To think Farage surely has to go

[OneKookyShark]

So Farage has some dodgy private company set up to avoid paying tax. Is he being pressured to resign as head of Reform? Of course not. Because he’s an entitled privileged man.

The double standards are incredible really. Here’s the story https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/05/nigel-farage-uses-private-company-to-pay-less-tax-on-gb-news-earnings

While I think Rayner had to resign, why are the same standards not being applied?

Yes you don’t need Reform if Reform are setting the political agenda, which they appear to be doing.

We know why Reform gained traction at the last GE. If there were another GE tomorrow, Reform would get in, IMHO. However, the timeframe Reform has, gives Labour and the Tories enough bouts of headless chicken moments.

Ok. I prefer not to take my information from opinions and anecdotes on forums but if this thread is giving you a warm glow, good for you.

It just doesn’t seem to sink in with them.

That's not what's happening here. I only see a bunch of posters like myself pointing out all the flaws in Reform's programme. Should they get into power, this would turn into firm opposition and ultimately - should they follow the authoritarian agenda of their US cousins - resistance. No running scared.

There isn’t, though.

Farage will be exposed for the charlatan he is long before the next GE. If he doesn’t just get bored and bugger off to the US for a bigger paycheque first.

Yeah he should really leave us alone and get a job at Fox News or, even better, Newsmax.

authoritarian agenda

Labour instigated an education tax and pushed locking people up for tweets.

Not sure what you are referring to but Labour are certainly concerned hence changing their policy. It’s more Reform setting the agenda than Labour.

What are Reform supporters suggesting people do if they fear Andrea Jenkyns performing her 'Insomniac' song again and probably more importantly, what are people to do if they fear the man who brought us Brexit, devising economic policy?

I live in London and I think most people find the hoo haa haa about 'oh my god, asylum seekers in a hotel' hard to relate to.

However, I went to visit a friend in the NW and did actually witness one of these protests outside a hotel. 2 things struck me -

1. There were only about 10 people protesting and they all looked drunk, staggering, wearing England shirts, etc etc.

2. There more people filming the protesters than people actually protesting!

This is a media tactic I think Reform understand only too well. Reform know that, on a national level, very few people will actually go as far as to stand among yobs and protest. But what is more likely, is that passers by will take photos, videos and share these on social media. So the issue 'goes viral' and the protests are presented as far more widespread than they actually are.

I despise Farage and all he stands for, but I will give him this .... He instinctively understands, far more than other politicians, how to exploit the media - particularly social media - in a way that far exceeds his political substance.

He knows that measured, nuanced responses don't get headlines. He says things just for 'click bait' then pulls back or side steps when things get just that bit too close to all out racist incitement. He plays with the media and they fall for it because it's easy headlines. Trump does exactly the same.

The right wing media, with Farage, know that while attention is diverted by the immigration issue, working people are no longer shouting about economic policies. No, all these long-standing issues, are displaced onto 'the boat problem.'

If Reform have any policy at all, it is this cynical tactic of 'divide and rule.'

well I think that’s what we need our government to do now. They are actually doing quite a lot more than people seem to know about - e g the fact that foreign criminals now face immediate deportation for the first time. That is the kind of thing they should be shouting about

very true; he is a master of manipulation. His end game is self enrichment. People should recognise he’s good at this and aim to beat him at his own game. The labour comms have really not been up to the mark.

I hope she never comes back - and she can take bloody Rachel with her.

I think the whole political system in the UK should be revamped. There should be an accountability court / committee and politicians like Farage and Boris who lied through their teeth to get Brexit done through their false campaigning and others who were in over in scams should be severely punished.

Farage will never resign because he or his party members have no ethics or conscience.

Vote for another party

They’ve had a year and seem only to have doubled down on toxic identity politics. Maybe they have finally got the message, I doubt it though.

What message would that be then? That a section of the population will detest whatever they do? I don’t imagine they comes as any surprise. Nothing would ever change it either.

too right- anyone tweeting about burning down hotels during a crisis where riots were going on should absolutely have their freedom curtailed. Why would someone do this?

No they're not. They're agitating - not the same thing.

The minister isn't supposed to be the expert. That's what advisors are for.

Eg. it's hardly likely that Yvette Cooper suddenly became an expert on all aspects of international affairs, nor David Lammy on justice. I'm not sure that Rachel Reeves would claim to be a tax expert, even 14 months on.

Yes, that went down well. Connolly is coming out of this nicely. Double whammy that her incarceration backfired on Starmer. When will they ever learn.

In which case why all the vitriol about Reeves? Cooper had the home office brief for years in opposition, she probably knows far more than the civil servants. Lammy is a lawyer.

I've got a maths GCSE with an A*, I can use Excel and make it do graphs and shit, and I do my own tax returns. There's f all chance they'll take me.