There’s a great piece over at the Spectator by James Teale about Richard Tice and the Reform Party. The article makes the point that Tice looks and feels like an old fashioned, by which I mean, non-woke and favourable to liberty, Conservative.
The writer of the article makes clear that Tice is not any sort of extremist and therefore might be able to attract those who were once Tories but want traditional toryism back but without any taint of extremism. I tend to agree with this as Britain has never really taken to political extremists of any sort.
According to Mr Tice the Reform Party is polling well in the North of England and I believe that if this polling claim is true then Reform could pick up votes from those who voted for the Tories in 2019 but have become disillusioned by the Tories over net zero and immigration failures. At present, the author of the article said, the Reform Party is concentrating on the lockdown restrictions, taxation and the extreme costs of net zero and not so much immigration. However what caught my eye in the article was how potent the issue of immigration could be not just as a positive support point or Reform but one that could hurt the Tories.
Mr Teale said:
His biggest decision has been to focus most of his energies on lockdown restrictions and net zero, rather than Channel crossings — much to the relief of the Tories. Red Wall MPs privately fear the potency of such a message, with one telling me: ‘If Tice launches something on borders and we still haven’t sorted it, then we could have issues.’ Another backbencher I spoke to told me: ‘Immigration is the only Brexit-type issue that will allow them to cut through.’
If the Tories are scared of Reform calling out the Tories on the matter of immigration then this may well be something that could hurt the Tories in the future if they have not sorted this problem out. Reform may only need to say the words ‘same old Tories same old immigration failures’ and this might motivate more voters and maybe some MP’s to cross over to the Reform Party camp.
Reform certainly seem to have got the Tories worried on the subject of immigration and we should wait and see if Reform use this issue as a dagger to plunge into the Tories. In the meantime the concentration on tax,covid restrictions and net zero might be the best tactic as people are only just starting to wake up to the potential economic and social damage that net zero and high taxation are creating. Starting by attacking the Tories on tax, covid policy and green lunacy and following up with an immigration attack might be a one-two punch that could really hurt the Tories.
My own view is that this would be a good tactic but I would be happier voting for Reform if they dumped their policy of an elected House of Lords as I see that such an entity might create more political problems than it solves. Apart from that the Reform Part seem to have chosen some good issues and ones on which the Tories are very vulnerable.
“Party insiders hope Reform’s heritage means it has already earned the trust of voters on immigration, allowing the party to broaden its focus.”
Never again after the Tories failure to cut down mass immigration as promised will I trust a party like this unless there are very explicit commitments. I don’t trust Tice at all as he’s a property developer and has no intention of bringing immigration under control. As always follow the money.
I can’t trust the Tories on immigration again either. Come to think of it I don’t think I can trust them on free speech, tackling wokery, energy policy or much else to be frank.
I have recently resigned from the Conservative party as I just can’t support the sleaze, dishonesty and total disregard they have for older core voters. I must say I do find the Reform party remarkably similar to the Conservative party of years ago and I will probably vote Reform at the next election. Having caught up with the news today it seems we can now add threats and bulling by the whips office to the mix as well. Westminster is truly portrayed exceptionally well in that classic production Yes Prime Minister.
I’ve lost patience with the Tories as well. However the stories of threats and bullying by whip is neither unusual nor confined to the Tories. Whips will use strongarm tactics to keep MP’s from rebelling and maybe we do need a debate about whether the whipping system gives us a system where MP’s are ruled by fear instead of being guided by their conscience or the views of those who voted for them. BTW Guido is drawing attention to the bullish way that Labour whips acted when Labour was in government https://order-order.com/2022/01/20/labour-whips-know-a-thing-or-two-about-intimidation/
Thanks for your reply, having been interested in politics for rather a long time I must confess I knew the whips could be “robust”. I think what really upsets me most is that I invested a lot of time, energy and cash in the Conservative party over a number of years and now I feel utterly betrayed. I must try to be more cynical.
Boris Johnson has spaffed a massive majority up the wall by way of bad and damaging decisions. As I said in an earlier piece I have doubts about some of the policies of the Reform Party mostly over its House of Lords plan but I’ll vote for them as I don’t think I can bring myself to vote Tory next time.
BTW my view of Lords Reform would be first undo the damage that Blair did and bring back some of the expunged hereditaries and create a new class of peers drawn from the public by lottery a bit like how juries are selected. For a long form explanation of my ideas see this long form post. https://www.fahrenheit211.net/2020/12/31/a-radical-suggestion-for-house-of-lords-reform/