Reform UK is using its nemesis to great effect, but the main line of attack could backfire - Royston Smith
Ex-Labour Adviser admits Nigel Farage and Reform UK are a 'REAL FORCE'
GB News
The next 12 months are going to be a defining time for the future of the Reform Party and, by extension the Conservatives. It looks as though the fortunes of both parties are dependent on the other’s success or failure.
Reform’s popularity continues to grow as the Conservatives struggle to reinvent themselves after the crushing defeat of the 2024 general election. One of the challenges the new leader, Kemi Badenoch, faces is that she and many of those in her shadow cabinet are linked to the former Conservative Government. And currently, there seems to be little appetite for forgiveness from the voters.
The Labour Government is barely six months old and is proving to be an unmitigated disaster. But despite the significant buyer’s remorse that we hear about, voters aren’t yet queuing up to choose the Conservatives.
Rebuilding and renewing the Conservative brand and reputation for competence will take some time yet, and while that is happening, the Reform Party continues to fill the vacuum.
Reform is buoyed by recent electoral success, the popularity of their leader and the support of President-Elect, Donald Trump, and his team.
Most notable in that team is the world’s richest man, Elon Musk. Reform also appears to have grown up as a political party. They understand that the only way to win elections is with foot soldiers and targeted campaigning. They are using their nemesis, the mainstream media, to great effect and are now signing up hundreds of new members every day.
Nigel Farage has taken on the establishment with gusto but this approach contains pitfalls, writes Royston Smith
Getty Images
That is not particularly surprising. Nigel Farage can say and do things that are interesting and newsworthy. He can tap into the frustrations of the British public, in the way that Donald Trump did in the US. In the UK and the US, the traditional political parties do not understand that Trump and Farage exist because of them. Their constant lecturing and controlling behaviour has run out of road. People are tired of being told what to do and worse, what to think.
Reform is now a larger party than the Conservatives by membership. That is symbolic but not fatal. However, there will soon be an inflection point in British politics and if that goes the way of Reform it will be over for the Conservatives.
As Reform and the Conservative Party battle for second place, the Labour Government is moving from one disaster to the next with almost no opposition.
In the House of Commons Badenoch is deploying a scattergun approach to Prime Minister’s Questions and doesn’t appear to have found her feet. While Reform MPs continue to use Parliament to remind us how awful everything is while offering no solutions.
The Conservatives have the most to lose. Being an integral part of the British establishment is both a strength and a weakness. Trump and Farage have had great success in blaming the establishment for all of life’s problems. While there is something in their attacks, it is too simplistic to blame everything on established norms.
I believe there is an answer. Do less but do it well. Under promise and over-deliver. Concentrate on the things that you can control, not the things you can’t. Roll back state overreach. And get out of people's way.
In many ways, there is a blueprint emerging in Argentina under President Javier Milei. He is a controversial character but his plans to shrink the state and make Argentina more competitive is precisely what we should be doing here in the UK.
Whichever of the UK's two right-wing parties can articulate smaller government with less interference in people’s lives is likely to end next year as the main opposition to Labour, but it is by no means clear which one that will be.
You may like
