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?

To be fair he has the right level of arrogance and cuntiness to be conservative leader 🤷‍♀️

No, Brexit was decided by a referendum which David Cameron wasn't obliged to do (mistake #1) and he made a second huge mistake by saying that if one side got a simple majority (i.e. anything over 50%) that result would be binding. He could have said leaving the EU would only happen if more than 60% or some other higher number voted for it. But no, he went for the easiest, quickest wording to draft for the ballot paper, in the mistaken belief that the whole thing would be a non-event, Remain would win, and the whole issue would go away. And here we are now. 52% voted Leave, 48% voted Remain, and out we came. Majority of those who voted Leave back then feel it was a mistake. Never mind, we're stuck with it. I will blame Cameron for this till the day I die.

Leader of the opposition is leader of the party with the 2nd highest number of seats in parliament. Reform are on track to win between 1 & 6 seats so he's talking nonsense about this. But then most of what he says is silly so no change there!

He will be.
It's going to be my absolutely best birthday present on July 5th.

There will be a few ppl who love him and lots who hate him. That's why he gets stuff thrown at him.

He is not the leader of the opposition. His "party" has no seats in Parliament, his "party" has no democratic process for making him leader, and he himself is not an MP. I would say that if I didn't fucking hate him as well.

He has a habit of knowing which way the wind is blowing,

He certainly does, and my response to that would be, surely our elected representatives should be just as if not more in touch with the views of a significant portion of the electorate. And if they're not, whose failing is that? Theirs? Their advisers? the political system as it currently is? Pollsters?

I don't have the answers but I genuinely think it should be an urgent matter of academic and mainstream media debate, because I do feel it is a matter of the fundamental health of the parliamentary system. Something in it seems to be broken.

I also think that people don't behave in the way we always expect them to. My parents came to this country in their 20s from India. I'm avidly pro Europe and pro liberalism. My dad on the other hand, thinks Farage is a 'man of the people' (his words) and that the UK has too much immigration. I could (and sometimes do) dismiss his views as silly given that he himself is an immigrant. But this is too easy a stance and indicates a failing in myself and a desire to feel superior to him. I'd be better off trying to understand him better. Which, I admit, I rarely have the energy to do. But it's a conversation that needs to happen at a national level I think.

Feels like '97 all over again. ✊

There is rumour that, should Farage win Clacton as the only Reform seat but with them winning a solid share of the vote, and the Tories have an electoral disaster, Farage will defect and be elected leader of the Conservatives.

This would probably make him leader of the opposition.

I don't underestimate him, and I certainly don't underestimate his ambitions.

But he can still fuck off.

"He has a habit of knowing which way the wind is blowing,"

He has a habit of pandering to people's prejudices even if they aren't actually the issue they think it is.

Proposing flimsy and simplistic policies too.

Oh, and not turning up to work/fulfilling his duties very well.

I’m not entirely sure that this is true (I read earlier that 4 polls have come out since the YouGov one and none of the others have Reform ahead). Even if it was, with the FPTP system, it doesn’t translate to many MPs. This needs updating, but on the 8th they were only predicted to get one: https://sotn.newstatesman.com/2024/05/britainpredicts

I bet he would do this as well. Hopefully Labour trounce them and he becomes virtually powerless? Have I mentioned I fucking hate him?

He'll be the leader of the opposition if Reform gets second most MPs after the election and he is elected in Clacton.

@DadJoke

Or if he wins Clacton and defects to the tories?

Sorry, reading fail.

He is not even the leader of a political party.

He is a racist grifter and I hope Clacton does the decent thing and votes for whoever the Tory candidate is (guessing Labour despite have a chance).

That does note equate to seats in Parliament thanks to first past the post. Frage is doing what he does best - shit stirring.

Which is just not going to happen. Reform UK will win a couple of seats at the most. Possibly none.

Here's hoping. He's a racist grifter who has said quite clearly he wants to dismantle the NHS.

To summarise then, Nigel Farage is leader of the 2nd most popular political party in the country ahead of the current government in most polls, but according to mumsnet he is a " deluded attention seeker".. talk about a left wing echo chamber. 😅 In reality he will get millions of votes but here of course he is a racist Bigot etc etc yawn 💤

That all being said due to the absurd Fptp system, reform could get more votes than the tories and ZERO seats in Parliament...the ultimate in a sham democracy that needs radical changes. I will still vote reform as we need literal reform in many areas..millions of others will but not on here obviously. The home of the guardian reader 😐

When you compare the cancer waiting times and general performance of it to other European countries, it needs scrapping and reforming. It's unfit for purpose

Nigel Farage is leader of the 2nd most popular political party in the country ahead of the current government

I thought the only poll that showed that was GB news?

It was a yougov poll, wasn't it?

But my worry is that a strong reform gote (even if it doesn’t translate to seats) coupled with a decimated conservative one, may well mean that instead of the conservatives realising they’ve gone too far right, and coming back towards the centre, they will believe they haven’t gone right enough and our politics just polarises further.

maybe a large chunk of the elect really is further right than I’d hoped.