I thought it strange Nigel Farage used his Queenâs Speech slot to call for a referendum on the European Human Rights Treaty. Â That makes two referendums Reform now want, one on PR and one on human rights. There is no way a Labour government with such a huge majority will offer either, so Reform is left demanding things the government will never grant and which most people do not see as a priority. Calling for a referendum when there is a popular need is best done in an Election Manifesto as the Conservatives did with the EU referendum which was long overdue.
There is likely to be 4-5 years before a General election. In that time there is scope to forecast what is going to go wrong for Labour and to build up a head of steam for change. I think many people will be livid with Labour if the small boats keep delivering illegal migrants, and if well paid lawyers use International law to block action against illegal migrants. Labour may well be forced to take further action to control our borders.
The obvious answer is the one the last Conservative government turned down. Parliament can and should legislate to put  beyond doubt what is required of our Border Force and courts to turn back or return illegals. I supported amendments that would have done it, setting out a sensible way to stop the illegals in U.K. law and saying that law takes precedence over any international court .There is no need to tear up the whole Treaty which Labour will not do. There is every need to constrain actions  of the international  court that makes it impossible for legal U.K. authorities to control our borders sensibly.
The next election will not be fought under a system of PR so Opposition parties have to work within the current FPTP system. It produced an unusually unbalanced Parliament last time where it gave Labour a majority out of all proportion to its vote. That should be a rare event and was only possible because both major parties were unpopular at the same time, and both had been following very similar policies. We still have the accountable single member constituencies where once again many have discovered the hard way they do get sacked if they cease to please. The way to get change from here is for Conservative and Reform to oppose intelligently and energetically. That requires understanding the reasons people are so disillusioned with the traditional parties , and offering something better either by their reform or by a new party winning support for a new approach that does reflect public concerns.
July 25, 2024
“Calling for a referendum when there is a popular need is best done in an Election Manifesto as the Conservatives did with the EU referendum which was long overdue.”
Come off it, Sir John, the only reason Cameron went for a referendum was because he was totally sure he would win it. Yes he recognised the dissatisfaction but if he thought it likely he would lose he would not have called for the referendum. He would instead have decided on some other tactic. He promised the result would be binding but why did he not write that into the legislation as the HoC Briefing Paper made clear he should have done if Parliament was genuinely committed to upholding the result. The majority of the Conservative Party was as Remain as Labour. those in favour of leaving were the oddballs, the fruitcakes and loons. the Party’s majority in 2015 was 12 seats. He resiled from implementing the resuklt and resigned. The Party then gave us Remainer Mrs May to deliver on leaving the EU, a person less suited to the task it would be hard to find. The Party’s own shenanigans undermining the negotiations with the EU contributed to the Rogue Parliament hiding from the electorate behind Cameron’ Fixed term Parliament Act 2011, to refuse a general election on the issue. Mrs May had already gambled and lost resulting in her minority government. It took Boris Johnson to shame MPS – both Labour and Tory to allow a general election on Brexit. He won an 80-seat majority, but the Remainers never ceased their efforts to undermine Brexit.
Fast forward to Sunak’s Windsor Framework. Far from delivering Brexit it cements EU rule and ECJ jurisdiction in Northern Ireland permanently and requires the whole of UK to remain closely aligned with the EU lest it divide its own internal market or alarm Brussels that UK is getting too competitive. Thanks to Tory ineptitude the EU can relax about the second point.
Nigel Farage is right, the Conservative Party never believed in Brexit and in retrospect I can see that the more it promised to deliver Brexit, the less I should have believed it.
All credit to Boris for repealing Cameron’s iniquitous Fixed Term Parliaments Act which had enabled parliament to defy the electorate for so long. We still await it restoring the sovereign to Parliament, where he or she had sat happily for 300 years until Lady Spider removed her in order to find Boris’s prorogation of parliament illegal.
Reply As one of those who led the calls for a referendum within the Conservative Party we only got David Cameron to change his mind and adopt it when we told him we were close to having the support of 150 Conservative MPs. I think he thought he would continue in coalition after the election with Lib Demâs preventing the referendum.
July 25, 2024
The LibDem coalition was due to Cameronâs cast iron ratting before the election, his bonkers green crap agenda and his failure to promise sensible tax reductions and a red meat real Conservative agenda to the country. A low tax at heart. EU sceptic he claimed to be but he was lying as many could see. He wasted a golden opportunity with is sitting duck election against the appalling Gordon Brown. With his appalling record of disaster as Chancellor and PM. See the excellent book Gordon is a Moron. With his selling of the gold, his pension raid, the banking crash, his BoE and gross economic incompetence. We await the Reeves pension and asset raid and other economic vandalism to come shortly.
July 25, 2024
Tugenhalt saying he might leave ECHR! So did Cameron, May, Johnson and Sunak! Is his memory that bad? His lot threatened to cause trouble if the govt left ECHR or added not withstanding clauses! His sponsor serial Europhile porno Greene, who sponsored May! The dishonesty rumbles on to get elected. A pro EU one nation socialist ought to have learntâŠwe do not believe you!
July 25, 2024
@Hope – the wording is ‘would consider’. Governments fear the idea that a democratically elected Parliament should be the UK’s legislators that create, amend and repeal Laws on behalf of those they say they represent.
It would appear Parliaments lack of ability means they have a preference that others, the unelected and unaccountable individuals that have a need to serve their own personal esteem should get to push whole nations around. Then you have to ask why would a French Citizen (Tugenhalt dual nationality – just in case ), with a French wife that happens to work for the Socialist French President want to reduce someone’s remote hold over the UK?
July 25, 2024
+1
July 25, 2024
@Reply
Do not forget the role of UKIP and Nigel Farage. Were it not for the significant and growing support for UKIP the Con party and Cameron would never have conceded the referendum.
reply Not true as I have often explained
July 25, 2024
Reply to reply, JR you kid yourself. If you think you persuaded Cameron because of numbers inside the Tory party. Tory agent went to jail to stop Farage being elected and you will recall Cameron said it was his first thought when the election result came in! Clearly Farage a worry to Cameron who would not stop at anything to prevent Farage getting elected. I never heard Cameron worrying about you or the few conservatives left in the Tory party. At least your view provides you some comfort.
Reply I was at the meeting where we persuaded Cameron to offer a referendum. You were not. Nor was UKIP. We all agreed at the meeting UKIP would not win a single seat at the election. We were out by 1. It was the big build up of support for a referendum amongst Cons MPs that led to the offer.
July 25, 2024
JR, like you there is No need to waste any more time on the Tory party, they are done. It would be better if Tory party merged with Labour under new name EU globalist party.
July 25, 2024
Well the public out here believe it to be true, and Sir John’s protest changes nothing.
July 25, 2024
It does actually. The critical thing is votes in our Parliament, persuading undecided MP to bite your way. Parliament is one long round of canvassing and arguing for votes.
Nothing else matters.
July 25, 2024
Parliament would be better listening to Farage, he’s speaking to the people not just the HoC Echo chamber. He is positioning Reform ready for the next election.
He knows full well that Keith won’t agree to anything he says but that doesn’t make him wrong in the eyes of the electorate.
Ignore him at your peril.
July 25, 2024
@Ian wragg – Parliament would do better listening to the people rather than fighting them
July 25, 2024
I think he thought he would continue in coalition after the election with Lib Demâs preventing the referendum.
Indeed in his second election the odds suggested another hung parliament. I got circa four to one on a bet for a Tory overall majority which seems more like odds on to me. Had Cameron been a real Tory he would have won even more convincingly as Labour, Tombstone Ed Miliband, and the Libdims were so dire.
July 25, 2024
The Lib Dems wanted a referendum, Vince Cable when party leader wanted to table a motion for a referendum; they were the first mainstream party to call for an in/out referendum in 2007. Nick Clegg thought he would win easily there are leaflets with his face on happy to have a referendum. One leaflet said they were the only party wanting a referendum as the Tory party only wanted a limited referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
The Lib Dem 2010 election manifesto expanded the parties position âThe European Union has evolved significantly since the last public vote on membership over thirty years ago. Liberal Democrats therefore remain committed to an in/out referendum the next time a British government signs up for fundamental change in the relationship between the UK and the EU.â It also reiterated similar sentiments in its 2015 election manifesto.”
It was all fact checked.
July 25, 2024
and so when we told him ‘begone you duplicitous scoundrel’, he threw his toys out of the pram and stomped off.
July 25, 2024
Farage like Trump seems to be sound on the Net Zero lunacy, sound on realising the vast harms of lock downs and the Covid âvaccinesâ, sound on the need for a smaller state, less red tape, lower taxes and far less low skilled immigration – this unlike nearly all the other paties – so what is not to like? For these reasons alone Reform deserve to win against the uni-parties. Trump needs to win for similar reasons especially against the absurd diversity appointment Kamala who, is about to pick another diversity running mate must be a white man it seems.
Also Trumpâs natural modesty helps!
July 25, 2024
Sir John likes to underplay Farage’s contribution, sadly. He entered the EU parliament in 1999, almost a one man band to work to have the UK leave it. He achieved his objective by being an effective politician; pushing there and here in creative ways. Now lets see what he can do in the Remainer parliament here. Best not underestimate him.
I would suggest that the rump of the PCP will spend a year or so navel gazing as to who runs it, what they stand for and finding money. While Farage has already set out his objectives; with conservative, common-sense policies, UK first, and will be a vocal opposition to a Rejoiner, socialist Labour. Tories haven’t even woken up!
Offer your help Sir J. Farage stands for most of what you say!
July 25, 2024
Indeed he was a large part of it. Alas Kier is continuing Sunakâs policy of alignment and doing it even more!
July 25, 2024
Farage did not move the U.K. one inch toward the exit door in the EU Parliament. Indeed all he did do was secure circa ÂŁ250k income for himself (as a âparty leaderâ). You should read what Richard North, who was there, has to say.
July 25, 2024
Lynn
I think your memory is playing tricks on you, Farage like it or not was the hated Mr Brexit according to all of the Media at the time, and he got more air time than most of the others put together.
No one else exposed the goings on in the EU Parliament like he did to the general Public.
Like him or not !.
He only got out of the EU exactly the same as all of the other Parliamentary members, did you protest about all the other members on the gravy train at the time. ?
July 25, 2024
If your argument is Farage is only interested in money, why did he not stay on the EU gravy-train.
Did Richard North stand down his candidates in 2019 for the Tories to win? Without Farage, there’d be no Brexit.
July 25, 2024
Shame you didnât have 150 MPs that believed in it enough to force a proper Brexit – and to stop the boats.
July 25, 2024
I agree that Cameron expected – and hoped – to continue in coalition with the LibDems so he could prevent a Referendum.
I also agree that he only, very reluctantly held it, because he thought he could win.
July 25, 2024
@Donna – he would have joined the LibDems if he thought it would have got him elected, but his schooling had him believe that he should be a Tory
July 25, 2024
Sir John is EXACTLY right. Cameron was shocked that he won outright and lost the Lib Demâs skirt behind which he intended to announce that they refused an referendum and there was nothing he could do. Most of us knew that before we voted, especially the Tories in Scotland, we voted tactically to deliver n outright win to Cameron and skewered him. (The Scottish Tories voted SNP en mass to prevent Labour taking seats and therefore the Conservative win).
Cameron promised the referendum AT THE ELECTION because UKIP standing tactically could have taken many Tory seats as Reform did this time.
Farage only knows how to campaign. Campaigning at elections is NOT the same as opposing the Government in the House.
We will find that there is no effective Opposition whatsoever.
We need to select our own candidates before the next election – both Conservative and Labour – so that we can Get Parliament Working Again!
July 25, 2024
Lynn
Certainly agree candidates should be local, and chosen by the local membership.
July 25, 2024
Before that ,in August 2013, Cameron had lost a vote in parliament on the issue of bombing Syria.As Nick Watt wrote in The Guardian at the time:”In the minutes afterwards the Prime Minister and George Osborne vowed to themselves that they would never again seek parliamentary approval for armed intervention unless they could be absolutely certain they would prevail.”
July 25, 2024
Good morning.
Better that than having a party promising things to the electorate that they know they will never keep !
On this I agree with our kind host. But the problem Reform have is that they are, in Parliamentary terms, a small party. The SNP kept banging on and on about a second independence referendum almost as soon as they lost the first one. It is more to keep themselves in the media and public eye. I think they know they are not going to get a referendum but : a) It is low hanging fruit. b) Helps to keep the party faithful who feel cheated by a system where the Lib dems get far more seats given the amount of votes they got.
Your last paragraph makes no sense. On the one hand you criticise, quite rightly, that the two main parties were too similar and then go on to say that both the Conservative Party and Reform should oppose the government. Well we know Reform will but, will the Conservative Party ? I am sure they will offer a token resistance and they can afford to, but as the party that was in government and made a complete mess of everything I think their reputation is rather shot.
July 25, 2024
Four totally dishonest manifestos that they ratted on almost completely. Voters were rightly never going to trust their fifth. They did not even try to deliver the promises. And so we have an even worse party in power – the price we have to pay for Cameron, May, Boris, Sunak incompetence and gross dishonesty.
July 25, 2024
The point being that Reform will NOT. Is NOT. Because they CANâT, all they know is campaigning (promising stuff) and cheeky 3 minute speeches. They donât and canât analyse, criticise and propose a better solution. Powell said âyou should never enter the House without a hand grenade (a killer question) in your pocketâ.
The game in the House is not what you say, itâs what you can get the Government to say. The tiny DUP did this all the time and was critical in scuppering May 5 times.
July 25, 2024
I believe the phrase is ” it’s the economy, stupid” applies to Starmer’s chance of a second term. And it will be doing quite well by the time of the next general election, not something achieved by the Tories in their fourteen years.
July 25, 2024
It will be doing quite well by 2029? Why almost everything labour propose is hugely anti-growth – net zero, far higher taxes, more red tape, nationalisations, more employment laws, expensive intermittent energy, GB energy, rail nationalisationâŠmany sensible people will have taken their labours and money and left.
July 25, 2024
Mickc, I wouldn’t be too sure, by the time Milipede haswrecked the power sector, shut down the remaining industry and cancelled Tempest, unemployment will be higher and we’ll be bankrupt.
July 25, 2024
If they really go for all the net zero lunacy and the open door immigration agenda they have then these alone will wreck the economy and destroy living standards and jobs.
July 25, 2024
It was Brown, that infamous labour PM that told us there would be an end to boom and bust – how right he will be now that Starmer is at the wheel – labour policies will mean only one thing – a 3rd world bust economy
July 25, 2024
Mr. Tugenhat has promised that he would leave the ECHR if he were leader of a Conservative Party in government.
This made the headlines. He may think it a popular idea, though he is unlikely to have a chance to put it into practice for many years – if ever.
A cynic might believe it may be a useful thing to say to become leader of the Conservative Party. Recent evidence also shows that Prime Ministers make a number of promises that they never keep.
July 25, 2024
Sunak said he’d leave the ECHR if necessary to stop the boats but we all knew he never would and indeed he called an early election simply to avoid having to do it.
July 25, 2024
Spot on. A leading Tory wet cabinet minister who would have pushed back any suggestion of âbreakingâ international law/ leaving the ECHR now saying the opposite. Must be an election coming on. Itâs typical from the âthrow a bit of red meatâ to the voters, play book and then do nothing as Sunak did and we see the results.
And what was the biggest issue (apart from incompetence) that put off voters. Failure on migration. Who was the minister responsible? James Cleverley shoe horned in and loyal to Sunak after he had âmisspokeâ to Braverman.
Who is now putting himself as leader to unite the party (behind failure) James Cleverley.
Like Tugenhat, utter boiler plated arrogance, still out of touch and still thinking we are stupid. They have thought that for years and we can see the result. Let them continue and the Conservative Party will continue its road to irrelevance.
Frostie in the DT has set out a sensible pathway but then he was thought too conservative to be a candidate. Give me more Reform. Properly funded, another 4/5 years to get sorted, policy/candidates etc.
Goodbye the Tugenhats and Cleverleys of this world.
Like
July 25, 2024
âRecent evidence also shows that Prime Ministers make a number of promises that they never keep.â
Indeed such are politicians in general, they lie & can only be judged on their actions. Read the Manifestos of to the tens of thousands Cameron (2), May & Boris. As with Sunakâs four failed pledges he never even tried to keep them. The inflation one he hit was an 11% inflation problem created by him as Chancellor (and the BoE QE) and the energy price jump dropping out of the annual rate as was inevitable.
July 25, 2024
Tugenhat has less than a 20% chance of becoming Tory leader the odds suggest, and virtually zero chance of ever being a PM with any majority. Circa 10x more chance of Angela Tory scum, scum, scum Rayner becoming PM. All very depressing. Will I live long enough to see a sensible government in the UK? I might have 25 years left if lucky I suppose. Even Thatcher failed in many ways. Appointing the idiotic John ERM Major as Chancellor her largest error.
What on earth possessed the very foolish, totally inept and âunequivocallyâ dishonest Sunak throw the towel in six months early? We could shortly have been having a Conservative tax cutting budget, actually reducing immigration levels and kicking net zero into the long grass.
July 25, 2024
LL,
Maybe Sunak got tired of all the aggravation. He could not do anything right. âPrime Ministerâ was already on his CV. Probably thought he could construct a favourable account of his time later next year.
He definitely looked very happy after he had made his farewell speech.
July 25, 2024
The role of PM was only a result of power shift from King to Parliament post âGlorious Revolutionâ 1688.
Why any one thought it would be easy finding people up to the task I canât imagine.
And since theyâve been choosing them for reasons of DEI ( die) and pathetic virtue signalling even less chance.
Kings only had power because of stuff like divine right and absolutism which presumably would not sit well on some voted-in-for-four-years umâŠperson?
Off with his head etc.
If the global yearnings had not lead to such excessive stupidity we might still be homogeneous with a two party system that actually delivered as much democracy as possible.
We just might also be making things!
July 25, 2024
Before any matter comes before the ECHR there is our own courts and the Human Rights Act.
I don’t see there is any problem with detaining illegal immigrants in Nissen huts, feeding them porridge and with nothing to do except notify the governor where they can be returned. No asylum claim accepted by anyone arriving illegally.
Arranging transport will take only a matter of days so their human rights won’t suffer infringement in such a brief stay.
July 25, 2024
Do you seriously think that Tugendhat (LibCON, Remainer, half-French, Establishment-through-and-through) would do that?
Wanna buy a bridge?
July 25, 2024
âLabour may well be forced to take further action to control our borders.â Further action? All they have done so far is surely designed to encourage the numbers of boat people to increase hugely. A large âAll welcome here sign – roll up roll up – benefits and hotel rooms and legsl aid for allâ – unless you have more than two children that is. Will Starmer be stopping medical care, maternity care and dentistry care for these children too or just food etc. allowances. The policy was introduces by the vile George Osborne also the ÂŁ1M IHR threshold promiser and promiser & serial ratter. Still ÂŁ325k now worth circa ÂŁ200k in real terms.
âTwoâ referendums did they not also want one on the ânet zeroâ lunacy too. The more the merrier but MPs will never vote to give power away to the people – to international bodies yet but not to the people. UKIP should also push for a Covid vaccine harms and criminal negligence independent inquiry and similar for the ÂŁ trillions net zero scam/fraud. A bit more net CO2 plant, crop and tree food is a net good we are in a period of a relative dearth of CO2
The only way out of Sunakâs hige economic mess is growth, but every Labour policy – net zero, expensive energy, more red tape, more tax, more costly low skilled immigration, more nationalisation⊠is very anti-growth. The only exception is relaxing planning which will take time to deliver.
James Cleverly âOur successes did not cut throughâ what were these James? Please elaborate? How can they cut through when no one can even find any?
Kemi, Priti or Suella please the rest are dire – but who would want the job of leading these 121 powerless fake Tory MPs, with perhaps, at best, 10% who are not net zero pushing, ECHR loving, EU loving, tax to death Sunak types – dim socialists or LibDims.
July 25, 2024
LL,
Not Kemi. She failed to scrap EU laws even though it was her brief to do so. Also a protege of slimy back stabbing Gove. You will recall your views on Gove.
July 25, 2024
She is the current favourite. I suspect it will be her against one of the many pro EU lefties prob. Jenerick. The members will surely prefer her to Jenerick.
July 25, 2024
When will John realise that Labour built a client state that has become almost become impossible to control? He argues his case on the naive assumption that a non-Labour government is in complete control of all areas of power. That’s bollox, ‘scuse mi French John.
Labour’s shadow state exists outside democratic control. The Home Office is a classic example. Tory Ministers could and should have eviscerated this dept of state and passed laws to turn such offices of state into neutral, unbiased and disinterested processors of government policy but no they didn’t for reasons that are obvious. Now the HO decriminalise illegal immigration by terming it ‘Irregular migration’. We’re are up against an implacable enemy.
Reform and the Tories need to accept that democratic politics has changed forever in that it’s become undemocratic and that was Labour’s aim in 1997. To circumvent democracy using placemen and quangos loyal to the Left. This form of politics should have DESTROYED in 2010. It wasn’t destroyed, it was strengthened by the heir to bastard Blair and this is where we have ended up, governed by unelected woke slime
Incoherent rant over, dogs are panting and crossing their legs
Reply I am well aware of the power of quangos and so called independent bodies full of people with bad ideas. just look at what I have been campaigning about. I am not your problem!
July 25, 2024
âquangos and so called independent bodies full of people with bad ideasâ – indeed thousands of them unaccountable, over paid and totally incompetent. But the Tories gave us even more of them. The MHRA did the most damage but they were funded by âBig Pharmaâ circa 70%+ poacher and gamekeeper!
July 25, 2024
Very well put Dom. Cameron pretended to recognise the problem when he declared there would be a Bonfire of the Quangos; but the Not-a-Conservative-Party then proceeded to do the opposite and both strengthened and increased them.
July 25, 2024
Cameron hired and preferred former Labour ministers than conservatives. He also lauded nutty Europhile Odonis!
July 25, 2024
Sir John,
I noticed that the government changed illegal immigration to irregular immigration yesterday. Do you think this will mean that, they will give all those waiting for their asylum claims to be assessed, a free pass?
Reply Probably. They always said they would speed decisions on illegals which implied saying Yes to most to avoid objections and court cases. They also said they wanted more legal routes to allow more in.
July 25, 2024
Seems very âregularâ to me almost every single day unless there are very large winds!
July 25, 2024
reply to reply …more legal routes might be ‘arriving by floating craft, but not swimming to our shores’.
July 25, 2024
Irregular / illegal: A small, but one of many forthcoming alignments perhaps with our friends & partners of the EU? I believe they use ‘irregular’. No illegal boats in the last 3 days per official figures but better weather on the way.
July 25, 2024
With Labour in charge they’ve realised that its cheaper to use the train
July 25, 2024
“We still have the accountable single member constituencies where once again many have discovered the hard way they do get sacked if they cease to please. ”
But they don’t get sacked if the cease to please their electorate, people may not vote for them at the next 4/5 year anniversary when they get a nice golden parachute payment that is not hostage to insolvency practitioners. But that is not the same thing at all, manifestos and promises are meaningless as the MP behaviour after the 2016 referendum clearly showed.
MPs are not accountable because they cannot be sacked.
Introduce recall and a simpler/cheaper means to vote, a mechanism where they can be sacked if they break their contract with those who elected them.
Reply Tell that to all the MPs who have just lost their seats!
July 25, 2024
@reply – I don’t disagree that losing ones position is stressful, but where an employee or contractor can be sacked even without cause an MP cannot even when they break their promise. As constituents we have to wait until the next election before we have not much choice at all.
And we have zero choice/agency when it comes to those parts of central and local government that deserve a far harsher spotlight on them – the civil service and quangos
July 25, 2024
The 4th time the Tory Canvasser came to our house before the last election, the line was âbut Guy will lose his job!â.
He lost his job, i.e he was sacked. Watch Liz Truss at her Count, she could not believe she had been sacked.
We must NEVER give up the power to sack individual MPs which means we must have FPTP – or it canât be done.
July 25, 2024
the dozens didn’t have a Portillo moment, they saw it coming for some time and did nothing.
July 25, 2024
Farage is an influencer. It doesn’t matter how many seats he has in Parliament. You might like to reflect on how his main policy – Brexit – got implemented despite him not being an MP at all. You can see that effect in action again as Tugendhat has suddenly and improbably started spouting anti-ECHR rhetoric in the hope of being elected Conservative leader. Why is he doing that when we know that he would never do it in practice ? Because Farage in his campaign and his maiden speech put it firmly on the agenda.
Also it is somewhat disingenuous for you to complain “Reform is left demanding things the government will never grant” because that’s exactly the position you yourself were in the for the past 4 years on a range of issues and yet you still continued to demand them.
reply The skill is demanding things they will have to grant. I did move the dial on net zero policies and on tax cuts, but not nearly enough
July 25, 2024
Reply to reply.
We know you’re not the enemy Sir John. But Farage’s “influencing the debate” tactics are generally very successful. It’s interesting that both the creature Blair, Lord Glasman and now Alan Milburn have recently warned Starmer about the threat from Reform and have told him he is going to have to control immigration.
July 25, 2024
Brexit was the main policy of many many people before Farage learned the lines to get on the gravy train around the time of the Goldsmith Referendum Party.
Many many people had been fighting for 40 years at that point.
July 25, 2024
Nigel has really got under your skin, hasn’t he! You must realize the threat.
July 25, 2024
Correct, you will not get a referendum on anything while MPs are largely remain and conservative in nature. Ironically they are happy to devolve power because they erroniously see political control down this route. You would have thought that the mismanagement of Scotland would have cured that tendency. The one thing none will do bar Reform is to periodically offer referendums on major subjects like Nett Zero, Energy Policy, ECHR etc. This is too democratic for most politicians and parties, but like it or not it is on the horrizon if democracy is to last. It will be interesting to see if the severly wounded conservative party allows the membership to have final say on its leadership.
Not going down the democratic route on candidate selection, election system, and the use of referendums, leaves any government open to corruption and the influence of vested interests. The real question is how long will the electorate tolerate it, or should we accept it as a natural accommpanyment to national decline. A path we have been taken on by most UK governments to date.
July 25, 2024
The last election was won by Labour because of tactical voting – the nation wanted the Tories out. Reform split the Tory vote and let Labour win at least an additional 50 seats. The 5 Reform wins were collateral damage and Farage has nothing to crow about – the Conservative party will not forget the 2024 election and his responsibility for the debacle.
Farage and his deluded Reform anti-net zero cult were decisively rejected by the electorate. At the next election, they will be wiped out
July 25, 2024
75,000 members, up 40% in just 4 weeks, tends to suggest it won’t be.
July 25, 2024
Your use of wiped out is frankly funny. It is not remotely accurate to suggest up to 5, or all 5 losing their seats.
Wiped out could be reasonably used to describe a party losing hundreds, as we have just witnessed.
July 25, 2024
SG : âFarage and his deluded Reform anti-net zero cult were decisively rejected by the electorate. At the next election, they will be wiped out.â
I believe that as for Reformâs call for a referendum to leave the ECHR to solve the illegal invasion across the Channel will prove to be immensely popular, their policy to scrap the unnecessary and impossible and hence unaffordable Net Zero disaster will also prove in time to be very popular:
Food? Meat is bad for you, become vegans and eat insects and bugs.
Transport? Buy dangerous and impractical evs and live in 15 minute cities.
Heating? Rip out your boilers and use expensive and inefficient heat pumps.
Electricity? Live with high prices and chaotic intermittency.
Energy? Live with at least a 50% reduction.
Flights? None
New buildings? Use stone, compacted mud and wood with re-used steel and glass.
See the government funded UK FIRES reports
At the UK EU 2019 elections, Farageâs Party, The Brexit Party came first with 30% of the vote with 50% more votes than the second party.
July 25, 2024
They were second placed in 98 seats, 89 of which were won by Labour, they will only become more popular in these seats when the people living in them realise the cost of their decision.
Reform should have concentrated on Labour seats with Reform-leaning rather than Tory-leaning seats that their vote allowed the Lib Dem an easy ride in. You are sneezing at 4m votes. I don’t want Reform. I don’t like Farage, but I don’t think he will be wiped out either. They only had a month to pull their candidates together; they thought they had longer. Tice overturned a 25,000 Tory majority! Rupert Lowe is quite classy and able to donate his wages to a local charity each month, truly putting his money where his mouth is.
July 25, 2024
And yet Starmer now says that all his exciting Net Zero policies WONâT make our bills cheaper – that was just a lie to get him elected it seems. It is the first of many. Pity you fell for it.
July 25, 2024
Agree Roy.
The real delusion is those like SG, who think getting to net zero in the UK will have any real effect on the world’s climate.
July 25, 2024
You suggest the issue of illegal immigration via the Channel could prompt a crisis for the Labour government, but they and their predecessors have become very adept at this area of managed decline in our way of life. After all, some people on this site used to be outraged when 50 illegals were shown to have entered in a day by the Channel or lorries. Now we have come to expect that up to thousand a day is the norm. âThings will get worse before they get betterâ says Yvette Cooper, and we shrug our shoulders in reluctant acceptance, while the people smugglers become even more highly motivated by Ms Cooper and further develop their chargeable services by procuring ever larger boats.
I still think an unforeseen event, or events in quick succession, will show the limited ability of this government, resulting in a clamour for a general election. Hopefully, you will be one of the experienced figures to have engineered a political reset in time for there to be a viable non Labour/Libdem government in waiting ready to step in.
July 25, 2024
@MPC – labour has already solved the problem of the illegals the criminals they are allowing them to stay.
July 25, 2024
To reflect on your surprise at Reform asking for a reforendum on ECHR and our electoral system. This connects them to the electorate who, after the immigration fiasco since 1997 and the mathmatics of FPTP in july, have real cause for concern. No other party is interested, but the electorate are. Prepare for much more of electorate interest from a party however small that speaks for the people.
July 25, 2024
It alienates them form the electorate who decisively rejected replacing FPTP by a super-majority in 2011.
July 25, 2024
in 13 years since of Governments who failed us, perhaps the electorate might see things rather differently?
July 25, 2024
Your practical argument, SJR, against Reform’s demand for referendum on the ECHR is that the Labour government won’t let it happen. You argue for amending the law to give the Border Force a legal basis for turning back illegal migrants, but you say the Conservative government rejected that. Surely a Labour government is likely to reject it too?
You don’t say, either, why astute ‘human rights’ lawyers wouldn’t be able to use continued jurisdiction of the ECHR to override English law. The UN’s global mass migration project has very powerful support, let’s face it. The fact is, the only political party prepared to talk openly about the problems it’s causing us is Reform, which is why I shall continue to vote for them.
Reply Tge Conservatives failed to stop the small boats and that lost them a lot of support. If Labour are also failing it is worth a try to get them to make the change,
July 25, 2024
They’ll stop the small boats by giving people walk-on ferry and train tickets.
July 25, 2024
And in other news. Love the phrase in the Evening Standard to describe the management of the economy.
Fiscal farce.
Chancellors portentously announce their fiscal rules to (fool the world) show they are being prudent.
Then break them so change the targets to suit at the same time agreeing with the OBR certain figures can be excluded.
The lobby fodder, MPs and those on the books nod approvingly and so the whole bread and circuses charade continues fooling no one except themselves.
July 25, 2024
The Tory party needs Robert Generic like a hole in the head. But then a hole in the head and death of the fake Conservative Party is perhaps a good thing given the current make up of Tory MPs.
Suella Braverman has described rival Robert Jenrick as a âcentrist Rishi supporterâ and a Remainer âfrom the Left of the partyâ ahead of the Conservative leadership race. She is right & he is the last thing needed for any comeback. Suella, Kemi or Priti are the only sensible candidate but is there even 30 sound Tory MPs from the 121 to back all three to stand?
July 25, 2024
@Lifelogic – the disaster of the last 14 years of broken promises and manifesto ignored lays with the collective responsibility that exists in Cabinet – as such all those named participant should be excluded as they are all the problem and we know from their actual actions they are liars
July 25, 2024
I would add to your arguement by asking, after 14 years of abject failure and deceit , does it really matter who runs the conservative party. Conservatism is in the process of moving elsewhere.
When Nigel speaks in the HoC he is not hoping to change the mindset of the flock in the Commons. He is speaking to the electorate. Numbers are irrelevant at this stage, ideas predominate. Increasingly the people are saying, I’d like some of that, so in five years time it could lead to a very different story.
July 25, 2024
Suella and Priti are more Reform than current Tory chiefs want.
July 25, 2024
Maybe the sound ones should just defect to Reform?
I suppose they could try a âbreakawayâ party but I think they usually fail.
And further split the vote no doubt.
Split the voteâŠget years of utter commie misery!
And see the vile behaviour of public servants rewarded and productivity drop even further.
( Gone soft on the great return to the office!)
July 25, 2024
Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
July 25, 2024
I see Tugendhat has thrown his hat into the ring for leader, on a proposal to leave the ECHR. The right never learns from it’s mistakes….
James Cleverly is head and shoulders the outstanding candidate so far. He was one of the few cabinet ministers prepared to visit marginal constituencies in Kent in support of Conservative candidates. He was on R4 yesterday, the BBC interviewer was giving him the usual hard time, but he admirably deflected her criticism. An Army officer of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Cleverly has recognised the threat to the UK from climate change
Cleverly is an all-round outstanding candidate for leader. Good luck to him
July 25, 2024
Cleverly must never be elected as a so called leader as he just talks in circles, using any words he thinks his audience want to hear!
He would bring total destruction to Britain!
July 25, 2024
Keep taking the tablets.
July 25, 2024
James Cleverly has a good record in the last few years of voting against bills that promoted the net zero nonsense. But wait a minute, SG, surely you can’t be supporting him?
OK, he is ex-military, but surely not the same unit as you (77th brigade)?
July 25, 2024
Same unit.
July 25, 2024
SG : âAn Army officer of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Cleverly has recognised the threat to the UK from climate change.â
If Mr. Cleverly thinks the UK is threatened by climate change, and not just saying this to obtain an interview with the BBC, then he is wrong.
Not even the IPCC thinks the planet is threatened by climate change. Working Group 1 (âThe Physical Science Basisâ)âs Table 12 in Chapter 12 can find no signal for climate change except for some slight warming leading to some loss of ice and snow. Their calculation for additional warming caused by doubling CO2 (180 years at current rate of increase) is 1.2 degrees C (P95) (Happer & Wijngaarden calculate 0.7 degrees C). This is because of a phenomenon known as IR saturation where basically there is already sufficient CO2 in the atmosphere to absorb all the IR radiation available to it as defined by its IR bands and the Earthâs IR Planck radiation curve. So additional CO2 has a negligible increased GHG warming effect. The Royal Society agrees.
So useless is the theory that CO2 controls temperature and climate that it cannot explain the history of climate let alone predict the future. So no explanation for ice ages or subsequent warming, no explanation as to why the Antarctic Vostok ice core data shows CO2 following temperature and no explanation as to how Icelandic Norsemen could colonise Greenland in the Middle Ages prior to The Little Age requiring an average temperature 5 degrees higher than today. Nor how retreating glaciers in BC Canada are revealing tree stumps 7000 years old.
July 25, 2024
Surprised to hear youâd vote Conservative with Cleverley as leader ? Because if you wouldnât your advice on who should be leader has no relevance or value at all.
July 25, 2024
Isn’t Tugendhat a one-nation tory
July 25, 2024
We have a long way to go before any next election, but I thought Farage maiden speech was very well crafted, Clear and straight and to the point, with some historical fact and a bit of humour.
It remains to be seen how much air time he will be given in Parliament, but I am sure he will make much use of all other outlets.
For the Conservatives, they are in a real mess until they elect a leader, then they may be in either more of a mess with a One Nation Type, or less of a mess with someone else. Lessons learn’t, I doubt it !
July 25, 2024
As ever, impractical nonsense. You want to turn back and return people who you (incorrectly) call “illegals”. Not a word about WHERE you will send them. France? Belgium? No, they will not take them, they (correctly) say people who’ve reached Britain are Britain’s problem? Rwanda? That went well. Mars? Venus? Your obsession with demonising some of the most vulnerable people on the planet, instead of focusing on the economy, schools and the health service, cost the Tories the last election, and I’m glad to see you’ve not learned a thing as you look to the next one
July 25, 2024
As they have no ID to prove their origin and nobody knows where they are! I personally would dump them all out of the back of a Hercules mid Atlantic !
July 25, 2024
They set off from France and therefore should be escorted back there. We do not have to determine whether they are citizens or not. After a couple of weeks of this the gangs will find willing takers of the service falling off, and the French will be raising merry hell and do rather more to stop the nonsense.
July 26, 2024
Correct.
July 26, 2024
Got it, thanks. So you propose to invade France. How practical
July 25, 2024
“Not a word about WHERE you will send them.”
You don’t have to “send” them anywhere. They only stay because it is financially beneficial for them to do so. Take that away, a large part of the problem is solved.
“some of the most vulnerable people on the planet”
They’re not, not even close. The most vulnerable are the ones we never see.
July 25, 2024
Scotland want and need a lot more younger workers and creators, labour will facilitate this, Wales also need more young and willing workers who are prepared to migrate half way around the world.
July 25, 2024
Who are these workers? I have never heard of them!
Why does Scotland just get RAB C Nesbit off out to work?
(Believe me, since Redwood left, nobody works in Wales)
July 26, 2024
“SNP leader John Swinney has said he would work with an incoming Labour government at Westminster to boost immigration to Scotland. He told the BBC’s The Sunday Show he would welcome and engage positively with any plan to use immigration to address skills and workforce shortages.30 Jun 2024” BBC
“18 Jul 2024 â Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said Scotland needs more people to live and work here.” Daily Record
“8 Mar 2022 â A new Welsh Government plan to help more people in Wales to find and stay in work has been unveiled today by Economy Minister Vaughan” gov.wales
11000 more construction workers needed in Wales, says …
“South Wales Argus
https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk âș news âș 24322289….
16 May 2024 â The Construction Industry Training Board’s (CITB) annual forecast uncovered the necessity as a response to Wales’ construction output predicted”
July 25, 2024
People whoâve reached Britain from France are Britainâs problem but people whoâve reached Ireland from Britain are also Britainâs problem. Got it – all perfectly logical.
In the last year of the previous Labour government 50,000 people were âsent backâ. And not to France.
July 25, 2024
Your first paragraph says it all about our corrupt voting system. Neither would the Tories give a referendum on voting, it is a stitch up for the benefit of two parties who play musical chairs and ruin the country doing it.
You can laugh at Farage, just as they did for twenty years when he called for us to leave the EU, but as he said ‘You are not laughing now’. He is the most talented and relentless politician in the House and will not just give up. He has made a small hole in the dam and it will eventually burst the two parties bubble. The two parties will not give a referendum on the EHCR as they are both not committed to stopping immigration, either illegal or legal, as shown by Starmer’s hilarious joke to ‘smash the gangs’ – it’s their only way to ‘growth’ but not per capita growth. Politicians are by nature short termists with no actual future vision and most with little talent other than sucking up to the right people. Democracy? 33 percent of votes and 80 percent of seats. I have a bridge for sale.
Reply I do not laugh at Nigel Farage. Here I am taking his views seriously. I would like to see him open up on the issues I have been raising about growth.
July 25, 2024
R toR
SJR, I am sure Nigel will at an apropriate time. After the next budget might be right for growth and you won’t see him referring to notes in the process. You may find his thoughts in harmony with your own, and reflect on what I have been encouraging in the pre election run up. I am sure it will resonate with the Conservative electorate more enthusiastically than the budget itself.
July 25, 2024
5 years is a very long time in politics, particularly in the unstable times we now live in.
With that proviso, I’m not sure if many Reform voters will come around to trusting the Tories by the time of the next election.
If Trump survives to be elected in November, I think the Tories will more than ever look like a once-welcomed guest who realises he’s no longer welcome, but refuses to leave gracefully. Reform would be elevated, while the Tories would be diminished.
If Labour sees that the German state’s attempt to suffocate the AfD works, they may try the same with Reform. The remaining Tories (in both senses of the word) would gladly support anything along those lines.
If…if…if…
July 25, 2024
Reform UK need to be careful not to come across as reactionary. The public don’t want to see another referendum over anything for at least a generation. They just want to be able to rely on their government to fix the problems of the country and build a good future for all and they will vote accordingly.
Regarding the Conservative Party, its brand is known for its high standards of thinking and genius policy-making yet it has been a long time since this was last seen. It is essential those brand characteristics are restored soon so that it wins in 2029 and the country gets the remedies and the future it needs.
July 25, 2024
Sir John
Why the concern about âReformâ? The situation we all face is that we now for all intense of purpose live in a one-Party State country, under the rule of what some call the UniParty. We have left leaning remain parliament all with agendas set by others remote from the country. MPâs instead of serving their voter, constituents, the country are off serving a mythical Socialist ideology.
Referring to your item on Conservative Home all well-reasoned and logical vis-a-vie the official Opposition. The flaw is the party that has the second largest vote canât oppose as they chased a left Socialist WEF agenda for 14 years. All they did was prepare the people of the UK for a continuation of the left-wing doctrine with more of the same under a new leader. How can they oppose what the set in motion?
The bulk of parliament is chasing the left vote without realizing, that at the same time they are demanding the people, the minions, cut back on personal spend manage their personal finances better so as to fund the largest tax take and borrowing in modern times. i.e. People in their own lives are expected to be Conservative while those in parliament refuse.
It is not âReformâ that is the question, it is why did the shower calling them-selves the Conservative Party morph in to just being Labour? They disenfranchised the centre ground of the UK People with their Socialist WEF Agenda.
Reply My concern is to get some MPs of any party to acknowledge the big changes we need to be a more prosperous self governing country.
July 25, 2024
Looking at the leadership contenders for Not-The Conservative Party, conservatism is being lost in the UK for generationâs if not disappearing altogether.
If any of the names in the frame get to become leader people should fear as to what the UK has become.
One interesting note does it mean that if one of the media favourites becomes leader he will have to give up his French Citizenship?
July 26, 2024
Reply to Reply: You saw what happened, Sir John, to seven Labour MPs who stepped out of line this week. Labour MPs will just follow what the whips tell them from now on. Lib Dems will say anything to get a headline (preferably delivered e.g. from a water-chute in Thorpe Park). I don’t get the impression that any Tory MPs want, or are even capable of getting their heads round, the big changes you say the country needs. They haven’t done so for 14 years.
July 25, 2024
There is little point in referenda to make globalist MPs do something they don’t want to do. You can lead a horse to water etc.. So a referendum confirms what we already know, that ordinary people oppose the population replacement project, and Yvette Cooper responds with a speech about ‘smashing the criminal gangs’. They won’t even leave the UN Global Compact on Migration. Meanwhile we read that a group of ‘poor desperate refugees’ are being allowed to sue the British taxpayer because a former RAF camp isn’t sufficiently luxurious for them; no doubt we are paying their legal expenses as well. In any rational country they would be frogmarched to an airport and sent packing.
July 25, 2024
Matt Goodwin has explained why the Uni-Party has become so unpopular in this YouTube Presentation (also on his substack, but you have to subscribe). He states he briefed Johnson’s Government after the 2019 General Election how to maintain their majority, but was ignored and the Party did the precise opposite of what he advised.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMlFxCEWbHU&t=3049s
Farage is pointing out the Constitutional Issue because ultimately, that is what it is. Parliament was given an instruction to leave the EU and take back control of our borders ….. and it refused to do so. The watching public isn’t going to pay attention to arcane legal proceedings to try and make the ECHR / HR scam work better. They’ve just witnessed 3 years of that under Johnson and Sunak.
They are going to pay attention to Reform saying that membership of the ECHR is preventing us from taking back control.
I may be wrong, but I believe Reform has proposed 3 Referendums. They certainly talked in the past about holding on on the Net Zero lunacy.
The Swiss seem to run a competent Government with regular Referendums. The only reason the Uni-Party resists them is because they know they are operating a CONsensus which has no popular support from the people.
July 25, 2024
The Not-a-Conservative-Party isn’t likely to genuinely OPPOSE anything Labour does. It may offer some minor changes to what is proposed but the direction of travel will be meekly accepted.
Sunak spent PMQs yesterday basically agreeing with Starmer and demonstrating that the parties are indeed, two cheeks of the same arse.
July 25, 2024
I understand and appreciate what Nigel Farage is doing as I think the fundamental problem is no one believes anything that is put in a political party’s manifesto anymore. The Conservative Party failed to follow most of its assertions in its past two/three manifestos, with the utter betrayal on immigration being the most pronounced, and it is clear that Labour, being elected on the most vague of manifestos, is going to do what it likes now it has power. This ongoing destruction of the demos and painting the idea of populism as bad (even thought it is by its very definition about listening to what most people want), is only going to end significant civil unrest unless rectified.
July 25, 2024
Looking to the future the Tory party (under new leadership) will either drift left with one-nation, or take the centre right ground by merging with Reform or selecting ALL reform policies to entice reform voters âŠ.Donât wait five years, get on with it, show us your mettle
July 25, 2024
Farage is at least introducing ideas that will show how much labour is against the wishes of the people. He is showing how opposition parties should operate.
FPTP:
Yes we all have to live with that and I would generally support it if more people would vote. The trouble is, and the non-voters declared this so well by their inaction – We have all lost faith with democracy, with a foul parliament that ignores the voters and particularly with governments that follow a destructive globalist agenda!
The big question that worries so many is Just what kind of society will we be by the next GE and how much real democracy will still be there?
July 25, 2024
Sir John, it is interesting to see you hold onto the traditional Labour/Tory option as the future and nothing different politically will happen.
Farage makes the requests he does, regarding referendum on the issues you mention, simply because he knows it irks the establishment. He knows there will never be another referendum in our lifetimes because the results are not guaranteed. That fundamental feature of letting the people decide, is why the control departments at the system won’t allow it.
The damage to the Nation’s security has been done, first by Blair then multiplied by Cameron and May. The migration of millions from all parts of the world but predominantly from the Muslim countries has changed beyond recognition many cities across the Country.
Discussing the few tens of thousands of ‘illegal’ migrants crossing the channel is equivalent to focusing on the pimple on the elephants back. The systematic legalisation of millions of migrants which continues today at those elevated numbers is what needs to be dealt with.
Events in the Northern cities over the past few years and current events in and around Manchester, may finally wake people and force them to see the reality of Britain in the 21st century.
A century introduced and defined by Blair policies and one that has only become more challenging as the years tick by.
The voters will continue to show their disgust for the established political power base. The voters know it is being abused and is only notionally democratic.
The system needs change, it needs Reform.ing
Reply Nonsense. I did not offer myself for election as a Conservative because I disagreed with the government on too many things, You and I have to live with a Labour government with a huge majority probably for 4.5 years, so both Cons and Reform need to learn how to oppose and how to build support. Short of a deal Cons and Reform will fight each other making it easier for the Labour government.
July 25, 2024
@Reply – why will the Cons and Reform be fighting each other in the sense you infer, they are not on the same political territory. It will be Reform hearing the people and fighting the UniParty(Labour,Tory & LibDems). It is the Tories that merged with the left and leaving the centre of the UK stranded without a voice and representation.
July 25, 2024
âThe obvious answer [to the invasion of illegals] is the one the last Conservative government turned downâ
It is quite clear that by declaring a GE before the Rwanda plan could be tested PM Sunak wanted illegal immigration to continue unabated.
If the Rwanda plan worked there was every chance that as a result the Conservatives would get back into power meaning the plan could not be cancelled and would halt or vastly reduce illegal immigration. Or even if they still lost the success and popularity of the plan would be so enormous that even an incoming Labour government would not dare to cancel it.
If the Conservatives lost the election then PM Sunak knew that the incoming PM Starmer would cancel the Rwanda plan immediately without testing it and illegal immigration would continue.
July 26, 2024
Yes.
So much better in the future to be able to argue “bad Labour scrapped the Rwanda plan” than have to admit “the Rwanda plan didn’t work because we refused to do what was necessary to make it work.”
The Not-a-Conservative-Party wanted to lose the election. They miscalculated over Farage/Reform’s reaction and success.
July 25, 2024
Dear Mr. Redwood,
“That requires understanding the reasons people are so disillusioned with the traditional parties…”
I think the major parties and in particular the Conservatives are in danger of over-analysing the reasons why people are sick to their back teeth of them.
First of all, they promise the earth to get elected and then deliver next to nothing because they were never serious in the first place and / or they find it too difficult to achieve when in government. They abandon their commitments that got them elected and subsequently lose the next election.
Secondly, the way in which politicians speak to ‘normal people’. They specialise in obfuscation. For example, we get things like ‘I wouldn’t rule out it out’ (e.g. leaving the ECHR). This is a useful and non-committal answer that can be applied to any difficult question. Or we have ‘we will do whatever it takes’ (e.g. to stop the small boats). The public know that this will turn out to be a blatant lie because they have no intention of ‘doing whatever it takes’.
I venture that people are attracted to Nigel Farage and Reform because they come across like ‘normal people’ and do not talk like politicians from the traditional parties.
July 25, 2024
@Alan Paul Joyce +1 Ah the Westminster bubble of the UniParty shuffle the leadership and carry on fighting the people
July 25, 2024
Sorry John, but tories had years to get us out of echr and done nothing, and people do want pr, this current situation we go on for years otherwise with 2 parties fighting and not listening to people.
July 25, 2024
Agree
July 25, 2024
Tory leadership candidates all seem to be spouting the same non-sense without even understanding what they are saying and try to denying what they have personally practised to date.
âunited behind one set of coherent Conservative principles.â –
High taxation and borrowing donât factor in conservatism. Destroying the UKâs economy rather than generating one has never come from a Conservative. Off-shoring UK Industry and its future by creating laws that our competitor nations donât have is anti-Conservative, anti-UK. Denying parliament, the right to be the UKâs sole legislator able to create, amend and repeal laws that pertain to activities inside the UK, instead seeking solace of being a puppet of others is not a Conservative. Refusing the UK to Brexit as it is sometimes called, is not the Conservative view of democracy, freedoms, sovereignty, self-reliance and resilience. Itâs an endless list of anti-conservative practices that all the leadership candidates have indulged in.
Then as reported elsewhere – Is it appropriate to have a PM as a French Citizen whose French wife works for Emmanuel Macronâs government? https://facts4eu.org/news/2022_jul_french_candidate_for_pm
It is not âReform that has created the problems for the UKâs centre ground who are in the majority and majority Conservative. It is the hard left Socialist, those that try to cloak themselves a mythical âOne Nationâ diatribe that is out of step with all those in the country that âdoâ, cause things to happen and advance, as opposed to those without life experiences just talk and dictate.
You canât unite all the time you fight the basics of life so as to mould others into your own personal image of life â the purity of Socialism.
Reform, Farage are not the Problem, a Conservative would see that. It is those that have captured the Conservative Party that have turned their backs on the Country in pursuit of Socialism, the interlopers that have destroyed Conservativism from within
July 25, 2024
Someone needs to tell the tories that they lost the election …..and need to change direction, position & policy pdq
July 25, 2024
I am staggered that in the light of recent elections – from the Welsh Assembly Referendum on, there remains a childlike faith that the counters will count honestly. We have reports of new boxes being brought in throughout the count; boxes being âdelivered to the count in a cordoned off area out of sightâ and much else. Indeed we had to fight for scrutinisers at the Welsh Referendum because there was no candidate and the Representation of the People Act specifies that âeach candidateâ can appoint scrutinisers.
If we have referenda and the result is not what we expect, we are hoist by our own petard, the People will have made the decision and we will not be able to challenge that. 66 million people cannot gauge whether the count was fair, but in Parliament everyone see the MPs go through the lobbies, there is representation from both sides of the argument counting. Those who set up Parliament knew that Honest Counts were critical.
I believe Trump will win the next Presidential election, letâs hope the declared result reflects that, because the US Democratic process is on the brink.
We have seen the EU demand repeated referenda until the right result is reached one way or another. That is abuse of power and manipulation of the electorate, we have seen what the two tier voting system allowed powerful and corrupt political class to gerrymander the result of the second vote.
Why would anybody want to put ALL the power in the hands of the Blob? Even Andrew Bridgen, who leans towards more âdirect democracyâ was stopped short when I asked âwho counts?â.
July 25, 2024
The two tier voting system in France of course.
Our system is the best. We need to make it work, (select the candidates you want to send to Parliament outside the party machine) not chuck it away for what will be much much worse!
July 25, 2024
Sakara Gold, may I politely suggest that you research global warming/climate change? Two good books to read are There is No Climate Crisis by David Craig and The Real Global Warming Disaster by Chris Booker.
I would point out, Sir John, that Nigel Farage consistently raised the need for a referendum on our EU membership years before it happened. Even when people dismissed him as a fool, he kept going.
As to why we are disillusioned with the major political parties, as you said, they are both the same. We have not had a proper conservative government since Mrs Thatcher. Voters, whether loyal or floating, are not stupid, so the GE reflected the opinion of voters on the Conservative Party. Since the 2016 referendum, the behaviour of the majority of MPs has been a disgrace. To be blunt, they don’t believe in democracy.
July 25, 2024
John, if you were the leader of Reform. What would your maiden speech have been?
Reply If I had been speaking in the Kings Speech debate I would have explained how Labour is right to want the U.K. to be the fastest growing G 7 and how their policies get nowhere near that and will often prove harmful to growth and Peopleâs incomes. I would have set out the changes I have proposed on this blog to get a higher wage more productive economy and a less inefficient and more focused public sector.
July 25, 2024
Reply to Reply :
I don’t believe the Con/Lab/Lib Dem/Green want growth as they all support Net Zero which is a policy for de-growth, de-industrialisation and a fall in lving standards. I can only presume they mean growth in state power and control.
July 25, 2024
I thnk Nigel is right to put down a marker for a change away from FPTP and the ECHR but he knows full well that Labour are not going to do anything about either ! My preference is to retain FPTP because the likelyhood is that under any form of PR, we would end up with a permanent Labour/LibDim/SNP coalition, given the left-ward move of the average voter since Mrs Thatcher’s time in office.
I have no doubt that we are not going to get another centre or centre right government until Reform and the Conservatives reach some form of electoral accommodation. A great many previous-Conservative supporters are so aggrieved by the One Nation Conservative faction (who are likely to win the leadership election), that they will never vote for a pure Conservative Covernment again. I can’t really blame them for that !
There is everything to play for because it is already looking like Labour will be in real trouble within a couple of years with huge tax rises that will be required to fund their ludicrous Net Zero policy and no idea how to deal with illegal migration.
July 25, 2024
At the next election John I think as you say a new party will emerge
When a new leader of the conservatives is elected and tries to formulate new policies all the MPs will not agree
It will be impossible to de-select the âwetsâ
Therefore even if they pretend to accept policies such as leaving the ECHR when it comes to votingâŠâŠ.
The party is irrevocably divided
July 25, 2024
The CP leadership process is getting underway. The candidates are well dressed people of whom we know diddly sqat. So what do they stand for on various issues.
Immigration. More , less or zero.
Nett Zero. Believe in it. Do not believe in it. Prefer market acceptable solutions.
NHS. Leave as is or reset how it is delivered.
Energy. Use our own resources until we have greener options or go for broke on renewables.
Taxation. Leave as is or rewrite the tax book.
Illegals. Deportation or amnesty.
Social services. Leave as is or massive restructuring to cut cost and genetic dependency.
I am sure there are other headings we need answers to. Big question, will all CP members get a vote, or will it be left to the 121 MPs to decide. The answer to this will govern how Conservative the party is in future and whether it can re-connect with its core support in the country. Perhaps you can enlighten us as to what they believe, in relation to the above questions.
July 25, 2024
Calling for referendums on important issues is one path to democracy at least it takes account of public opinion which is more than the current minority elected government will do. The unedifying spectacle of His Majestyâs Uni-Party Leader of No-Opposition heaping praise and support on the Uni-Party Leader of His Majestyâs Government does not fill me with hope for our future.
July 25, 2024
Dear SirJohn,
You are right to say that the prime task of the Opposition is to oppose “intelligently and energetically” and not confrontationally. There is also a case for setting an alternative agenda, particularly for minor parties that are procedurally in no position to hold the Government to account line by line. And the Conservative Party may not be in a state to do either, at least for many months.
Giving more power to voters should in my view be high on that agenda. We have the basic essentials: universal franchise , an election every 4-5 years, locally chosen MPs and a choice between five, but effectively two largely overlapping table d’hote menus. Beyond that, the message is that we plebs should keep out of it. Apart from yourself, no MP in the last Parliament conducted a daily dialogue with ordinary voters.
At a minimum, I suggest, proposed constitutional changes should be subject to plebiscite (eg votes at 16, Lords reform), maybe along with issues subject to a free vote and actions that bind future Parliaments (none in theory but quite a lot in practice). And for whose benefit are elections held on random Thursdays rather than a few predictable democracy weekends? Certainly not the voters, which may be one cause of falling turnouts.
If party agendas are raised and discussed in advance we might not be confronted with manifestos full of undebated measures which we are deemed to have sanctioned by choosing 60 page menu A rather than 60 page menu B. As you have pointed out earlier, even candidates may be blindsided by their own manifestos.
July 26, 2024
Isn’t Nigel Farage doing what the Tories should have done? ECHR needs reform or getting rid of and he seems to be the only one capable of saying something about it. I want a referendum on it and immigration and as a former Tory supporter you want to listen more carefully to people and jettison tory thinking. We have lost a lot of Brexit benefits from having too many remainers in the last parliament and seen to be getting even more in this latest one so Reform are only going one way – UP. Get used to it or reform yourselves.
July 27, 2024
Tell me Sir, how do you expect Reform to work with whats left of the Tory party when they are all avowed Remainers?
reply I do not expect the two parties to work together. I expect them to fight each other to the benefit of the left.