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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

... to think that Nigel Farage will be our next PM?

817 replies

ohime · 06/07/2025 11:04

Or, more accurately: AIBU to be afraid that truly nasty piece of work Nigel Farage who has, by all accounts, always been utterly useless at (or at least completely uninterested in) the actual business end of governing will be our next PM because everyone is so fed up with all the other parties being, variously or all at once, so corrupt, incompetent and useless that we've collectively abandoned all hope? I will never vote for Farage, who is a horrible man, or any of his party which keeps having to fire people for being just a teensy bit too overtly racist - but it seems from the polls that for many people the choice against the status quo outweighs what we may be choosing. (For an example, I can't believe that Farage's stated position that DOGE in the US didn't go far enough with its swinging cuts to the social safety net would be popular with UK voters who recently elected a government on the basis that it would reverse years of Tory austerity... not that that's worked out so well...)

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Parmaviollets · 07/07/2025 19:21

@BlueJuniper94 i feel most despised by Labour because I am not in one of their favoured minorites.

Peacepleaselouise · 07/07/2025 19:21

It’s wildly unreasonable to even think such a thing.
What a truly horrific idea.

Parmaviollets · 07/07/2025 19:19

No ,people can see the NHS is bloated with middle management and ruined by policies over many years by many parties especially Tony Blair who trashed it in many ways. Throwing more money at it will not help because it's intrinsically broken.

People can see what's in front of them and I they are not stupid.

Which is why education and the NHS need lifting out of party politics .

Alexandra2001 · 07/07/2025 18:32

BlueJuniper94 · 07/07/2025 18:12

"I happen to believe that most parties have the UKs interests at heart."

This is fascinating, I wonder why you think that, because I feel genuinely despised by the main parties. We are just a resource to be strip mined for their own personal gain.

We are an aging pop. many of us ill or with long term health issues, we refuse to pay the taxes required to provide the public services we all want.

We'd rather spend it on Just Eat or on drink or other such meaningless crap, we also believe the printed media.

If someone said "we want you to pay £5 per more on council tax to fix social care" we'd refuse and vote in the party that rejected that policy....

Evidence? May tried it, the papers called it a Death Tax and it was quickly dropped.

So parties do what they can, with varying degrees of success.

BlueJuniper94 · 07/07/2025 18:12

Alexandra2001 · 07/07/2025 18:07

Thats politics i'm afraid, plenty of Con people supported Truss, who really did harm the country, but now?
Starmer made the calculation that it was better inside the tent than pissing back in..... he was proven right on that.... the first thing he did as leader? chucked Corbyn out.

Realise as well that the centre moves, Corbyn would have sat well in an Attlee Govt, even a Wilson one.. Starmer in a Cameron Govt, certainly in a Thatcher one.
Look at the Tory party? got rid of Clarke Heseltine and Major.. all pro Thatcherites, unthinkable really, even Rory Stewart! a tory i could get behind.

I happen to believe that most parties have the UKs interests at heart.

"I happen to believe that most parties have the UKs interests at heart."

This is fascinating, I wonder why you think that, because I feel genuinely despised by the main parties. We are just a resource to be strip mined for their own personal gain.

Alexandra2001 · 07/07/2025 18:07

Quirkswork · 07/07/2025 15:50

I wish Labour were competent though! I live here. I'm not particularly tribal although I wouldn't vote left of centre. But I just don't think they have the best interests of this country at heart. I think they have an agenda and its one most people in the UK won't like. Keir supported Corbyn not so long ago. We all have to pretend not to remember that.

Thats politics i'm afraid, plenty of Con people supported Truss, who really did harm the country, but now?
Starmer made the calculation that it was better inside the tent than pissing back in..... he was proven right on that.... the first thing he did as leader? chucked Corbyn out.

Realise as well that the centre moves, Corbyn would have sat well in an Attlee Govt, even a Wilson one.. Starmer in a Cameron Govt, certainly in a Thatcher one.
Look at the Tory party? got rid of Clarke Heseltine and Major.. all pro Thatcherites, unthinkable really, even Rory Stewart! a tory i could get behind.

I happen to believe that most parties have the UKs interests at heart.

Quirkswork · 07/07/2025 15:50

Alexandra2001 · 07/07/2025 15:42

Corbyn isn't even a Labour MP.

He is well into his 70s and his time has been and gone.

The far right, throughout Europe and in history, has proven to be a lot more dangerous... however all extremes should be avoided.

Farage was a keen Nazi as a school boy, has he changed? i don't think so.

@Quirkswork I respect your opinion, even if i don't agree with it, you aren't prepared to even give Labour a chance, despite taking over after 14 years of failure and a country that is, by any measure, broken.

Starmer did say it was a 10 year job to turn the country around, that was pre GE i believe.

Edited

I wish Labour were competent though! I live here. I'm not particularly tribal although I wouldn't vote left of centre. But I just don't think they have the best interests of this country at heart. I think they have an agenda and its one most people in the UK won't like. Keir supported Corbyn not so long ago. We all have to pretend not to remember that.

Parmaviollets · 07/07/2025 15:47

@Alexandra2001 .

The far right are more dangerous ?? Really ?

Wow.

Oh well.

Re Corbyn maybe you didn't notice but a vicious and nasty streak came out under momentum ie the far left of the party when he was in a position of power.
It was frightening. Very very nasty lot.

Alexandra2001 · 07/07/2025 15:47

Labour most certainly realise Reform is the opposition, the Tories need to wake up to this too.

Labour comms pretty much ignore the Tories, its all Reform Reform Reform..

Quirkswork · 07/07/2025 15:47

Parmaviollets · 07/07/2025 15:43

@Quirkswork where have you seen Isis and ak47 advertised

- 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://youtu.be/n_fhx4FP77Y?si=IpDNzwp4n6MdhQdD

Quirkswork · 07/07/2025 15:46

Alexandra2001 · 07/07/2025 15:42

Corbyn isn't even a Labour MP.

He is well into his 70s and his time has been and gone.

The far right, throughout Europe and in history, has proven to be a lot more dangerous... however all extremes should be avoided.

Farage was a keen Nazi as a school boy, has he changed? i don't think so.

@Quirkswork I respect your opinion, even if i don't agree with it, you aren't prepared to even give Labour a chance, despite taking over after 14 years of failure and a country that is, by any measure, broken.

Starmer did say it was a 10 year job to turn the country around, that was pre GE i believe.

Edited

TBF the left have historically killed far more people than the right.

EasternStandard · 07/07/2025 15:44

Labour still don’t realise it’s Reform that’s the competition. The focus on here and by Labour is the wrong place.

A few are looking back but most are thinking of who next when answering voting intentions and polls.

Hence Reform doing well, and others sliding.

A new further left party could change things again.

Parmaviollets · 07/07/2025 15:43

@Quirkswork where have you seen Isis and ak47 advertised

Alexandra2001 · 07/07/2025 15:42

Parmaviollets · 07/07/2025 15:37

@Alexandra2001

You said you fear the far right but not the far left and I asked why.
I said do you realise they both meet in the middle

Then I went into mention the violence of momentum that emerged under Corbyn.

Corbyn isn't even a Labour MP.

He is well into his 70s and his time has been and gone.

The far right, throughout Europe and in history, has proven to be a lot more dangerous... however all extremes should be avoided.

Farage was a keen Nazi as a school boy, has he changed? i don't think so.

@Quirkswork I respect your opinion, even if i don't agree with it, you aren't prepared to even give Labour a chance, despite taking over after 14 years of failure and a country that is, by any measure, broken.

Starmer did say it was a 10 year job to turn the country around, that was pre GE i believe.

Quirkswork · 07/07/2025 15:41

Alexandra2001 · 07/07/2025 15:06

Well done, Labour can nothing right as far as you re concerned can they?

Now its IMF.... FFS we are million miles from that, but keep with the scares Stories.

You really are clutching at straws now aren't you... anyone who works in the public sector is a Labour stooge.... Reds under the Bed territory now....

I wouldn't vote for Labour. I think they are dreadful. Why would I feel the urge to scrape about in the bottom of the bin to come up with policies I like? The majority of policies they come up with I don't like.

I feel they have done nothing to prepare for government in the 14 years that theyve been sitting there, virtue signalling and making out (incorrectly) that they are."good people".

They are run by an idealogue who doesn't actually have any ideals that stay fixed for very long and they have a cabinet of frauds and liars, most importantly epitomised by the Chancellor and the Business Secretary.

Their saving grace for the moment is there is no coordinated opposition but surely the country deserves better than that? A government that's only in because the opposition are in disarray rather than a government with a coherent plan that works for everyone rather than only their client base and that will turn this country around. Labour just aren't up to it.

Alexandra2001 · 07/07/2025 15:40

Julen7 · 07/07/2025 14:20

If all this is true why is Starmer’s approval rating now -43, the lowest figure EVER recorded for a PM after one year. Are we all missing something?

Edited

Yes it is, i cannot answer that.

BUT when the question is Who would make the best PM?

Starmer wins ahead of Farage and miles in front of Kemi Badenoch.

So no, its not a fair point at all.

A fairer one is why is the leader of the opposition & her party not riding high if Labour are doing such a poor job?

Parmaviollets · 07/07/2025 15:37

@Alexandra2001

You said you fear the far right but not the far left and I asked why.
I said do you realise they both meet in the middle

Then I went into mention the violence of momentum that emerged under Corbyn.

stuckdownahole · 07/07/2025 15:23

The reason we're all talking about the small boats and the people on them is that it's an actual failure of government.

We have somehow ended up in a situation where anyone who arrives in a dinghy has to be put up in a hotel. I don't know the figures in the UK, but in Ireland each asylum seeker in a hotel was costing the public purse €100 a day on average. Their case is processed slowly and inefficiently and the public are well aware by now that several are working, mostly for food delivery services, even though that's against the law.

This is basically outside the scope of immigration policy. Western countries have been using immigration to increase the workforce for half a century. The Windrush is a (very moving) part of the UK's national story, the prejudice those arrivals faced thankfully consigned to the past. But this is ... something else. It is uncontrolled. It is people turning up where they aren't supposed to, and starting to work when they are not supposed to. It makes us feel like the UK government isn't running the UK any more.

So people feel like this and vote for Brexit ("take back control") and will probably vote for Reform / Farage who are just Thatcherites. Lots of people liked Thatcher but even those people concede that she belonged to the last century. It doesn't feel like they will make a difference either.

EasternStandard · 07/07/2025 15:13

Julen7 · 07/07/2025 14:20

If all this is true why is Starmer’s approval rating now -43, the lowest figure EVER recorded for a PM after one year. Are we all missing something?

Edited

Fair point.

Alexandra2001 · 07/07/2025 15:08

Parmaviollets · 07/07/2025 14:37

@Alexandra2001 i dislike both why would you prefer the far left over the far right ?you do know they meet in the middle ?

Momentum is terrifying remember throwing bricks through mp window labour when she wanted to stand against Corbyn? The lying and gaslighting and violence is awful.

Had the Tories done anything like starmer has done we would have seen far left violence

Lost me with all that...

You really will have to explain your post, its non sensical.

Alexandra2001 · 07/07/2025 15:06

Quirkswork · 07/07/2025 14:28

Just over 18% of the workforce are employed by the non productive (as in they don't produce wealth but instead spend it) state sector. In some areas eg the North East it's one in three workers and in my area it's over 60%. I would assume they would see Labour as working for their interests.

I think Sure Start etc is just fiddling round the edges. It will be the first to go if we are off to the IMF for a bail out again due to Labour's mismanagement. And it will be Labour's fault.

Well done, Labour can nothing right as far as you re concerned can they?

Now its IMF.... FFS we are million miles from that, but keep with the scares Stories.

You really are clutching at straws now aren't you... anyone who works in the public sector is a Labour stooge.... Reds under the Bed territory now....

Itsabummer · 07/07/2025 14:58

One thing is certain - change is needed urgently. The two party system is broken, Labour and Tory are almost one and the same. The Labour Party has lost credibility as a party of the working man and woman, telling lies just to get voted in. The Conservatives have simply lost their way, not sure of who or what they stand for any more. Lib Dems and Greens are so wishy washy they don’t know what’s what. We’ve got to the point of “what have we got to lose by giving Reform a chance”. Having said all that, unless something drastic happens, we’ve a long wait and a lot of heartaches till the next GE.

Parmaviollets · 07/07/2025 14:45

Sure start is good ,castrating peadopiles is good.

Parmaviollets · 07/07/2025 14:37

@Alexandra2001 i dislike both why would you prefer the far left over the far right ?you do know they meet in the middle ?

Momentum is terrifying remember throwing bricks through mp window labour when she wanted to stand against Corbyn? The lying and gaslighting and violence is awful.

Had the Tories done anything like starmer has done we would have seen far left violence

Quirkswork · 07/07/2025 14:30

Julen7 · 07/07/2025 14:20

If all this is true why is Starmer’s approval rating now -43, the lowest figure EVER recorded for a PM after one year. Are we all missing something?

Edited

Of course it isn't true 🤣. The words land cuckoo, living and cloud come to mind.