Farage. Well he’s Top of the Pops right now! 😂

Meanwhile - from Sky News today, the latest poll results.
news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-immigration-labour-starmer-badenoch-farage-live-news-12593360?postid=9083485#liveblog-body
The Farage time in the spotlight has not impressed, it would appear - Ed Davey would beat him in a race to be PM.

According to Ben Walker of ‘Britain Elects’, around one million people who voted Tory last July now don’t know who to support, while 3.4 million who didn’t vote at all are attracted to Farage. “So we have historical non-voters showing up and historical voters staying in”, blowing the old-fashioned, core-vote, class-based strategy out of the water.

Thank you for that SilverBrook- what a shame no one is listening or reading about who Farage really is.

We don't seem to learn anything...

But all he has to do is change the name of his party/limited company and everyone forgets all that….

It was Cameron's appeasement of UKIP that gave Farage his first real taste of power though...that I don't forgive him for.

A reminder of the piece Jonathan Freedland wrote in late 2014:

Cameron could have played this differently. He could have dispensed with the macho language of threat and talked instead like a man seeking a deal. He could have taken on Ukip and made the positive, if reformist, case for Europe. Instead, he has put party management first and the future of the country second. He has chosen to fight in such a way that he’s now likely to lose a battle he could have won. And it will be Britain that pays the price.

And haven't we just?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/24/cameron-britain-eu-bill-lost-allies-europe

A reminder in that article of the deal Farage did with Robert Iwaszkiewicz:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/21/nigel-farage-jews-polish-far-right-ukip-deal-robert-iwaszkiewicz

Robert Iwaszkiewicz belongs to an extremist party whose leader has a history of Holocaust denial, racist remarks and misogynistic comments. He belongs to the far-right Polish JKM [Congress of the New Right], led by Janusz Korwin-Mikke, who has reportedly called into question the right of women to have the vote.

Furthermore, we entirely reject Ukip’s justification that ‘all groups in the European parliament have very odd bedfellows [and] the rules to get speaking time and funding are set by the EP, not Ukip’. Extremists and racists should be roundly rejected, not embraced. Even France’s far-right Front National rejected the JKM as being too extreme.

For Ukip to choose such a figure as Robert Iwaszkiewicz as a bedfellow, apparently for money, is beyond belief. Nigel Farage now has some very serious questions to answer. He has placed in issue the credibility of Ukip.

All history but just a reminder of what Farage will do to acquire power and money.

I never thought I'd be on the side of the Torys in these matters but yes, some of them at least have integrity.

It was Cameron's appeasement of UKIP that gave Farage his first real taste of power though...that I don't forgive him for.

It lead to one disater after another.

I found out an old friend and a Labour councillor and a Union rep has gone over to Reform. It saddens me so much that someone with principles I once admired has done this.

But, we are still a free country... until Reform have their way.

She's a backbencher and still in her 30s. I suspect that she and some others will bide their time, be reasonable constituency MPs and regroup when the time is right.

keepingquiet

Reform aren't even a political party so no, can't see any mass defection...

I taught one of the current Conservative MPs many years ago. She was quite politically active even when she was at school and I cannot see her ever becoming a member of Reform. Not only did she have strong views, which she seems to have retained, but she's far too strong-minded to put up with a charlatan like Farage.

Reform aren't even a political party so no, can't see any mass defection...

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Another day perhaps. I’m tired and off to bed now. 💤

Surprise, surprise!

Another day perhaps. I’m tired and off to bed now. 💤

The Tories are a busted flush right now. Badenoch is doing her best to appeal to more right wing (not hard right thank you very much and stop sneering - there’s nothing wrong with being right of centre) but the One Nation wets anchor is pretty heavy and she cannot shake them off, they will oppose her.

Maybe in your constituency, but in this one, which has been Conservative since 1929, the Conservatives are "wets" - I even like some of them (). I believe most Tory shire constituencies, which have been the core of Conservative support, are similar. You're probably aware I'm a LibDem member, so I've been out canvassing and I've spoken to hundreds of voters over the years. They're not LibDems - they're Conservatives. Maybe you'd like to explain what you see as the difference between a "wet Conservative" and a "true Conservative".

*sea (not seats!)

I don’t think Farage/Reform want to amalgamate with all Tories anyway. Too many ‘wets’ in the One Nation division (Lib Dems really in Tory clothing). This “broadchurch” the Tories proclaim is off putting to some voters (me, for one). Not true ‘conservative’with a small C values.

No, Reform will want those right of centre only. Which is what their voters want. Not a ‘come one come all’.

The Tories are a busted flush right now. Badenoch is doing her best to appeal to more right wing (not hard right thank you very much and stop sneering - there’s nothing wrong with being right of centre) but the One Nation wets anchor is pretty heavy and she cannot shake them off, they will oppose her.

I wish the One Nation wets would join the Lib Dems and those on the more right of centre in the Tories join Refirm.

That division would at least be more honest.
And give the voters a proper choice - with plenty of blue seats between the parties. The current mish mash causes division and confusion.

No wonder some voters think ‘they’re all the same”!

But a Tory push into radical right terrain could make them unacceptable to otherwise winnable liberal professional voters, with the spectre of Farage boosting anti-Conservative local campaigns.

SilverBrook and the Guardian are spot on here about Badenoch's constituency, North West Essex. Badenoch is not very popular because she's hardly ever here and lied about moving to the area before she was selected. The constituency is wealthy and naturally Conservative. There has been a huge Conservative majority for decades. Badenoch had almost 60% of the vote in the previous election. Nevertheless, we haven't had a Conservative district council since 2019.

There is a hard core of UKIP/Reform voters, but that hasn't increased for years. There was a huge amount of tactical voting in the last election. The LibDems would probably have been the most likely party to replace the Conservatives. However, LibDem activists were asked to canvas in South Cambridgeshire and Chelmsford (both of which they won), so the anti-Conservative vote went to Labour.

I've lived in this constituency for most of the last 40 years and I really can't see that Reform would ever win. Of all the Essex districts, we were the most pro-EU in the referendum (it was nearly 50/50) and it's increasingly inhabited by biotech and scientific staff from Cambridge, who tend towards the LibDems and Labour. Badenoch has some idea that it's a farming community, probably because she really doesn't understand the area at all.

In the last election, the Labour candidate who ran her a close second was very young and inexperienced. The local Labour party isn't that strong or co-ordinated, but they still came very close. If they got their act together and especially if the Conservatives become any more right wing, I really can see a Labour win. If the Conservatives want to hang on here, they're going to have to become more "one nation Tory"/liberal.

Cossy

Oreo

I firmly believe most Tory MPs would not even consider selling their souls to the devil and amalgamating with Reform, it’s far too right wing, has no workable policies, has only got 5 MPs and those MPs have zero to offer the Tories.

I wish you’d say what you really think 😉

SilverBrook

Jenrick would based on the appalling stuff he was tweeting recently. Badenoch perhaps not. She isn't popular in her NW Essex constituency but neither is Reform. Labour ran her very close last July.

This piece from Robert Ford in yesterday's Guardian is interesting:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/08/nigel-farage-reform-uk-labour-conservatives

How voters understand and respond to changing local conditions is now the central question for every party. Tactical co-ordination among Conservative and Reform voters would drastically amplify the electoral threat to Labour and the Liberal Democrats. But a Tory push into radical right terrain could make them unacceptable to otherwise winnable liberal professional voters, with the spectre of Farage boosting anti-Conservative local campaigns.

That's what Badenoch's consituency is, sandwiched as it is between Lib Dem Cambridgeshire and Chelmsford.

If Reform’s rise continues, in­cumbents from all the mainstream parties could make gains if the large cohort of voters who strongly oppose Farage become willing to back whoever can stop his local candidate. Such local dynamics are hard to predict from national polls, because they involve changes which only emerge once an election is close and voters’ minds turn to the local contest.

^Election day is a long way off yet ... ^

Its the Guardian again……..

Rula

LizzieDrip

”I firmly believe most Tory MPs would not even consider selling their souls to the devil and amalgamating with Reform, it’s far too right wing, has no workable policies, has only got 5 MPs and those MPs have zero to offer the Tories”

Oh, I’m not so sure Cossy.

I think, if the Tories think it will endear them to the electorate again, they’ll cosy up with Reform.

They’ll view a pact with the Devil as preferable to life in the political wilderness.

I'd not be surprised either

Possibly with Boris Johnson thrown in!

How wonderful!

Primrose53

Even the Speaker is biased. He allowed shouting and jeering etc. the other way round and he would have been shouting “Order, Order.”

Totally agree!
And Question Time is just as bad - 6th Feb. The panel, including Fiona Bruce, ignoring the Reform guest when the credits rolled, showed them to be pathetic.

Jenrick would based on the appalling stuff he was tweeting recently. Badenoch perhaps not. She isn't popular in her NW Essex constituency but neither is Reform. Labour ran her very close last July.

This piece from Robert Ford in yesterday's Guardian is interesting:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/08/nigel-farage-reform-uk-labour-conservatives

How voters understand and respond to changing local conditions is now the central question for every party. Tactical co-ordination among Conservative and Reform voters would drastically amplify the electoral threat to Labour and the Liberal Democrats. But a Tory push into radical right terrain could make them unacceptable to otherwise winnable liberal professional voters, with the spectre of Farage boosting anti-Conservative local campaigns.

That's what Badenoch's consituency is, sandwiched as it is between Lib Dem Cambridgeshire and Chelmsford.

If Reform’s rise continues, in­cumbents from all the mainstream parties could make gains if the large cohort of voters who strongly oppose Farage become willing to back whoever can stop his local candidate. Such local dynamics are hard to predict from national polls, because they involve changes which only emerge once an election is close and voters’ minds turn to the local contest.

Election day is a long way off yet ...

LizzieDrip

^”I firmly believe most Tory MPs would not even consider selling their souls to the devil and amalgamating with Reform, it’s far too right wing, has no workable policies, has only got 5 MPs and those MPs have zero to offer the Tories”^

Oh, I’m not so sure Cossy.

I think, if the Tories think it will endear them to the electorate again, they’ll cosy up with Reform.

They’ll view a pact with the Devil as preferable to life in the political wilderness.

I'd not be surprised either

Possibly with Boris Johnson thrown in!

”I firmly believe most Tory MPs would not even consider selling their souls to the devil and amalgamating with Reform, it’s far too right wing, has no workable policies, has only got 5 MPs and those MPs have zero to offer the Tories”

Oh, I’m not so sure Cossy.

I think, if the Tories think it will endear them to the electorate again, they’ll cosy up with Reform.

They’ll view a pact with the Devil as preferable to life in the political wilderness.

Oooops Wally!

Not Clacton, but we do have our escape lodge in St Osyth and a bestie in Frinton, who is searching for Farage in a kind of “Where’s Wallly” way!

Cossy

Chocolatelovinggran

Ok Casdon and GrannyGravy, I'll go with that: sorted.
Who will let The Reform Party know that we've done the work for them?

I will. If I can find Farage, I will tell him 😢😂😂🙊🙉🙈🐵🐒

If you live in Clacton, no chance.