Help end medical misogyny. Sign our petition.

Help end medical misogyny.
Sign our petition.

Sign the petition

Please or to access all these features

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Mumsnet is now backing Reform UK - survey

493 replies

IwantToRetire · 05/01/2026 17:24

The ladies are for turning after all – as a new survey reveals that one in five of the politically engaged mothers on the social networking site are ready to pledge allegiance to Nigel Farage

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/mumsnet-labour-reform-school-gates-keir-starmer-b2894524.html

Also in full at https://archive.is/V5P6n

If Mumsnet is now backing Reform UK, it’s over for Starmer’s Labour

The ladies are for turning after all – as a new survey reveals that one in five of the politically engaged mothers on the social networking site are ready to pledge allegiance to Nigel Farage, Victoria Richards warns it is the PM’s final death knell

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/mumsnet-labour-reform-school-gates-keir-starmer-b2894524.html

OP posts:
Thread gallery
27
WillaT13 · 28/01/2026 20:51

Must mean voting for parties prioritising men over woman in the gender war. Weird but a choice obviously.

wiffin · 28/01/2026 22:01

1984Now · 28/01/2026 14:35

I'm Reform adjacent but moving away from them now. For reasons other than your suspicions, more what Badenoch highlighted in her speech today.
My take is that Farage is Putin friendly in his takes (albeit plenty of people have Ukraine skeptical takes, both right and left wing), overly sympathetic to him, that doesn't sit comfortably with me.
But this doesn't make him a Russian asset.
And please don't conflate Brexit with Russia, Putin may see the EU weakened by our leaving but this is immaterial to the sovereign wishes of the British people.
Corbyn Sultana and Polanski (?) want us to leave NATO... does that make them Putin poodles?

Not necessarily. But it does make them naive.

Heggettypeg · 28/01/2026 22:38

Mumsnet poll: 80% didn't back Reform.
Headline: "Mumsnet now backing Reform "

I give up

PollyNomial · 28/01/2026 23:45

wiffin · 28/01/2026 22:01

Not necessarily. But it does make them naive.

If someone is naive in only one direction and is repeatedly paid by the beneficiary of that naivety over a long period, it's no longer naivety.

1984Now · 28/01/2026 23:58

Heggettypeg · 28/01/2026 22:38

Mumsnet poll: 80% didn't back Reform.
Headline: "Mumsnet now backing Reform "

I give up

Mumsnet isn't backing Reform. But can you imagine a decade ago, even 5% of Mumsnetters supporting anything like Reform? It's the acceleration to this point.
And if anywhere near 20% of Gen X mums decide to vote for Reform, a big proportion of that will be this cohort in MN.
I think we'll find in excess of 20% of older women will vote Reform, or at least tactically Tory/Reform to keep out the likes of Polanski, and increasingly Labour/LDs.
Despite young women being en masse on board with Polanski, this cohort traditionally are MIA when they are needed to come out to vote.
Indeed the GE result may come down to a motivated Gen X plus Boomer female vote going right, and the currently loud and motivated Zoomer females not bothering to be loud and motivated on GE day.

UtopiaPlanitia · 29/01/2026 00:29

1984Now · 28/01/2026 23:58

Mumsnet isn't backing Reform. But can you imagine a decade ago, even 5% of Mumsnetters supporting anything like Reform? It's the acceleration to this point.
And if anywhere near 20% of Gen X mums decide to vote for Reform, a big proportion of that will be this cohort in MN.
I think we'll find in excess of 20% of older women will vote Reform, or at least tactically Tory/Reform to keep out the likes of Polanski, and increasingly Labour/LDs.
Despite young women being en masse on board with Polanski, this cohort traditionally are MIA when they are needed to come out to vote.
Indeed the GE result may come down to a motivated Gen X plus Boomer female vote going right, and the currently loud and motivated Zoomer females not bothering to be loud and motivated on GE day.

I'm a Gen X Lefty and these days I'd definitely vote Tory tactically if it kept out the Greens or any other party keen on reducing sex-based rights. Even 5 years ago, I wouldn't have said thought I could vote that way because I would have believed Labour pols could be reasoned with. I know much better now that reasoning with them, and their TU support is not possible.

When it comes to voting for Reform, I'm not sure I would do that even as a protest vote but I like the idea of them being a stalking horse to get the other parties to realise that a large section of their voters are displeased with business as usual.

1984Now · 29/01/2026 00:37

UtopiaPlanitia · 29/01/2026 00:29

I'm a Gen X Lefty and these days I'd definitely vote Tory tactically if it kept out the Greens or any other party keen on reducing sex-based rights. Even 5 years ago, I wouldn't have said thought I could vote that way because I would have believed Labour pols could be reasoned with. I know much better now that reasoning with them, and their TU support is not possible.

When it comes to voting for Reform, I'm not sure I would do that even as a protest vote but I like the idea of them being a stalking horse to get the other parties to realise that a large section of their voters are displeased with business as usual.

I'm very lucky that I'm naturally a right voter. Both parties will be strict GC in their manifestos. So a vote for either suits my red line here.
I'd hate to be on the left and GC.
I wonder how Julie Bindel, Sonia Sodha etc will vote next time?

SnowFrogJelly · 29/01/2026 00:54

This lady’s not for turning

UtopiaPlanitia · 29/01/2026 01:28

1984Now · 29/01/2026 00:37

I'm very lucky that I'm naturally a right voter. Both parties will be strict GC in their manifestos. So a vote for either suits my red line here.
I'd hate to be on the left and GC.
I wonder how Julie Bindel, Sonia Sodha etc will vote next time?

It feels so disheartening and dispiriting and disappointing.

I feel very much like Cassandra earnestly and desperately telling the Trojans to send Helen back home PDQ and not to let any giant horses into the city.

SionnachRuadh · 29/01/2026 01:37

UtopiaPlanitia · 29/01/2026 01:28

It feels so disheartening and dispiriting and disappointing.

I feel very much like Cassandra earnestly and desperately telling the Trojans to send Helen back home PDQ and not to let any giant horses into the city.

I've spent far too many years warning lefties about their faults and weaknesses, and I may as well have a big massive neon sign saying THIS MEANS YOU, and they still think I'm making some abstruse point that definitely doesn't apply to them.

I love and respect anyone who has the patience to teach the remedial class, but at a certain point I just become Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon saying "I'm too old for this shit."

Ereshkigalangcleg · 29/01/2026 05:59

UtopiaPlanitia · 29/01/2026 00:29

I'm a Gen X Lefty and these days I'd definitely vote Tory tactically if it kept out the Greens or any other party keen on reducing sex-based rights. Even 5 years ago, I wouldn't have said thought I could vote that way because I would have believed Labour pols could be reasoned with. I know much better now that reasoning with them, and their TU support is not possible.

When it comes to voting for Reform, I'm not sure I would do that even as a protest vote but I like the idea of them being a stalking horse to get the other parties to realise that a large section of their voters are displeased with business as usual.

I feel exactly the same.

Sausagenbacon · 29/01/2026 08:26

I remember all the posters coming on here pre election, and earnestly telling us to vote Labour, because they were the good guys and we could trust them with Womens Rights

Greyskybluesky · 29/01/2026 08:37

Sausagenbacon · 29/01/2026 08:26

I remember all the posters coming on here pre election, and earnestly telling us to vote Labour, because they were the good guys and we could trust them with Womens Rights

Yes, @AdamRyan where are you now? You had sooo much to say back then. We have questions.

1984Now · 29/01/2026 08:53

Greyskybluesky · 29/01/2026 08:37

Yes, @AdamRyan where are you now? You had sooo much to say back then. We have questions.

God, that's a blast from the past. All would be well with Labour. The only thing dear Adam got right was that Sunak and Badenoch really didn't do enough 2022-24 to put this area of policy to bed. They were quick to take on Sturgeon re Section 20, but in retrospect that looks more party politics than a genuine move to protect women's rights. Badenoch could have done more re EDI in the NHS. That 2 years will be looked on as both a missed opportunity and evidence that even if the Tories weren't captured then, they were cowardly in the face of this movement.

Pingponghavoc · 29/01/2026 09:32

I don't think any politician can sort this out without radically changing the GRA. And i don't see any party willing to do that.

The think the parties on the right are more likely to say that a man cannot become female, and protect single sex spaces that way. The left are conflicted - some say that we can have single sex, single gender and mixed sex spaces, so protect some single sex spaces. Others are saying that either a man can become female or sex is an impractical classification therefore single sex spaces are impractical too.

Faced with these options, the right is winning for me. Just. But when did we start talking about this here? 2012 or 2013? Everything the orginal posters said has come true, but i dont think many politician understand even the basics so will struggle to come up with solutions.

If the labour women were as good at women rights as they think they are, we shoulnt be in the position.

BezMills · 29/01/2026 09:34

The fact that someone was here all the bloody time posting about only one thing (labour are grate you can trust them gwan vote the labours) in the lead up to an election then vanished shortly after makes me think they were actually here on behalf of the party as some kind of social media influencer/stooge.

SionnachRuadh · 29/01/2026 09:48

BezMills · 29/01/2026 09:34

The fact that someone was here all the bloody time posting about only one thing (labour are grate you can trust them gwan vote the labours) in the lead up to an election then vanished shortly after makes me think they were actually here on behalf of the party as some kind of social media influencer/stooge.

Back in 2016 the Hillary Clinton campaign threw a fair amount of money at Reddit. Hard to believe now, but politics on Reddit used to be quirky and unpredictable, with a liking for outsider candidates. Bernie Sanders was popular there, and so was Ron Paul. Trump wasn't popular exactly, but he had fans and he had a larger group who appreciated his entertainment value.

Then it all changed, the right wing subreddits were banned and the remaining ones all had pro-Hillary moderators who purged dissenters. It was a really crude bit of narrative management that probably backfired on them. They were doing the same on other platforms.

It really would not surprise me if Labour were deploying influencers here. I'd just advise them that making a positive case for Labour is likely to be more effective than slamming everyone outside your tribe and trying to shame us into voting Labour. You aren't entitled to our support.

Pingponghavoc · 29/01/2026 09:54

Currently, labour MPs arent making a postive case for labour, they're just calling reform far right, so i dont have any hope for their influencers and fan girls.

Pingponghavoc · 29/01/2026 09:56

In years to come, the Hillary campaign will be the manual on how not to get elected.

1984Now · 29/01/2026 10:01

Pingponghavoc · 29/01/2026 09:56

In years to come, the Hillary campaign will be the manual on how not to get elected.

Tbf, Kamala wasn't exactly any better.

SionnachRuadh · 29/01/2026 10:06

I'm not convinced there's anyone in the Labour leadership who understands social media, even social media as old-fashioned as MN. They certainly don't understand AI - Liz Kendall was on Sky News talking about taking on X and Grok as if they were a pair of antisocial teenagers. Starmer also has this weird tendency to anthropomorphise AI.

Anyway, Dale Carnegie's concept of winning friends and influencing people leaned a lot on finding common ground, making a positive argument, appealing to people's aspirations.

Whoever writes Labour's playbook for influencers doesn't seem to have gone much beyond "call everyone else racists" and "if all else fails accuse them of being Russian agents".

1984Now · 29/01/2026 10:09

SionnachRuadh · 29/01/2026 10:06

I'm not convinced there's anyone in the Labour leadership who understands social media, even social media as old-fashioned as MN. They certainly don't understand AI - Liz Kendall was on Sky News talking about taking on X and Grok as if they were a pair of antisocial teenagers. Starmer also has this weird tendency to anthropomorphise AI.

Anyway, Dale Carnegie's concept of winning friends and influencing people leaned a lot on finding common ground, making a positive argument, appealing to people's aspirations.

Whoever writes Labour's playbook for influencers doesn't seem to have gone much beyond "call everyone else racists" and "if all else fails accuse them of being Russian agents".

Based on the unintentionally hilarious Prevent/Pathways "Amelia" debacle, I'd say you're absolutely right.

EasternStandard · 29/01/2026 10:29

SionnachRuadh · 29/01/2026 10:06

I'm not convinced there's anyone in the Labour leadership who understands social media, even social media as old-fashioned as MN. They certainly don't understand AI - Liz Kendall was on Sky News talking about taking on X and Grok as if they were a pair of antisocial teenagers. Starmer also has this weird tendency to anthropomorphise AI.

Anyway, Dale Carnegie's concept of winning friends and influencing people leaned a lot on finding common ground, making a positive argument, appealing to people's aspirations.

Whoever writes Labour's playbook for influencers doesn't seem to have gone much beyond "call everyone else racists" and "if all else fails accuse them of being Russian agents".

So true. I happened to listen to a longish interview with Blair on Times Radio and yes he has faults for sure but one thing stuck out. He said he wanted Labour to not hold people back for a change. Starmer isn’t that, they don’t get why they’re lacking and squashing aspiration either.

And yes to just call everyone racists and far right.

PollyNomial · 29/01/2026 11:03

Pingponghavoc · 29/01/2026 09:56

In years to come, the Hillary campaign will be the manual on how not to get elected.

Second time that year in which Putin intervened in a voting process, both to his benefit.

Pingponghavoc · 29/01/2026 11:07

PollyNomial · 29/01/2026 11:03

Second time that year in which Putin intervened in a voting process, both to his benefit.

Are you reading the thread?