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To think this is the beginning of the end for Reform

139 replies

PandoraSox · 07/03/2025 19:06

Eight months in and the Reform UK Parliamentary party is disintegrating. Lowe has now had the whip removed.

To think this is the beginning of the end for Reform
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BIossomtoes · 13/03/2025 18:49

ImJustFineTYVM · 13/03/2025 13:11

You might not be being unreasonable but there is potential for Reform to be replaced by something much worse helped along/funded by people like Musk.

Only if the government fails to pass legislation to stop foreign donations. They need to crack on with it.

Clavinova · 13/03/2025 18:11

The Runcorn by-election should be fun - is there a date yet?

TooBigForMyBoots · 13/03/2025 16:26

Reform UK, like previous failed Farage parties was always going to fail because of Nigel Farage. He's a grifter. He doesn't have what it takes to run a political party, he's a dick to members and is lazy.

Musk trolled him to fuck then kicked him in the head. Musk likes Lowe. He has loads of money and likes the Reform brand. This has emboldened Lowe to challenge Farage. And with Ben Habib, Tommy Robinson and GB News on board, this could be a successful hostile takeover.

user1471516498 · 13/03/2025 16:00

ItisIbeserk · 13/03/2025 15:49

Historically Farage starts up a very similar party with a different name, gets ground level support, achieves some electoral success at local or national level, and then falls out with everyone. Repeat.

How many is it now? I can think of 3, possibly 4.

ItisIbeserk · 13/03/2025 15:49

Historically Farage starts up a very similar party with a different name, gets ground level support, achieves some electoral success at local or national level, and then falls out with everyone. Repeat.

ImJustFineTYVM · 13/03/2025 13:11

You might not be being unreasonable but there is potential for Reform to be replaced by something much worse helped along/funded by people like Musk.

Crikeyalmighty · 13/03/2025 13:02

@kinkytoes- no I don’t think everyone should think as I do - but as far as I’m aware it’s a thread asking a question-so that’s my opinion- there are plenty of threads calling anyone who dares think remotely left of Farage ‘woke leftists’ etc - and no I’m not smug- I’m originally from an East Midlands mining town where I lived till I was 30 - went back recently and the attitude persists ( amongst all age groups) that immigrants are responsible for all the ills of society and yet actually I saw very very few non white locals. The other thing that persists is that ‘they get everything down south’ yep we do, like stupid house prices and rents and wages that are maybe 1/3 better than their area ‘at best’ There are many things wrong with the country and I personally feel their are sensible and stupid things on all sides of the political spectrum - If people want to believe Reform would make a difference to their personal world , that’s their prerogative , I just think they are wrong- and I certainly think the people involved are Trump mark 2 - policies written on the back of a fag packet designed to appeal to a very specific voter-

Crikeyalmighty · 13/03/2025 12:48

@BlossomToes- as I’m 63 I think I can be a bit ageist and I hear and see it with my own ears and eyes- I do appreciate some younger people are susceptible to bullshit too ( of all political persuasions) but it’s the over 60s I mainly hear posting and talking about Reform as if they are some kind of panacea - which they are not - mainly those who have given up work and haven’t met enough Farages or Tices in business these days - yes there are plenty of older people who aren’t this way but sadly I think are dwarfed by those who do think this way -

kinkytoes · 13/03/2025 12:43

I think Farage has scuppered it tbh.

I wonder what will come next. It certainly is fascinating to watch.

kinkytoes · 13/03/2025 12:42

WhatIsCorndogs · 13/03/2025 10:52

I don't have anything to add but I hope it is the end for reform. I've actually just joined a campaign group to help stop them. They are disgusting.

Why do you hate democracy?

kinkytoes · 13/03/2025 12:41

Crikeyalmighty · 13/03/2025 11:05

Whilst we have a population that can’t actually see a whole picture and want simplistic solutions to complicated issues plus a massive pile of pensioners to sell bullshit too by seeing stuff through rose tinted glasses then there’s always sadly room for charlatans like Farage and co - I’m not a ‘massive lefty’ by the way - very much ‘in the middle’ -

You are however incredibly patronising and smug.

Do you think everyone should hold the same opinions as you?

ItisIbeserk · 13/03/2025 12:28

Crikeyalmighty · 13/03/2025 11:05

Whilst we have a population that can’t actually see a whole picture and want simplistic solutions to complicated issues plus a massive pile of pensioners to sell bullshit too by seeing stuff through rose tinted glasses then there’s always sadly room for charlatans like Farage and co - I’m not a ‘massive lefty’ by the way - very much ‘in the middle’ -

I entirely agree with you on simple solutions to complicated issues, but Reform unfortunately appeals to quite a lot of younger voters too, as did Trump. The generation that has grown up being told that their country is broken and don't see anything getting better easily fall for a party that tells that it can all be achieved but 'the establishment' won't do it.

Whether or not the chaos being caused by some of Trump's simple solutions is any sort of eye-opener on either side of the Atlantic remains to be seen.

BIossomtoes · 13/03/2025 11:35

Not like you to be so ageist @Crikeyalmighty.

PandoraSox · 13/03/2025 11:29

NellieJean · 13/03/2025 11:24

Reform has a future so long as there enough people who want simple answers to complicated issues and mire expenditure on the things they like with lower taxation.

Reform will always have supporters. But if it collapses due to infighting there won't be a Reform Party for people to support. Farage will have to create yet another party.

OP posts:
NellieJean · 13/03/2025 11:24

Reform has a future so long as there enough people who want simple answers to complicated issues and mire expenditure on the things they like with lower taxation.

PandoraSox · 13/03/2025 11:19

The letter is posted on Lowe's Twitter account @Dotjones Reform is very much washing its dirty linen in public.

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Crikeyalmighty · 13/03/2025 11:05

Whilst we have a population that can’t actually see a whole picture and want simplistic solutions to complicated issues plus a massive pile of pensioners to sell bullshit too by seeing stuff through rose tinted glasses then there’s always sadly room for charlatans like Farage and co - I’m not a ‘massive lefty’ by the way - very much ‘in the middle’ -

BarbaricYawp · 13/03/2025 11:04

I really worry about the far right in society but in Westminster they're a complete ship of fools, as is best evidenced by the hilarious interview Pat Mountain, then leader of UKIP, gave for Sky News in the run up to the 2019 election. I've seen it loads of times but it still makes me laugh and laugh.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28-BYtp_y1c

Jalen223 · 13/03/2025 10:54

Chuchoter · 10/03/2025 19:39

@PandoraSox I know him and he is indeed a very lovely man.

Hello Lowe, I’ve seen your revolting posts on X. You’re not a lovely man

WhatIsCorndogs · 13/03/2025 10:52

I don't have anything to add but I hope it is the end for reform. I've actually just joined a campaign group to help stop them. They are disgusting.

Dotjones · 13/03/2025 10:32

I'm not sure what the source of that document is but assuming it's reliable, washing your dirty laundry in public isn't a great response to a complaint about washing your dirty laundry in public.

Reform's collapsing, it never had a solid foundation. Fringe movements become mainstream by learning from their mistakes. Look at the Scottish nationalists, it took years to get to a position of dominance in Scottish politics - years of lobbying and failing to even get a Scottish parliament, let alone then moving into a position of dominance within it.

As with any fringe political movement it's a case of trial and error. New parties rarely appear from nothing and take power in a few years, it takes decades and usually takes a lot of collapses and rebuilds to get something that is palatable enough for the middleground voter as well as the hardcore faithful.

As the SNP example shows, a movement needs to groom the electorate over a number of years to take power. The grooming needs to start when children are very young, well before they are old enough to vote. (The EU is another successful example, I was groomed by them in the 1980s and didn't even realise it for years.)

For the hard right to take power in a couple of decades, they need to start grooming young people now. There's evidence of that happening of course with the number of children who got involved in the rioting and torching of hotels that housed immigrants last year, but that's not a sustainable tactic because any right-thinking person will be turned off by this kind of violence. Those tactics don't work in the present environment - they worked in the past and may work again in the future, but they definitely don't work today.

If the far right want to take power what is really needed is to take the left's example and get right-wing grooming into schools, into the curriculum. Shape young minds before they have the capability to think for themselves, that way when they are old enough to vote the choice won't be left versus right, it will be moderate-to-hard right versus far right, much like the present American system.

Above all, egos need to be thrown aside. Whoever represents the movement today needs to accept they are only an interim politician who will not be around when political success arrives, if it ever does.

It's a long term project. That's something that goes against the grain in modern politics, everything is about the immediate term. That, though, is precisely why the longterm grooming tactic works. While mainstream parties are fighting over the day to day, one with a longer term plan can build their support, hidden in plain sight.

PandoraSox · 13/03/2025 10:14

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To think this is the beginning of the end for Reform
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BeHere · 13/03/2025 10:04

More extreme political parties tend to struggle with this sort of damaging infighting. It's the People's Front of Judea. There seems to be a correlation between being more at the fringe and being unwilling or unable to cohere and stick to party discipline.

BIossomtoes · 13/03/2025 09:56

It’s the Nige show. Surely nobody’s surprised?

ItisIbeserk · 13/03/2025 09:54

Not even members allowed to speak to the press? Wow. There’s a foreshadowing of the sort of government Reform would give us.

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