Farage is leader of the opposition

[Aladdinzane]

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/general-election-live-updates-reform-labour-tories-3110227

Farage is claiming he is the de facto leader of the opposition and that he should get a head to head debate with Starmer. His party currently holds no seats.

What do you think?

Is someone positioning himself for something after the election?

He is a deluded attention seeker and making a career out of it.

Completely agree with that.
Best off ignored.

I think it brings the question of proportional representation to the fore.

Much as I hate him, it's a mistake to understand him. I can't remember which one but one poll puts him ahead of the Conservatives which could put him in a pretty powerful position.

I think he should get what he wants. If Starmer is capable of being the next PM, he ought to be able to handle a head to head with Farage, no problem. If he comes off badly in that debate, the electorate should know this before we vote. If he wipes the floor with Farage, then Reform can be dismissed as a credible opposition.
I'm not seeing the downside here.

Yes well that gave us Brexit.

He just rilly rilly rilly rilly wants to be an MP.

His party has 1 (one) MP at the moment (well technically 0, because there are no MPs). He will only be LOTO if Reform have the second highest number of MPs, regardless of how many votes they get.

Until then, he is the high profile leader of a minor party, on a par with the Greens and Alba.

So no, he should not get his demands, petulant man-baby that he is

He's a shit stirrer for hire, doesn't care who he's paid by. He'll say anything

his party is second in the polls

This

Nigel Farage is an amoral grifter. That doesn't stop him being the most influential political figure of the past 20 years, even though he has never been elected to Parliament through our democratic system.

The answer therefore is not to ignore him but to study and ask HOW and WHY he has been able to have such influence. Is it a failure of the parliamentary system or a failure of our elected politicians?

We need to understand now otherwise the UK will become increasingly prey to unelected demagogues like hi, to our cultural and economic detriment (eg look at Brexit).

Historians will certainly study him closely and how he managed to have such influence and if we want to save moderate liberal democracy then we should too.

Ignoring him is more comfortable and less scary but also avoids the problem imho.

look at it this way - could he be worse than Sunak as a leader of the opposition? seriously - we have a country where people can genuinely no longer assume they will have access to food, education or medical care. Tories dead and buried - I am all for that, even if the person with the spade is Farrage

Barely, and as they have made clear, within the margin of error.

If they can sustain it til the election then I'll believe it.

In ONE poll only.

I do love the fact that everyone assumes that Keir Starmer is Prime Minister already.

No, that was a referendum - not the same as PR at all.

He’s no more leader of the opposition than Starmer is prime minister. He needs to shut up.

it’s a poll

I agree with this. He has a habit of knowing which way the wind is blowing, I'll give him that. I'll be amazed if they actually do better than the Tories though.

ETA I love spanakopita too 😋😁

I don't particularly like him but I think it would be foolish to underestimate him.

Sunlight and open debate are good for everyone. I would like to see the leaders of Labour, Tory, Libdem and Reform in a public debate.

Avoiding and attempting to shh someone whose views are clearly hitting home with an alarming number of the public is a mistake.

People will be wondering why the two men in the running to be primeminster (let's face it, it's Keir) aren't standing up for their views in a proper all leaders debate.

It’s a mistake to minimise him as a potential opposition.
The more Reform is treated as a joke, racist party, the more it pushes people to vote for them.
We’re seeing a move to the far right in Europe, if we’re not careful with the shutting down of certain topics and treating people as racist idiots instead of addressing the issues, we’re headed there too. Maybe not on the 4th July, but in the next 4-8 years.

Hmm, I wonder how eager the libdems would be to pursue a long held desire for proportional representation should they get more seats than the Tories and find themselves at the opposition but with fewer votes cast for them than reform. A ridiculous position that is an increasing reality.

no, in several, since yesterday, and even when not a clear second is looking like a joint second in many - this was even reported in the BBC news at lunch time, even though the BBC poll still shows the tories ahead of reform, up to yesterday

Spot on. I hate his views with a passion but he’s been an incredible politician and had a huge impact. I wonder what he could have done with those skills if he were a centrist…

Go Nige!