Did anyone else spot this about Reform?

but I want them to be a constant thorn in Labour’s side regarding immigration

How do you envision them, within Parliament, doing that?

Not only within, but outside Parliament - as I have said many times, Farage knows exactly how to get maximum publicity.

In the event that the boats are stopped I wonder what will be the point of him?

I neither know nor care.

No, MayBee70 - not new. This most of us knew.

...But my interest in the party was just if there was any AI going on - or fake candidates. Was just adding that mine (ie in my area) was a real person.

Germanshepherdsmum

Not only within, but outside Parliament - as I have said many times, Farage knows exactly how to get maximum publicity.

He could have done that without being elected. In fact, he’s probably more limited in what he can say now. And, honestly,. I can’t imagine this government paying overmuch attention to Farage and his client media, let alone feeling accountable to them.

They won’t be able to ignore the strength of public feeling which is behind Farage.

They won’t ignore the boats issue. They won’t pander to Farage’s ego, which will be all to the good.

There are two problems with that view, GSM. Public opinion isn’t particularly in agreement with Farage now, and when Labour are seen to be effectively managing the issue of asylum seeker smugglers, are processing applications in a timely fashion and are changing the narrative that all immigration is bad (even Farage has said that a net migration rate of 600.000 is necessary) then Farage and his ilk will have even less relevance.

Public opinion isn’t particularly in agreement with Farage now

I agree Siope.

Interesing poll results here showing a clear difference between reform and tory voters.

It really doesn't look as though there is much public feeling behind Farage.

I'm linking to the original I found on X because images don't always reproduce very well

x.com/ProfTimBale/status/1810647563898438104

what would you expect? Reform group can join the tories in being cheats liars and totally untrustworthy. Pity Farrage didnt go to usa and perhaps some mad american could have polished him and trump off!

MaizieD

Interesing poll results here showing a clear difference between reform and tory voters.

It really doesn't look as though there is much public feeling behind Farage.

I'm linking to the original I found on X because images don't always reproduce very well

x.com/ProfTimBale/status/1810647563898438104

What fascinates me about that graph is just how close Labour, Lib Dem’s and the SNP are on all these issues. The only positives for Reform are the internet and capitalism.

Siope

There are two problems with that view, GSM. Public opinion isn’t particularly in agreement with Farage now, and when Labour are seen to be effectively managing the issue of asylum seeker smugglers, are processing applications in a timely fashion and are changing the narrative that all immigration is bad (even Farage has said that a net migration rate of 600.000 is necessary) then Farage and his ilk will have even less relevance.

Public opinion was very much in agreement with Farage on 4 July!

MaizieD

Interesing poll results here showing a clear difference between reform and tory voters.

It really doesn't look as though there is much public feeling behind Farage.

I'm linking to the original I found on X because images don't always reproduce very well

x.com/ProfTimBale/status/1810647563898438104

The same survey found that 48% of Conservative members would support a merger between the Conservative Party and Reform.

Germanshepherdsmum

Siope

There are two problems with that view, GSM. Public opinion isn’t particularly in agreement with Farage now, and when Labour are seen to be effectively managing the issue of asylum seeker smugglers, are processing applications in a timely fashion and are changing the narrative that all immigration is bad (even Farage has said that a net migration rate of 600.000 is necessary) then Farage and his ilk will have even less relevance.

Public opinion was very much in agreement with Farage on 4 July!

But it wasn't! More people voted against Farage and his supporters than voted for him.

LizzieDrip

^Public opinion isn’t particularly in agreement with Farage now^

I agree Siope.

Your opinion isn’t particularly in agreement with Farage, but don’t mistake that for many other people’s opinions. Fourteen million votes isn’t by any means a majority, but Labour only achieved 33 million votes. Fourteen million people is a lot of people. I wasn’t one of them, by the way. My vote did not go to Reform.

More people voted against Farage

Of course they did, that’s why he’s not the PM.
But fourteen million people is a large group of people in this country who do agree with him. Whether you, or I, or anybody else, likes it or not.

maddyone

^More people voted against Farage^

Of course they did, that’s why he’s not the PM.
But fourteen million people is a large group of people in this country who do agree with him. Whether you, or I, or anybody else, likes it or not.

Why so aggressive?

I can see as well as anybody that a significant number of people voted for Reform.

However, it is not true that Reform's opinions on anything are synonymous with "public opinion". The aggregate of public opinion is against Farage.

Sloppy, inaccurate language has harmful effects.

More than people perhaps expected, but in the scheme of things, only 15% - in other words 85% of voters didn’t vote for them. They only came top of the poll in 5 areas out of 650, so 645 constituencies didn’t want them most. That’s pretty resounding.

Incidentally, where did you get the idea that Reform polled fourteen million votes? They didn't.

But fourteen million people is a large group of people in this country who do agree with him

Not sure what you mean here maddyone. If you’re referring to the number of votes Reform got in the GE … it was four million, not fourteen. Big difference there

No, I wasn't surprised. The percentage was consistent with what UKIP was polling and is consistent with attitudinal surveys, which show that just under 20% of the population is racist.

I’m sorry, I didn’t realise it came over as aggressive (particularly in view of some other comments we see on here at times.)
Anyway, I thought that the fourteen million votes was what had been reported. Although it only resulted in five seats, which is a good thing really. No, just looked it up. It was 14% of the vote. Apologies.

LizzieDrip

^But fourteen million people is a large group of people in this country who do agree with him^

Not sure what you mean here maddyone. If you’re referring to the number of votes Reform got in the GE … it was four million, not fourteen. Big difference there

Yes, got my numbers muddled up. Sorry.