best interests of the country.
They are likely the least worst option once more though but the one nationers will ruin their governing style once more if they get in. Candidate selection at the next General Election will be interesting.
Conservatives – we’re OK and the best of the worst – is not a great electioneering slogan
Reply They overspent on covid. All candidates next time need to sign up to the abolition of ECHR etc.
February 20, 2026
And I still haven’t forgotten the Osborne lie of 80% cuts and 20% tax increases. I lost £2,400 per year in child benefit for 10 years. My Father’s estate was taxed at 40% (Osborne promised £1 million threshold I recall).
Austerity my @&$£
February 20, 2026
The Liberals scuppered the IHT reform, as they did nuclear power. Moral: don’t have coalitions or PR.
February 20, 2026
One thing this does highlight is the past 20 plus years of being called racist if you object to being taken over by largely third world economic migrants is over.
Yesterday it was reported that £10 billion was paid to households with at least one non Brit in them and daily the numbers rise.
I don’t think any of the legacy parties realise or acknowledge the level of anger amongst the electorate regarding immigration.
Any party that can be seen deporting large numbers of illegals will have the backing of the voters.
Financing charities which promote and assist immigration must be stopped.
February 20, 2026
I wish to see Switzerland style visa for legals so that when the economy takes a downturn economic immigrants holding work visas are expected to leave. It is not just illegal immigrants which need to be addressed.
February 20, 2026
Switzerland is overrun with same migrants as us!
February 20, 2026
In 2023 resident foreigners made up 26.3 pc of Switzerland’s population, most of them from European countries with Italians (14.7pc) followed by Germans, Portuguese, French, Kosovars, Spaniards, Turks, North Macedonians, Serbians, Austrians, British, Bosnia/Herzegovina and Croatians.
So … not the ‘same migrants as us’.
February 21, 2026
On 14 June 2026 the Swiss will have a referendum on the SVP’s initiative to cap Switzerland’s population at 10 million. Since they have a birthrate problem, this means limiting immigration. It’ll be interesting to see how that works out if they vote in favour.
February 21, 2026
Hefner most of our migrants are now under the banner of ‘British’.
Ergo ….
February 21, 2026
Certainly not the same migrants as us hefner.
Switzerland 7% of migrants on welfare
UK 22% of migrants on welfare.
February 20, 2026
Christian values say work hard, rely on family over state, be patriotic etc. It’s a lack of Christian values in general – not politics ultimately (although socialism / WOKE has played a big role in this mess) – that has led to big debt, low productivity and high immigration. Fix the drop in Christian values by promoting – not forcing – Christian values in education, the media and the arts by working closely with people in these and with those in the churches – and the problem will be quickly reversed in a way politics alone simply cannot do without resorting to a dictatorship but they never end up pretty because of dictators’ thirst for power that corrupts them and those they rule over. Just look at the history books! Lastly, this is not about proselytising but about promoting (Christian) values which even lots of atheists agree about is a good thing and necessary. Lastly, politicians need to take a lead here in particular senior ones as this is more about preservation of culture / civilisation as opposed to the workings of politics alone.
Reply How do you enforce Christian values in a society where few go to Church and where many are not Practising Christians?
February 21, 2026
Hello sir. I never said ‘enforce’. That would be wrong and it wouldn’t work. But PERSUADE.
And the only way to do that is for The House of Lords, say, to figure out how to do that. To take the lead but supported by MPs. Either formally or informally. House of Lords, the wise men and women of the country with political experience and contacts.
It’s more like advertising (and to a degree, the arts) which is about persuasion not enforcement.
And where The House of Lords works with the House of Commons and those in the arts, media and education to achieve this.
Sure, it’s not easy. It’s a big task. But why not? What’s the alternative? The alternative:
1) Our great country (and the West) just carries on into decline/dysfunction that is way beyond The House of Commons being able to solve by politics alone
2) Our country (and other countries) fall into dictatorship. But the history books show that doesn’t pan out well in the end. Disastrously so often.
3) Some kind of miracle (or the miraculous). Literally. But then miracles aren’t magic like in a children’s story. They require a certain amount of creativity, effort, wisdom, hope, faith – charity of spirit etc.
February 21, 2026
And it’s about persuading about trad Christian-like values / culture. Not forcing people to become actual believers in the divine or believe more in the divine (although they may come to do so as a result – but the main goal is to restore Christian values in the country. There are atheists who also support this line of reasoning. Even though they don’t believe in Christianity. They think it’s a really great idea that the country as a whole lives by Christian values. Christian values such as: 1. Work ethic 2. The importance of the family 3. Focusing on relying on family over the state 4. Patriotism 5. That value of masculinity in men and femininity in women – which is easily backed up by science). Etc. And so on.
February 21, 2026
Lastly, sir, it’s complacency (not you – me, all of us) that is deadly to cultures and civilisations. They all decline and fall typically from complacency and inertia / lack of imagination and zest to try and fix a problem that we all see coming. The end of Athenian Democracy. The end of the Roman Empire. The crisis of the Reformation (I agree with Catholic theology but the Catholic Church was complacent and arrogant, to an important degree, in NOT listening to the Protestants – or proto-protestants before the Reformation actually kicked off – and their JUST criticism of corruption in the Church and everything associated with that). And then when the Reformation was over, the Catholic Church carried on, to an important degree, in the vein of complacency – this time with the spirit of triumphalism etc. And same can be said for empires across the world. Maybe change is necessary to a degree in cases. But we don’t have to / we shouldn’t have to go through crisis to achieve this. Crisis like the Jews (favoured by God) having to suffer in the desert for forty years (when the Almighty only intended for one year). But at least the Jews were trying. What are we doing to avert the crisis that so many see coming – whether theist, atheist, agnostic or Zoroastrian fire-eater.
All the best to you sir (I’ve personally learned a lot from you – over things such as the importance of national sovereignty – where I’ve shifted much more to the right on this although I don’t think it’s ultimately about a right/left issue – and also Net Zero / energy, transport and more).
February 20, 2026
Habib is the only one really emphasising the importance of Christianity in politics.
Most people I talk with believe we’re heading into seriously dangerous waters in every sense (politics / culture / geopolitics / the economy – everything). If we just carry on pussyfooting around with secular politics only, things are only going to get worse. But infusing our politics with Christianity (values and culture – I’m not saying forcing it on people – lots of atheists / non-religious people agree) – like the great Christian political leader Queen Elizabeth I and the great Christian political thinker Edmund Burke – is the only way to get us out of this mess – and the more we do this, the more our great country will flourish! Otherwise we’re going to end up like Mel Gibson in a Max Max film.
February 20, 2026
I listened to a Spectator podcast with Michael Gove (English Cantab) and Toby Young PPE Oxon“We’re we right to lock down” this about a year back. Neither of them (especially Gove) can (even 5 years later) grasp the blindingly obvious. All the lockdowns could ever do was slightly delay infections and perhaps flatten the sombrero slightly as Boris put it. But we always knew that the vast majority of people who were young and fit were never at any real risk so lockdowns were just delaying natural vaccination in 99%+ of the population (& so extending the pandemic) and for the high risk usually very old people perhaps delaying a few deaths or serious illnesses by a month or two at best.
The Great Barrington Declaration people were obviously correct with focussed protection and yet they got trashed by PPE dopes like Brian O’Neil and Hancock using public money it seems. The lockdowns and the unsafe and ineffective Covid “vaccines” cost circa £600bn and both did vast net harms. The politician followed duff experts just as they are doing with Net Zero!
The government could of course easily publish all the the states on the deaths (anonymised) but by vaccination status but they choose to take legal action so as not to have to – which tells us all we need to know. As do figures from Japan etc.
February 20, 2026
@LL. Come on LL, I agree with much of what you say but that’s naughty. At least make your first post of the day relevant to the topic!
February 20, 2026
W,
I had been expecting the traditional ‘Allister Heath is surely correct in today’s Telegraph’ post.
February 20, 2026
He was good this week as usual, as was David Frost
February 20, 2026
relevance to the subject today? You should have stated Extreme Off Topic.
February 20, 2026
Blair and Brown turned the “centre ground” dial very firmly to the Left and created a permanent governance system via International Treaties, an explosion in Quangos stuffed with left-wing activists and by empowering left-wing, activist lawyers and judges. During the following 14 years of government by the Not-a-Conservative-Party, they did absolutely nothing to reverse it and a great deal to reinforce and even extend the leftward turning of the dial.
It is going to be very difficult to undo the damage which 30 years of the left-wing Uni-Party has inflicted on the country and reverse it. Nigel Farage and Reform are trying to very slowly and carefully turn the dial back to the right.
The British electorate has never voted for extremism (excluding the recent Gaza Independents, who in my opinion aren’t really British). The MSM are going to depict Advance and Restore as extremists and although their supporters won’t accept it most voters who aren’t obsessed about politics, still get their information from the MSM and won’t vote for them.
I will be continuing to support Reform and a slow, careful turning of the dial.
February 20, 2026
D,
Gaza candidates are special interest groups rather than broad-based political parties. George Galloway has been elected several times by canvassing on special interests.
Gaza candidates address issues mainstream politicians choose to ignore. I do not classify that as ‘extremist’.
February 20, 2026
I consider it pretty extreme to run a campaign based entirely on Gaza, over which we have no control, in a British election for a position in a British Parliament / Council.
February 20, 2026
@Donna +1 you see what the country sees. We need these ‘others’ to disrupt the status-quo, disrupt those that have stolen the so-called established parties. We are a generation a way from what could be considered normalisation, there is a lot of upheaval to worked through thanks to the damage, repeated damage that has been done to the UK
February 20, 2026
Restoring Britain is not extreme. It’s avoiding a genocide.
February 20, 2026
For most diners, having three similar menus is confusing. The Tories will vie to present their own menu as similar (the “low fat” version).
For us on the right, the problem will be splitting the vote. At worst a traffic light coalition (red, amber and green) could emerge as the next government. Our country would be finished, as far as we are concerned.
I think it will be impossible for the newcomers to gain anything like the recognition of Reform in time for an election. “Restore” is a spoiler of a name, undermining Reform’s brand and likely to capture votes from voter confusion in the polling booth. I believe the Tories are too toxic for most people, and barely register as a right wing Party.
I don’t trust any of the newcomers, least of all Reform having welcomed its ex-Tory grandees. Still, it’s the only right wing Party with a chance of getting elected with a majority and it may do something on immigration, even if it messes a lot of other things up.
Our politicians are mostly low calibre and self interested these days. I expect little from them but will hold my nose and vote for the least bad.
February 20, 2026
Ex Tory Ministers aren’t the Party Grandees. Most of those are safely installed in the House of Frauds, immune from democratic accountability. Reform needs some people with experience of government and dealing with the Civil Service. Personally, I would have rejected Johnson fan-girl Nadine Dorries. I can’t see that she brings anything valuable to the Reform Party.
February 20, 2026
With a split vote in a first past the post environment the left (which targets its voter base better in swing constituencies) will win the constituency.
These parties will need to stand down candidates and agree an approach among themselves.
February 20, 2026
You might go for fine dining but the kitchen sends out chunky meat pie with soggy pastry, packet microwaved gravy and raw carrots. How are you supposed to know? Is there a chef or a uni student on shift used to airfryers?
February 20, 2026
Farage too frit to introduce Zahawi as ‘Shadow Foreign Minister’. But his company, yougov massaging the polls as they did before Brexit.
The Booking have Restore at 8-1 when I last looked, down from 50-1.
Might be a better indicator.
Also 40,000,000 views of the detailed Deport doc.
February 20, 2026
Could be, possibly bots doing 39m of them.
February 21, 2026
…and possibly not, because the British are afraid and desperate for salvation.
February 20, 2026
The rise of these three parties is a commentary on the failure of successive Conservative governments to do what they told the electorate they would do. The overwhelming volume of net inward migration is a primary driver for each of them as you point out. Reform is making the effort to broaden it’s policy agenda and to determine how it can be implemented.
It has raised significant sums to help fund the research needed to underpin it’s work and to build a national organisation. Time will tell how successful it will be but right now it appears to be the party more likely to succeed.
February 20, 2026
I certainly agree that the Tories are in a mess of their own making OT.
I guess the question is – can Mrs B make the brand electable again in the next three years?
February 20, 2026
No I’m afraid it’s done.
Too many chances. Too many disasters many of which Tory MPs like JR and to fight too and nail to avert.
February 20, 2026
Reform Should be given the chance to save this once great country before it ends up a third world country with a begging bowl, the other two main parties over the decades have been given the chance to make us great but only feathering there own nests , we need change and now is the time to do it before it’s too late you know it makes sense
February 22, 2026
I only hope that I can make a better success at growing my own food.Dig for Britain isn’t so long ago.
February 20, 2026
Of these 3 parties only Reform is electorally significant, mainly due to the big persona of Nigel Farage which the Conservative Party seemingly can’t match without Boris Johnson as Leader. Speaking personally the defection of Suella Braverman is fairly critical for me as I like and trust her most out of all current M.P.s but as I am not a member of any Party I can still reserve judgement though I do support the principle of ‘unite the right’. If the Conservative and Reform leadership refuse to do so, the electorate will vote tactically and do most of it for them during the next General Election campaign which will lead to the practical extinction of whichever Party is weaker in opinion poll support at the time when the next general election is called.
February 20, 2026
In the end political parties, like countries, reflect the people running them.
So let’s look at the leaders.
1. In 30 years Nigel Farage has crashed a few parties. He seems to be self sabotaging again.
a. Live on TV he admitted concocting and reporting crimes against a law abiding man (Lowe) for saying what Farage is now saying 9n deportations word for word, ‘to get rid of him’
b. He recently attended the launch of a book entitled ‘How to Launder Money’.
c. As an MEP he was 748th out of 751 for attendance, attended 1 out 42 meetings.
d. He has one of the lowest attendance records in the Commons.(There is no published list of MPs attendance. He only votes in a minority of divisions, lower than most MPs. Ed)
e. He is seldom in his constituency – the surgeries undertaken by staff.(He offers on line and phone consultations and some in person by appointment as has security worries. No one has set out how often he is in the constituencyEd)
f. Farage claims that Sir Paul Beresford offered him the safe Conservative Tunbridge seat, Beresford says that is “completely and utterly untrue”. Used the word ‘Liar’ in his interview.
g. Farage’s partner, Laure Ferrari, (was Ed) in an ongoing criminal investigation in Belgium allegedly for ‘misuse of European Union funds’ by the group IDDE dominated by UKIP ‘Parliament’ including allegations that EU grant funding was used to benefit UKIP in violation of rules, Ferrari was CEO.(she was not found guilty of any crime Ed)
2. Ben Habib is a very capable, articulate and patriotic individual. The policies between his party, which I understand was established ‘prematurely’ align with Restore Britain. There is talk of merging in some way and I’m sure the members will align with the stronger party, whichever that turns out to be.
3. Rupert Lowe, like me, was born in Africa. He came home and is a substantial, largely self made man and that is obvious by his conduct. He displays clarity of thought and has the character to do what is necessary. He has shown up the whole Parliament by running a private Inquiry into the Mozlem Rape Gangs disaster.
I’m a member of Restore Britain not because I like Lowe better than Habib or Kemi – there is a far greater imperative. I LOVE my people and our homeland. I would die to preserve and protect them like millions of other British people past and present. Coldly I am focused on which vehicle and strategy is required for us to hand our precious heritage to the next generation.
Only Lowe has a chance of delivering.
February 20, 2026
Lowe / Restore won’t win a General Election. The MSM is going to depict him as a racist, right wing extremist based on his “deport whole communities” policy and they will highlight Musk’s support and probably link him to Tommy Robinson as well.
If you don’t win a General Election, you don’t get to implement your policies.
February 21, 2026
Nobody is li#tending to the MSM anymore.
80,000 members in a week.
February 20, 2026
Rupert Lowe was born in Oxford
February 21, 2026
Apologies, you are right. I’m mixing him up with somebody else. Anyway it’s the politics which matter and Lowe has the bottle to stick to his guns, whereas Farage has a record of saying whatever is needed.
February 20, 2026
Lowe has little chance of winning more than one seat, so not so much chance of delivering anything very much. But he says largely the right things! Prob. only circa 1% even know who he is!
February 21, 2026
Let’s see.
We KNOW Farage can’t deliver. Has never even been a county councillor or run a corner shop.
February 20, 2026
A very fair, acurate and balanced summary. I like all of them. As you say, the next general election, if we have another one, is some years away – as many years as Starmer’s Gang can manage – so much will change for the worse in the meantime. therefore both prioities and detail will necessarily change. Mrs Thatcher disliked government by manifesto as it reduces a government’s flexibility but in her day we could assume the vast majority of politicians acted in the interests of the country as they saw them. Even the hard Left casting envious eyes at the paradise of the USSR really believed such a regime would be better for Britain. The Left is now driven mainly by hatred of Britain and has little, if any, idea of what might be better. Today there is no socialist paradise anywhere they can model policies on – except possibly China or North Korea which although distant and strange they are cosying up to and clearly influenced by China eg., Chagos. So domestically they want only to destroy – kulaks, private schools, private enterprise, private wealth, white traditional Brits, Christians and Jews. One exception: they love the neighbouring supra-national anti-democratic and unaccountable government of the EU. Every one of them is a Rejoiner because the EU is a framework on which they can readily build their global socialist order. Starmer’s Gang is aligning UK with the EU at every opportunity by the back door. All that holds him back is the possibility of accountability to the electorate – but once UK is committed formally and fully to government by the EU and without any formal influence Starmer’s Gang will no longer be accountable for legislation and rules imposed by the EU. Paradise for him and his Gang. The EU already includes the UK in its calendar of elections.
February 20, 2026
Mrs Thatcher would have seen herself ultimately as a Christian leader (methodist / C of E although beginning her premiership by quoting the Catholic St Francis of Assisi).
Unless those on the right reference the Christian God (and genuinely so), then it’s all just empty noise. Leaves me cold. Where they’re more interested, deep down, in their own power and glory and aggrandisement – than actually genuinely SERVING those they govern.
(And we are allowed to judge those we elect into office – but in a political sense / how we think they will perform in office – not actually judge their soul).
February 20, 2026
(I think politicians should always reference the Christian God in some shape or form but now more than ever as our country and Western culture and civilisation is quickly disintegrating and we need to act fast including not pussy-footing around about being embarrassed about talking about religion. Those days are long gone).
February 20, 2026
Mrs Thatcher, like Vladimir Putin, was a Christian and guided by Christian values, but she was political leader with a very detailed political philosophy and objectives and a strategy for how to attain them.
That is why she alone stands out in Britains post war years. She DID restore much of Britain.
That is why the world over she was respected and at home we were rightly proud of our local lass.
February 20, 2026
Alas she made the daft as a brush John Major the Chancellor and then even let him join the ERM against wiser advice from her economic advisor and JR. Plus she buried us further into the dire EU and closed many good grammar schools and failed to sort out the dire NHS or cut taxes sufficiently.
Reply Only cut Income tax from 98% to 40%!
February 20, 2026
It’s true she did not secure the succession. But she was under fantastic duress from the wets.
She remains without peer in post war politics worldwide – she gave the lead to the excellent Reagan.
One of my tenants in solid red Co. Durham yesterday told me that ‘she did not like Mrs T but would welcome her back now’.
When your political opponents long for your politics to return …. Lowe, a Thatcherite.
February 20, 2026
Indeed Thatcher was certainly the best PM I have lived under and she did cut taxes significantly (which increases growth and the tax take) but even 40%+NIx2+CGT+IHT+stamp duty+rates/council tax, fuel taxes, alcohol taxes, 12.5% VAT (I thing then) etc. is still far too high. The structure of the NHS was mad then and is even worse now another 12% in IPT tax and no tax relief on health insurance. Free at the point of (usually non delivery, poor delivery or a very long queue) is a mad system then and now.
Only “intellectuals” like Denis Healey (with his double first in greats) can be so daft as to think that 98% income tax was a good plan!
February 20, 2026
She did not shut grammar schools. That was doe by Local Authorities which is why we still have some left.
February 20, 2026
‘Tax them til the pips squeak’ sums up well how the socialism of the 1970’s wasn’t about helping the poor but being mean to the rich. When a real leader UNITES the country helping both poor and rich.
February 20, 2026
And Putin is socialism in reverse. Help a small group of vulgar, greedy, nouveau-riche oligarchs whilst the vast majority of the population live as if they’ve had the pips squeaked out of them.
February 20, 2026
@ Rose they largely closed when she was Education Sec. and PM.
February 20, 2026
This is so astonishing I had to check it twice,
During Mrs Thatchers Premiership the NHS cost an average of £8.2 billion pa.
It now costs £240 billion!
I think medical care has regressed.
February 21, 2026
Whoever was education Secretary had no say, Lifelogic. Local authorities were more respected in the powers they had then. MPs were scrupulous in not interfering. That is a local government matter, the constituency MP would say, I cannot intervene.
February 20, 2026
‘Mrs Thatcher, like Vladimir Putin, was a Christian’
– Not judging his soul, but Putin is NO Christian leader. He’s a tyrant who governs over a strongly corrupt country where most people live like peasants. A bit like a medieval European king. Poor Russia is cursed by Communism, socialism and now by tyranny (or always has been from one degree to another). Putin should have spent his time TRYING at least to build up democracy in Russia and to share the spoils of its resources, more, instead of hand-outs to billionaires who have squandered their money abroad. And it affects us too because if Russia was a prosperous democracy then that would directly and indirectly help the British economy as we’d have an extra big market for our services, big tech brands and products in general to export to. But Putin is a realist, who, like many leaders before him, have learned that you can’t suppress Christianity. Each time you do, it springs up even stronger – and a thousand times stronger with the blood of martyrs!
(And I also think it very unfair to Mrs Thatcher and her legacy to put Putin alongside her).
February 20, 2026
It is a refreshing change to be asked to consider the relative merits of those Parties which look to earn popular support. Better these principled “populists” than the “legacy” lot.
February 20, 2026
Perhaps I should set up my own political party as well. Position it as an alternative centre ground. I would call it the Enterprise Party, with a focus on promoting British business of all sizes.
The party would be welcoming towards immigration, by providing an office in Calais where migrants wishing to seek asylum in the UK could claim without the risk of the dangerous Channel crossing. Their details would be checked out, and if they look reasonable sent on to charities who would be invited to sponsor them so as not to load the public purse. Once approved they would have permission to cross on a proper ferry, and anyone choosing to come anyway would have their application refused, put into secure detention pending their removal back to their home country.
The party would endorse some socialist policies, like free primary and secondary education and healthcare for those who can’t afford to go private. Anyone who sends their child to private education would not pay VAT and rather have a tax credit to reflect the relief of the public purse. Private healthcare would be encouraged with tax credits for company schemes, but mandatory for lifestyle diseases and foreigners.
British business would be encouraged with the removal of employer’s NI, so as to make it more globally competitive.
The books would be balanced with a steady reduction in national debt by rationing benefits and the state pension according to the prosperity of the UK.
February 21, 2026
If migrants are in Calais, they’re in a safe country and have no right to claim asylum in the UK.
February 20, 2026
All three of these parties have attacked the BBC, with the dreadful Nigel Farage in particular rejoicing that 300,000 viewers declined to pay the licence fee last year. Tho nobody can work out why £1.1bn in lost income 2024/25 is a cause for the populist parties’ celebration, as this will definitely restrict the BBC’s scrupulously impartial news coverage and other programming
This week the nation has been entranced by GB performance at the Winter Olympics. The BBC has provided live all-day coverage alternating on BBC1, BBC2 and iPlayer, allowing viewers to watch three gold medals being won. This is why folk pay the licence fee.
And last night the GB men’s curling team won their semi-final match against an unbeaten Swiss team with some outstanding play, guaranteeing at least a silver medal in this ancient sport. We watched it live on BBC2.
February 20, 2026
‘entranced’ really? Perhaps for Keely Hodgkinson’s 800m world record at Liévin | World Indoor
February 20, 2026
SK,
‘Scrupulously impartial’ ? Have you been on your Egyptian beer again ?
I have tried curling in Wengen, Switzerland. I was surprised that I never once slipped on the ice.
February 20, 2026
@SK.”scruplously impartial” got me laughing. I suggest you tune into China Central Television for scrupulously impartial coverage of the far East. Honestly, Russia Today and Fox News are no more partial than the beeb on many issues and more impartial in some areas..
February 20, 2026
SG: “….the BBC’s scrupulously impartial news coverage…”
With a trial date now set for Trump’s $10bn BBC lawsuit over a fake news editing scandal we now may finally discover just how much of a history this broadcaster has of biased reporting with a reckless disregard m for the truth. It is certainly the case for anything to do with climate.
February 20, 2026
PS : The BBC are the corporate equivalent of the Iraqi Information Minister who became known as “Comical Ali”:
BBC Admit Great Barrier Reef Report Was “Misleading”
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2026/02/16/bbc-admit-great-barrier-reef-report-was-misleading/#comments
February 20, 2026
The decline of the great barrier reef was once the single measure of global warming/climate change …..now that its growing and thriving, you never hear about it
February 21, 2026
The climate alarmists at the BBC say that rising global temperature caused by burning fossil fuels is destroying the Great Barrier Reef coral when in fact, as pointed out by Dr. Patick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace, corals absolutely love warmer waters and the best, most diverse and most prolific corals can be found in the warmer waters to the north of Australia.
February 20, 2026
The two splinter parties are driven by animus and should either unite or join the Tories or Reform. In reality, you can’t get a fag paper between the new Tories and Reform. It would be suicidal and bad for the country if they cannot come to some agreement before the next election.
February 20, 2026
Wealth redistribution through taxes, higher public sector wages and pensions, higher pensioner payments, “smash the gangs”, higher welfare spending, More money to the NHS, higher SEND spending, higher sickness payments, reform of employment laws in favour of employees, capitulating to the EU, sending money to Ukraine.
I would say that populism is already in place and entrenched Lord Redwood. Three more parties telling people what they want to hear can only add to the entertainment. It will unfortunately split the vote as these three factions despise each other as much as any on the left (which is ironic as you point out that their populism is socially Conservative but economically socialist).
I had high hopes for Reform but have watched in horror as they have vote bought through left wing policies.
February 20, 2026
Farage has no politics. He will say anything to get elected. Think Johnson, a Globalist who purported to want an independent U.K.
February 20, 2026
yawn
February 20, 2026
I like Rupert Lowe, he is pretty close to what I would want in charge. My main problem with him is that some of his policies are too simplistic, and particularly what he says about people who have been here a long time on indefinite leave to needs a lot of work. I would create a new category like honorary British citizen for people of good character, who have avoided getting UK passport for one reason or another, many very understandable. on the other hand I would be revoking passports given to people just for working here, and their family, and sending them home.
Ideally all these parties and the right wing of Conservatives join together, put Rupert in charge, and win a landslide.
February 20, 2026
His main problem is he will only win one seat tops!
February 20, 2026
He can only stand in one seat, I agree he will win it. Farage has predicted he will get 1% (claiming the it was he himself who won all the Reform seats).
Of course Farage was rejected 7 times by the British people, who sussed him.
February 20, 2026
yea but you need to consider what happens at the election after next. if say reform win the next election, but dont deliver, then Ruperts party becomes a lifeboat for the country.
February 20, 2026
Too late. We don’t have the bandwidth to gear Buggins Farage a turn.
February 20, 2026
Read the detailed Deport policy paper on the website. I think your concerns will be answered.
February 20, 2026
@ian Gill. Quite. My father lived on here, working, via indefinite leave to remain, after joining the RAF at the outbreak of WW2 and becoming a much-decorated officer for combat service. Some of what Lowe says suggests he would boot my dad out.
February 21, 2026
That is not true. Read the actual policy paper published on the website.
February 22, 2026
The policy paper, any policy paper, is as trustworthy an indication of future action as the Conservative Party election manifestos were. IE you cannot trust them at all.
The other (main?) author of that policy paper is part of a group which has pushed a narrative for several years which has a strong whiff of ethnat.
A significant chunk of my family are not of these islands from before WW2 and despite their service and naturalisations, before that group were even born, I am deeply suspicious of the attitudes and intent of that party and it’s supporters.
February 20, 2026
Have you checked the Reform Durham County Council savings? They state that they have saved money and have increased certain council run commitments to the public.
Reply Most Councils claim to have saved money and made cuts. It is true Durham has come in with a lower Council tax increase, whilst Reform Worcestershire has proposed an eye popping 9% rise and needs special permission to exceed the 5% cap.
February 20, 2026
Durham has increased the tax by 1.99%
This is NOT a reduction, it’s an increase.
February 20, 2026
councils have very little scope for changing their budgets and results, with nonsense like courts using equality rules to backdate large payments to workers, and much mandated spend from central government, and the massive burden of out of control immigration.
February 20, 2026
All excellent news for Starmer and the left. However badly Labour perform and however unpopular they are and may yet become, with this sort of a split on the right, a leftwing victory is assured.
At the next election the choice is most likely to be, as ever, a Conservative or conservative led govt or a labour one. People will need to recognise that and vote accordingly.
February 20, 2026
the GE is along way off sadly. However if current direction of travel continues the existing MPs will be shredded by voting for newbies or much reduced turnout once again.
February 20, 2026
What about the middle ground? Where are they supposed to go?
Hardly Lib Dems, who seem decidedly socialist and with their zeal for EU membership they divide opinion.
It’s either a lurch to the left or a lurch to the right. How about we don’t lurch at all?
February 21, 2026
Define the ‘middle ground’ politics for me please,
February 20, 2026
In any ‘Which’ comparison, they look at the leading Brands. It’s a pity you didn’t include the Conservative Party in your lineup of the Right and compare all four together.
The two most pressing things for any UK government to do at this time is to strengthen our defences whilst starting to reverse our debt spiral. This would require both growth and severe cost cutting in other public spending areas. I suspect these two objectives are well beyond the ability of any of our current political parties – including the “New” Tories. It is certainly never going to happen under the current looney left spendthrifts – quite the opposite.
February 20, 2026
I think all three are really just influencers – they will force the Labour and Conservative parties to adjust their own policies accordingly (for example the Conservatives leader now apparently wants to leave the ECHR) and so some of their policies will get implemented in time via a government or coalition that they might not lead. This is like UKIP who got their policy to leave the EU implemented without ever doing well in a general election.
I don’t see any problem in most of Reform’s MPs being ex-Tories – most of their voters are too.
February 20, 2026
“I don’t see any problem in most of Reform’s MPs being ex-Tories – most of their voters are too”
Good point Roy – but there are also many “Old” Labour voters I suspect. What we used to call Blue Collar / Working class folk, these days have virtually nothing in common with the Noth London based “labour” party. Both groups voted for the Tories in 2019 and got their fingers burnt. So in 2024 they either just didn’t vote or went elsewhere (often without much real enthusiasm). As we all know, Starmer wasn’t really ‘elected’, he simply fell into the empty space left by the Conservatives.
Starmer and his gang are doing great harm to this country, not just by his actions but also by his inaction. He (like Macron) is in charge but no longer in power. Our problem is that as each week passes, the debt black-hole he is feeding keeps getting larger. Unusually this week, tax receipts exceeded expenditure and Reeves will cling to this fact as being the light at the end of the tunnel – but it is not.
It is simply a flash in the pan. A small blink of light before we all get flushed away.
February 20, 2026
How about Zahawi?
February 20, 2026
Come the General Election, Reform are the only party of this three who have any chance of forming a government. The other two will probably split the vote and likely fail to win a seat of their own.
February 20, 2026
Precisely, although Rupert Lowe is popular in Great Yarmouth and may hold onto his seat. Ben Habib doesn’t have one to hold onto and isn’t likely to win one.
February 20, 2026
with luck Reform might hold sway between which old past-it parties traditional unimportant Bills get put forward to the traditional political other House. Step forward Lord Redwood a chance to get them to listen.
February 20, 2026
+1 I like both of them but little chance of any power!
February 20, 2026
Just think of the great legacy of our Christian past:
Catholic: Parliament, Oxford, Cambridge, Eton, Winchester, Grammar schools, Guilds, beautiful medieval cathedrals, churches, towns and villages etc
Protestant: Queen Elizabeth I – Christian queen, Jane Austen, St Paul’s Cathedral, devout Sir Isaac Newton also a Biblical scholar, the Quakers in business and great employers, Wilberforce, CS Lewis etc
And all, at their best, promoting work ethic / hard, honest work, provide for your wife and family, focus on relying on self and family over state, family life, be good to your neighbour, take care of your health – both mental and physical, humour, hope, peace, joy, love (soft and tough), humility as opposed to arrogance, personality, the home, Charles Dickens and his wonderfully inspired moral tale of Christmas Carol, avoid debt in every sense, the arts, beauty, education, the armed forces, sovereignty in every sense from the individual to the country, patriotism and vibrant culture and civilisation in general.
February 20, 2026
Ed M
‘past’ is a key word above.
I don’t take any inspiration from the current Archbishop of Canterbury, for example.
‘Christian’ is beginning to be used as a political badge to distinguish from ‘other’. I am not sure how many actually try to follow the faith.
February 20, 2026
Posted by Lambeth Palace:
In these early days of Ramadan, I send my warmest greetings to Muslims marking this month of fasting and prayer with friends, family and community gatherings. May this be a time of peace and joy.
Ramadan Mubarak!
Archbishop Sarah Mullally
February 20, 2026
I wonder whether she received good wishes for Lent?
February 20, 2026
Hi Peter, I totally agree with you!
I did say when they are ‘at the best.’
Don’t start me off on the sins of the Church and Christians (both Catholics and Protestants – and Orthodox). I could be here all day. Remember how Christ seem to reserve his strongest criticism for the religious hypocrites (I can be a real one too unfortunately). But there is also the other side of the coin too! That’s all I’m saying. And that is impressive I think. More impressive of the alternative which is the kind of dystopian world I hear so many people (both atheist and theist and everyone in-between) feel and think we’re drifting into.
February 20, 2026
Plus the conviction that all people have the same rights, not just those that follow your faith.
February 20, 2026
Some good people and some good policies from all 3 that most voters would readily accept.
There will be a lot of pressure against them, with no doubt some dirty tricks thrown in – they would however be stronger and more effective as a combined force. A shame that personalities get in the way, but they may be forced to join together in some way when the time comes for a GE.
On the point about Kent county council, As I understand they did the financial audit as they’d proposed, and found very little to save, if anything, so their hands were tied to effectively match spending plans and tax increases to the previous administration.
Kent has to spend a lot more than other councils on immigrants, given that so many enter the UK on Kent shores. The government mandates what must be paid out to support immigrants, so again Kent is at a major disadvantage
Apart from that central government mandates a whole host of things that councils must provide, making councils far less independent than they might be.
So, when council taxes rise blame HMG for insisting on economic priorities that are unaffordable to many councils, who then have to make everything else work.
Reply Pathetic excuse for not controlling spending in a huge £3 bn budget. There are Statutory services but Councils decide who is entitled to them, what service level to supply and how to get value for money. They also do a lot which is not a legal requirement. None of the capital programme is mandatory etc. If Councillors think it is all determined by central government why charge us money for their pay and expenses for them to do nothing useful?
February 21, 2026
The point is that the vast majority of council tax goes either on essential services or things demanded by central government. The small amount spent on discretionary items that benefits the local community therefore pales into insignificance.
OK, so Kent county council have completed the audit, so give them time to innovate where they can but don’t expect miracles at once. This was after all a Tory council before – they did a good job, Reform councils and government working together will achieve much more than having a labour government always imposing extra costs on councils.
February 20, 2026
To me it appears to be a result of the break down and corruption of a Parliament that has lost its purpose. We haven’t seen this century one single party step up and work for the nation and its people.
Every one saw the destruction of Blair and the EU had to our institutions. The removal of what is meant by democracy, freedoms, being safe and secure, resilient and self-reliant, when they should have been protecting these things. Parliament has become a place that saw their orders coming from other places rather than the people they borrowed there from powers and paid their wages. Each incoming faction moaned about the Blair doctrine, its alignment to the WEF religion and World Government. But each faction then with the power to change and stop the rot instead chose to compound it, enhance it. The UK parliament was given the mandate and the power to leave having itself controlled by the EU, they refused, are still refuse and fight the proposition that they are there to manage and frame the Country for the people as a whole and equally. Hence, we have the phrase the Uniparty each of them maintains the flaws the deviation of their purpose from their previous incumbents, they merged their ideologies into one order taking cabal wanting the unaccountable and the unelected to tell them how to act – as long as it not those that elected them.
There is no Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat Party they are all controlling freaks that can’t manage themselves let alone the Country, its all to much like work
What we have is Parliament that is fighting the people not working with them.
February 20, 2026
What the electorate knows is that some of these other party names are not the established triad of failure so anything else could be better, but clearly not worse.
These other talking heads have touched a nerve, this parliament with its imposed high taxes, costs, lies and corruptions is anti the UK, so any other choice would be a better choice.
February 20, 2026
Lord Redwood, you could talk policies to infer difference until you are ‘blue’ in the face, but as we have seen with the train of thoughts in recent days/weeks on this diary we have an establishment, a Parliament, that lies to gain power, then does the opposite, become more controlling.
Not one MP has ever said or shown how they would give the country back to the people, release the people and create a framework that allows the people to reach and find their potential. It is always about them (the MPs) their control, their personal ideology their self centred ego.
February 20, 2026
Rupert Lowe has dedicated his life to doing exactly that.
He is a cool customer, and quality.
He does this as a sacrifice, he donates his PM salary.
February 20, 2026
(And of course the great Edmund Burke – both Protestant and Catholic)
February 20, 2026
I think you seek a religious website.
This one is a political website.
February 20, 2026
Queen Elizabeth I (our greatest political leader and devout Christian woman) and Edmund Burke (our greatest political thinker – and devout Christian man), would, I believe, argue it’s impossible to separate religion form politics. That’s a modern, secular idea (and look where modern, secular ideas have brought our country and Western culture and civilisation to now – to its knees). Emanating from secular left and secular right and WOKE thinking.
Lastly, that’s a big difference between Bismarck and the Nazis. Christianity was crucial to Bismarck in German politics and life where as the Nazis wanted to get rid of Christianity, in particular the likes of Martin Bormann. So I think you’re profoundly wrong.
February 20, 2026
Ed m,
“ Christianity was crucial to Bismarck in German politics and life …”
Bismarck was the driving force behind the Kulturkampf. Sectarianism for a political end. Nothing Christian about him.
February 21, 2026
Hi. I’m not saying he was a saint. But there was a clear divide between him and the Nazis over Christianity. Bismarck was clearly pro Christian. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on this. Let God ultimately judge. But the Nazis were clearly anti-Christian. Some more than others. In particular, Martin Bormann who loathed Christians and Christianity (which, in retrospect, is a badge of honour when you consider the monstrous things Bormann and his Nazi comrades did to Christians – and to non-christians – to anyone who opposed them for whatever reason).
(Communists hated Christians / Christianity too – another badge of honour when you see how monstrous and disastrous they’ve been for the world).
February 21, 2026
You should read some history.
Cecil kept the train on the tracks.
Elizabeth had a lifelong affair with Dudley – who was married.
Hardly Christian values and certainly NOT a political leader as we understand it today.
February 20, 2026
(Also, then you go to the other extreme and claim Putin is a great Christian leader as if admitting the importance of religion in politics. So you’re completely inconsistent here. I don’t say that to put you down. But to point out how you yourself are making the point I’m making about the vital importance between religion and politics. Although I think you’re wrong about Putin being a Christian leader. I think it’s all performative to try and keep the Christian population on board).
February 21, 2026
Religion informs politics.
See the Ayatollah in Persia who has 90 million hostages.
You are in no position to decide whether people are sincere about their religion, and especially if you know absolutely nothing of them. That very attitude is un-Christian!
Look to the mote in your own eye.
February 21, 2026
When one of our friends interviewed the original Ayatollah in Paris in 1979, he said, “If I were as unsure of my faith as your clerics, I would not dream of meddling in politics.”
February 21, 2026
It’s HERESY and wrong (and sort of WOKE) to suggest we’re not allowed to judge people.
We are NOT allowed to judge people’s personal souls. I’m not judging Putin’s personal soul. He could end up a saint for all I know. I hope he does. I hope you do too. And me. And Sir John. And Life Logic. But the way he governs is tyranny which is anti-christian.
So whether Putin really believes he’s Christian is neither here nor there. What matters is how he actually acts and the effect of his on others (including indirectly on us).
But we are ALLOWED to judge people in their capacity in public roles. I mean we do that when we vote. We do that if we work in the military to assess the threat of our enemy and how to deal with them. Same in geolpolitics (such as Putin). Or when we hire someone for a job. Or a JUDGE in a COURT OF LAW!
Benevolent kind of judgement is part of the virtue of PRUDENCE (and WISDOM). Lack of prudence is foolishness and a SIN.
February 21, 2026
And I hope everyone makes it to Heaven (including Putin). I don’t judge anyone in the sense of condemn them. But I do judge when it comes to voting, hiring someone for a job, whether I should marry a particular woman or not, whether someone is a danger to me and others or not (including Putin in geopolitics), and so on. And not too is WOKISH, HERETICAL nonsense.
February 24, 2026
You’re being WOKE / heretical in spirit, Lynn, in mixing malevolent judgment with benevolent judgment. Christ said, ‘do not cast your pearls on swine.’ That involves judgment of another (but this passage does NOT mean condemn them either – it’s an exaggerated form of Jewish idiom which is how the Jews and in particular the rabbis often spoke). What Christ is talking about here is practical judgement (versus existential judgement). Practical judgement is about judging whether you should marry someone or not, as a judge in a court of law, or judging whether someone such as Putin is a threat to our country or not. Not to would be to lack prudence. Prudence is a virtue. What Christ says we can’t do is judge another’s soul (and how that is associated with condemning them, hating them, thinking one is better than them etc) which IS sinful. Best.
February 21, 2026
Ed, if you are a democrat then allow the Russian people who know their country and their political parties to decide.
When were you last in Russia?
Did you watch the Winter Olympics in Sochi – does it look like your idea of Russia?
Have some humility for heavens sake.
pS the oligarchs had to RUN from Russia with their wealth, that’s why they are in London etc. why? Because Putin would have stripped them of it!
February 22, 2026
Lynn, Russian people can’t decide as Putin is a dictator! They have no choice. It’s like they are politically emasculated / invalidated. Having their SOVERIEGN right to freely and fully choose their leader removed from them.
February 20, 2026
LA,
Maybe.
Another poster -Norman- also posts biblically based messages.
I am fine with that , though I am not Protestant.
Different strokes for different folks.
American politics is more religious in its references and they hold more sway than the British.
February 22, 2026
Hi, I’m not proselytising. There are lots of atheist and agnostic cultural Christians who share my views. As far as I believe even Dawkins does to a degree. My best friend who I’ve travelled to many parts of the world with is an atheist. He’s never accused me of proselytising even though I might talk about things in the context of Christianity. He, I guess, is an atheist cultural Christian.
February 20, 2026
The PM is so politically blind that he is moving the centre ground to the right
Reform are benefiting from this and I find myself aligning with them
We will see how things go and closer to the GE the right needs to unite
February 20, 2026
The centre ground is moving left (read Authoratarian) as the communist leaning of this PM is imposed, but the Overton Window has moved right (read anti-Authoritarian) pushed by Lowe, even Farage is now ‘talking’ about mass deportations.
The centre ground is NOT the winning track.
Reply
I have deleted your very long copy resignation letter by Smalley from UKIP over its length,age, and personal attacks. If you want to send in a shorter summary of why people left UKIP that might be relevant to modern parties that might be something I can publish.
February 20, 2026
Lord Redwood.
“None has submitted themselves for re election despite their party’s enthusiasm for elections.” There is the contradiction and hypocritical proposition of Parliament. Are our representatives chosen and funded by their electorate to represent them and the country. Or are they appointed and funded by Gang Leaders to toe the line accept the ‘Whip’ even when it works against their constituents and the country?
To me its the Party system as it is run in the UK that fights democracy. That why we don’t have regular democratic elections elections to reaffirm direction, but are spaced for the convenience of and to give maximum control to the incumbent Gang Leader
February 20, 2026
They will spread themselves too thin. The two new parties should each be concentrated in one region of England, merge, and build more slowly. But both are led by older men; Lowe’s wife must be frustrated; he’s 68, and this mustn’t be the retirement she was hoping for! I don’t understand why Lowe hasn’t subsumed Advance into his party. Habib seems up for it. This is, however, good news for the Tories; you must be rejoicing, other than the fact that they will take lots of votes from the Tories and could give us a never-ending left-wing coalition, as other Countries in the EU suffer from, cutting their right-wing out of decision-making altogether.
I read that the Tories weren’t breaking through with women under 50, and the party in the lead with that age group is the Greens – so something is going seriously wrong with your party’s messaging to that large part of the electorate. Women must believe the great giveaway policies of the left, never-ending sick and absence leave with employers hog-tied to deal with it, longer maternity and paternity with higher pay whilst on it, higher sick pay 80% of normal pay. More money from age 18 for less hours and less working days per week. The Tories never got their message over about how education improved, not in our own marking scale but in international scales, and now Bonkers Bridget can undo it all, reduce testing so no poor teachers are accountable, more music, art, sport which if after school in clubs every night I would support massively with sports, music and arts teachers starting later and finishing at 6 pm.
No one is making the reality wake-up call. Lee Kuan Yew’s thoughts on Britains Welfare state are doing the rounds on social media. He argued “we’re not going to pay you for lying around” focused his citizens on self-reliance and said when he first studied the British welfare state he was impressed and thought it was ground breaking, then just two decades later he saw it blunted the individuals drive to succeed and encouraged laziness and want. Workfare over welfare – we have gone the opposite way, we now have a welfare class as well as a working class and now many of those in the welfare class have the time and better resources because benefits aren’t grossed up to the actual value of them. He advocated for a ‘shareholder society’ giving people a stake, as Thatcher did. Now they want to overturn that and Labour are being allowed to encourage our housing stock for rent to be owned by large banks, insurers and foreign investors! People running them don’t have the same stake in our lives.
February 20, 2026
Women under 50 want very high state spending to do all the things they used to do for nothing before they had to go out to work.
February 20, 2026
Exactly. Women always worked, but for love not money.
February 21, 2026
I think there’s a large amount of truth in that observation. Many middle aged women are caught in a trap between caring for their children; caring for their elderly parents; working; running a household and possibly helping to care for grandchildren so that their parents can both work.
They will vote for “help” if they have the opportunity.
February 23, 2026
I agree, Rose, Lynn and Donna, but it needs to be explained to them the cost of their desires.
They’ve also had lots of State help that they take for granted now:
In the 1980s women had six week paid maternity leave and a right to return up to 29 weeks after the birth, to be eligible you required two years continuous service. It’s now 39 weeks (plus 12 weeks neonatal care from 2025) and up to 52 weeks with the rest unpaid, including holiday pay and continuous pension contributions at the usual rate. Great leaps have been made.
Hunt gave them 30 hours of child care from age 9 months, as long as they don’t earn over £100k, then the State cuts that off. Paternity leave of 2 weeks for fathers came in April 2003; they want to extend this to four weeks per year for up to four years.
SEND provisions for children have exploded, with 1 in 4 children now statemented, giving extra payments to parents, schools and provisions from the Council.
Just three changes.
February 20, 2026
With no disrespect to Ben Habib and Rupert Lowe, setting up your own political party seems to indicate a certain amount of vanity. Nigel Farage has been saying the same thing, get us out of the EU, for 20 plus years, and has also been consistent in opposing immigration. He is just as vain, but has a track record longer than either of the others. All three parties have the same problem, finding 650 potential MPs who share the values of the three parties.
In my opinion, Kemi Badenoch is beginning to emerge as a strong leader, but has the same problem. Finding 650 potential MPs who have conservative values and beliefs. That is what let down the previous Conservative government, too many liberal/lefties who were not gut instinct conservatives.
Three years is a long time, so let’s wait and see who can unite the right.
February 20, 2026
Farage needs to do what the LibnoDems did very well – hand pick the 300-350 seats and don’t bother with hopeless constituences.
February 20, 2026
If Farage had targeted his campaign intelligently and patriotically he would have a Liberal number of seats and we would not now be suffering under this communist regime. He might even be the Leader of the Opposition. But he had tunnel vision: all he wanted was to destroy Boris and the Conservatives and to hell with the country and Brexit.
February 20, 2026
No he just wanted a job – oops, a salary….
February 20, 2026
Farage suspended Lowe. Farage sacked Habib as Deputy Leader, leaving him hanging. This raises concerns about Farage’s judgment and his dismissal of anyone who challenges him, which doesn’t bode well. Then Zia was very quick to resign when he spat his dummy out. We’ve had enough of this level of unprofessionalism with fellow MPs in the main parties.
February 20, 2026
That is why I am drawn to William Clouston, Leader of the SDP.
February 23, 2026
Yes, I’ve read some of his stuff, but it hasn’t got traction or awareness. Why can’t Kemi attract people like this to the Tories? What divergencies are there that make that impossible?
February 20, 2026
Lowe had allegations made against him, hence suspension. If he had ignored them would you then raise a question about his judgement?
February 21, 2026
Farage demoted Habib as Joint Deputy Leader after he had failed to win a seat in the General Election. He also demoted Dr David Bull from his position as Joint Deputy Leader as he had also failed to win a seat. (Both were appointed Joint Deputies when Richard Tice was leading Reform). The structure became Farage, Leader; Tice, Deputy Leader.
Habib threw his toys out of the pram and flounced out of Reform. Dr David Bull accepted the reality of the situation and, after a period of no official position, was appointed Chairman.
February 21, 2026
ZY doesn’t have a seat. No impediment to being appointed.
February 22, 2026
He is not, and never has been, Deputy Leader.
February 23, 2026
Exactly, Rose, when it suits! Zia is a very good speaker; he is often rolled out as though he were the party leader. To be honest, I think he’s a better leader than Farage.
February 20, 2026
They each seem to have sensible intent and the best interests of our country at heart. Unfortunately, competing against each other for votes might reduce the effectiveness of Reform and even enable another shambles like the present Labour atrocity into government.
February 20, 2026
If Reform did win it would change nothing.
February 20, 2026
1966 treaty UK-USA, section 4 (access) ….Ships and state aircraft owned or operated by or on behalf of either
Government may freely use the anchorage and airfield
So why has Starmer said that the USA can’t use Chagos Islands, and on another site its been described that the UK notified Mauritius to seek advise
February 20, 2026
And can’t use Ua Airbases in the U.K.!
February 21, 2026
Cyprus?
February 20, 2026
The conservatives missed a huge opportunity to formulate and publish their official guiding principals (think Thatcher), apologise for their errors in government and to expel the wets… (they have compounded all of Blair’s fundamental errors) they then could have merged with Restore and Advance, the losses to Reform would not have happened and a Renewed Conservatives would have had a good chance to make up ground into the next election. No amount of good outings at the dispatch box for Kemi can make up for these failures. A combination of Restore and Advance and DOGE principals is what this country needs to get us back on track… the Conservatives could have been in the middle of it, I fear their days of political power are over.
February 20, 2026
100% agree, I still don’t really understand the vision, policy, aim or mission of the tories ….and I certainly don’t trust them, but writing a full manifesto would help as a reference document rather than woolly policies at TV interview
February 20, 2026
If Conservative had done as you suggest, there would be no Reform, Advance or Restore Britain.
February 20, 2026
Advance has a unique selling point: it will stand in N Ireland and wants to repeal the Windsor Framework.
February 20, 2026
Putting DUP seats at risk. Why?
February 21, 2026
Agreed. The motive is to bring back NI into the Union, fully. This was one of the things Habib and Farage fell out over. Farage doesn’t care about NI.
February 23, 2026
Isn’t that a key DUP aim, though, to bring NI back into the Union? This could just cause them to lose, so I don’t think it’s useful to unionists.
February 20, 2026
I like William Clouston, Leader of the SDP best. He should be brought into the tent somehow. He would make an attractive PM which is after all important.
February 20, 2026
“It [Advance] wants domestic democracy to settle more things rather than international institutions and law.”
There’s no such thing as “International Law” and “International Institutions” are completely corrupt. We should not take any notice of either.
February 20, 2026
The reason why these new “populist” (popular?) parties exist is because voters are looking for a non-socialist party that is not determined to impoverish us with EU membership, mass immigration and Net Zero. It’s that simple.
February 20, 2026
PS : And if any voter believes that voting for one of the parties who have been in power for the last 30 years are willing and capable of making the country sovereign and secure, cancelling the economy destroying Net Zero, ending the invasion across the Channel and running an efficient Civil Service to reduce taxation are simply deluded. As Einstein said “To do the same thing over and over again expecting a different result is the definition of insanity”. Especially now that the judiciary are willing to collude with the executive to hide their actions through super injunctions
February 21, 2026
+1
February 20, 2026
Populism is the worst thing to ever affect serious Government – if people are so gullible as to vote for a Boris Johnson or Trump type then they’ll get what they voted for shallow inward looking self serving politicials just like Farage the one who advised on Brexit and insulted all round him on the way out. So now we see Trumps policy on global tariffs is largely struck down he’s sure to lose a lot in the Mid-Terms as well and that’s only the start of it – more fundamentally he’s caused a lot of reputational damage for America. So going back to populism – give me the dull grey suits first anytime – that’s what I say and to hell with populism.
February 21, 2026
Farage is nothing like Trump It is a lazy media habit to keep saying he is.
Populist is the name given to parties which don’t want to be in the EU Protection Racket.
February 21, 2026
Yes we see Boris is entering the fray again – he wants Britain to send non- fighting troops to Ukraine – populism has raised it’s ugly head – and what a head? – pity he wouldn’t go see a barber first and get some structure to himself if he want’s to be taken seriously.
February 20, 2026
If we look at the recent elections, those that are getting in by default, by accident are those that don’t expose their baggage. To many factions trying to divide up a similar vote means its not the least worst getting elected but the worst possible.
Logic, look through the ego, no one wins elections its the others that loose them. If all those that aren’t Labour said and did nothing in the coming elections they would just win. It will be like the last GE it will just be a protest vote.
February 20, 2026
Should any of the “populist” (popular?) parties win a Parliamentary majority the main opposition will of course come from the Civil Service and judiciary. The series “Yes Minister” shows us the tactics. Some 30% of the Civil Service say they will quit, which if it happens, will reduce their size as needed. The only way the government could overcome this opposition will by having the moral authority through winning referendums. Brexit showed the way.
February 21, 2026
But the Blob, along with the Judiciary and House of Lords, and of course the media, made it clear they had no intention of respecting the largest vote in our history. They had no shame and they openly ganged up with foreign powers to sabotage that vote.
February 22, 2026
No not all the media against you – you still had the Daily Express the Daily Mail the Daily Telegraph the Sun all on your side all telling you what a rotten place the EU was – that with the red bus you could you lose
February 24, 2026
It seems that we are being offered three so-called “right-wing” parties, each led by an autocrat, although I am not convinced of the “right” credentials of Reform. With Farage at its head, history suggests that it can’t last. The man is impossible to work with, rude and arrogant. I tried, in the early 1990s. Never again.
Kemi’s problem is also historical. People hold her responsible for the misjudgements of her predecessors, and her conservative troops seem to have jumped ship, which could mean that she has few, if any, true conservative MPs left in her Party.
So we are left with Advance and Restore. Habib has been scathing about Lowe’s failure to amalgamate with his party, although he must know the pressures on the leader of a new party. What he doesn’t get – or does he? Is it a trick? – is the incongruity of espousing “Christian” values when he himself is a Moslem.
Way back in the 1970s Arabic-language newspapers in this country were saying that they were going for having the Arabic flag flying over Westminster.Etc Ed
Maybe the answer would be for Kemi to appoint Lowe her deputy and her chief policy-advisor, but I doubt if either would go for that solution. It looks, therefore, as though we could be in for another long period of national destruction, possibly culminating in (disruption Ed)The scenes from Manchester on Saturday were horrific, and it is not always clear whose side the police are on.