The Reform Thread

[Holmes_and_Watson]

18 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Do you think there is just one type of 'X people'?  Who knows, maybe some other 'X people' will pipe up?

Shunned not only for being mutants, but for their political views...

[Lord Duckhunter]

44 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Yeah mate at any point did I say no one else does it? We know they're all guilty of it.

But it’ll be worse if Nigel does it. You’ve seen how people are triggered when he’s only got 6 MP’s…..

[Lord Duckhunter]

47 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

IF Reform get in lets see if all the X people etc are gonna in hard on Farage as they are doing on Starmer.

I’d imagine Reform supporters will go as easy on him as Labour & Tory supporters do when they’re in Government. People who don’t like Reform, will criticise him like people who don’t like Starmer criticise him. It’s been the same for years. Why are people trying to claim there’s some sort of special “go easy on Reform” bandwagon is ridiculous. Nearly as ridiculous as judging Nigel differently than other politicians. 

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

4 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

I’d imagine Reform supporters will go as easy on him as Labour & Tory supporters do when they’re in Government. People who don’t like Reform, will criticise him like people who don’t like Starmer criticise him. It’s been the same for years. Why are people trying to claim there’s some sort of special “go easy on Reform” bandwagon is ridiculous. Nearly as ridiculous as judging Nigel differently than other politicians. 

I'm not claiming anything. Plenty of Labour people aren't happy with Starmer. 

If Farage gets in as PM, do you not think he should be judged more critically than any other MP?

[ChrisPY]

On 20/01/2026 at 18:50, sadoldgit said:

A bit of light relief. I’ll start.

The Racist’s Retreat

Not sure of the name but there might be a sign on the door:

‘No Blacks

No SOGs

No Irish’

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

 

If Farage gets in as PM, do you not think he should be judged more critically than any other MP?

He should be judged exactly the same as every other PM. If he is as bad at the job as Starmer, he deserves exactly the same treatment. No more or no less….

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

He should be judged exactly the same as every other PM. If he is as bad at the job as Starmer, he deserves exactly the same treatment. No more or no less….

He won’t though. He’ll have all the lovely, caring left wingers screaming and crying “not my prime minister” whilst at the same time saying how great democracy is

[Gloucester Saint]

Manhandling an ITV journalist in Scotland because they didn’t like the question https://www.thenational.scot/news/25769553.itv-journalist-grabbed-reform-aide-malcolm-offord-squirms/

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

On 24/01/2026 at 18:25, Lord Duckhunter said:

He should be judged exactly the same as every other PM. If he is as bad at the job as Starmer, he deserves exactly the same treatment. No more or no less….

Not quite what I asked. 

[east-stand-nic]

On 24/01/2026 at 00:25, sadoldgit said:

He can’t bring himself to criticise either of them. Farage’s criticisms, especially today’s, were hardly stinging.

Just like his response when Trump said when you are famous women will let you grab them by the pussy. According to Farage it was just “locker room talk.”

Being an apologist for both Trump and Farage this week must have been especially hard for nic. My heart goes out to him.

Is that similar to how you can NEVER bring yourself to condemn a Muslim terror attack incident? 

[sadoldgit]

In the least surprising news of the day, Suella Braverman has defected to Reform.

Edited 10 hours ago by sadoldgit

[tdmickey3]

All the rats deserting a sinking ship to another rat infested ship

[sadoldgit]

It’s funny how all of the Tories defecting to Reform slag off the Tories when they were part of the reason the Tories were so crap.

Never trust a Tory said Farage, who now leads Tory 2.0.

 

[iansums]

18 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

It’s funny how all of the Tories defecting to Reform slag off the Tories when they were part of the reason the Tories were so crap.

Never trust a Tory said Farage, who now leads Tory 2.0.

 

To be honest, that's politicians in general sadly.

[Farmer Saint]

This is surely hurting Reform? Taking all the shit Tory MPs who are already tainted, rather than fielding new, semi-unknown and untainted candidates. I dunno.

[badgerx16]

1 minute ago, Farmer Saint said:

This is surely hurting Reform? Taking all the shit Tory MPs who are already tainted, rather than fielding new, semi-unknown and untainted candidates. I dunno.

Given the publicity in the last couple of years over the SM history and other activities of Reform candidates, they don't have any that are "untainted".

[tdmickey3]

4 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

This is surely hurting Reform? Taking all the shit Tory MPs who are already tainted, rather than fielding new, semi-unknown and untainted candidates. I dunno.

Most of them originate from the area close to taint

[revolution saint]

1 minute ago, Farmer Saint said:

This is surely hurting Reform? Taking all the shit Tory MPs who are already tainted, rather than fielding new, semi-unknown and untainted candidates. I dunno.

One of the things polling has shown up is that a lot of potential reform voters have reservations over of a lack of experience so the theory goes that bringing in experienced Tories will rectify that.  Not sure it will and, as you say, they're tainted and can only really demonstrate "bad" experience.  It'll probably also damage the appeal of Reform as a genuine alternative.

Personally I'm quite looking forward to the in-fighting they're famous for;  Jenrick, Braverman and Zahawi didn't join to play second fiddle for long.

[Turkish]

They don’t get my vote until Pritti Patel is confirmed 

[hypochondriac]

55 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

This is surely hurting Reform? Taking all the shit Tory MPs who are already tainted, rather than fielding new, semi-unknown and untainted candidates. I dunno.

It's a cost benefit analysis surely. The big thing is they need to show they aren't just a bunch of chances and need some people involved with experience of government and leadership. The downside as you say though is they will be tainted with previous failures. A difficult balancing act for sure.

[sadoldgit]

1 hour ago, iansums said:

To be honest, that's politicians in general sadly.

There is an old saying, “It doesn’t matter who you vote for, the Government always gets in.”

Having said that, some are a lot worse than others.

[Farmer Saint]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

They don’t get my vote until Pritti Patel is confirmed 

Ol' Stumpy has got to be next.

[Farmer Saint]

42 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

It's a cost benefit analysis surely. The big thing is they need to show they aren't just a bunch of chances and need some people involved with experience of government and leadership. The downside as you say though is they will be tainted with previous failures. A difficult balancing act for sure.

I can't believe they're doing any sort of cost benefit analysis of it. They've got Lee Anderson FFS.

[sadoldgit]

41 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Ol' Stumpy has got to be next.

Apparently David Frost could be the next one. What happened to the prominent Labour member who was supposed to defect?

Great comment from Jonathan Pie today. Reform aren’t even the Tory-lite party anymore. They are the full blown Tories with guest star Nigel Farage.

[Farmer Saint]

4 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

What happened to the prominent Labour member who was supposed to defect?

Andy Burnham now...

[hypochondriac]

1 hour ago, Farmer Saint said:

I can't believe they're doing any sort of cost benefit analysis of it. They've got Lee Anderson FFS.

You could argue that the very reason they need some more experience and serious politicians is because they have the likes of Lee Anderson. 

[hypochondriac]

35 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

You could argue that the very reason they need some more experience and serious politicians is because they have the likes of Lee Anderson. 

Not sure why that's funny? From their perspective, having some more heavyweight politicians like Jenrick with some recognition will help them combat claims of inexperience and being fringe loons amongst the general public even if there are obvious downsides as well.

[badgerx16]

7 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Not sure why that's funny? From their perspective, having some more heavyweight politicians like Jenrick with some recognition will help them combat claims of inexperience and being fringe loons amongst the general public even if there are obvious downsides as well.

Having Jenrick on board is not going to help counter accusations of grift.

[hypochondriac]

12 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Having Jenrick on board is not going to help counter accusations of grift.

Whatever you think of him, he has more legitimacy amongst the general public. Certainly compared to someone like Lee. He's more electable for Reform than someone like Lee Anderson.

Edited 5 hours ago by hypochondriac

[Holmes_and_Watson]

For what it's worth a conservative, not MP, who worked one of the rapid fire iterations of the previous regime, made the following points:-

Despite being in the government, the defectors were the ones trying to support the right of the party, only to be prevented from doing that.

The recent pronouncements from the Tories, trying to be reform lite, does not match what's going on in the party.

That there were a considerable number within the party that wanted it to be more to the left, in liberal democrat territory.

This has resulted in Reform getting a lot of experienced politicians, keen to show that Reform are the only ones really placed in that right side of the traditional conservative position.

[Gloucester Saint]

4 hours ago, Turkish said:

They don’t get my vote until Pritti Patel is confirmed 

Are you Lighthouse in disguise?

[Gloucester Saint]

The only surprise this time was that she took so long, given the constant rumours in autumn 2024.

Trying to claim Suella as a coup is a bit like Wolves unveiling Mario Lemina and praising his PL experience and great professionalism and attitude shown at Saints….

That said, Badenoch screwed up with the mental health jibe in the original PR. Had to from her as well going by rumours of their first shadow cabinet in opposition. 

[ecuk268]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

Whatever you think of him, he has more legitimacy amongst the general public. Certainly compared to someone like Lee. He's more electable for Reform than someone like Lee Anderson.

 

[iansums]

1 hour ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

For what it's worth a conservative, not MP, who worked one of the rapid fire iterations of the previous regime, made the following points:-

Despite being in the government, the defectors were the ones trying to support the right of the party, only to be prevented from doing that.

The recent pronouncements from the Tories, trying to be reform lite, does not match what's going on in the party.

That there were a considerable number within the party that wanted it to be more to the left, in liberal democrat territory.

This has resulted in Reform getting a lot of experienced politicians, keen to show that Reform are the only ones really placed in that right side of the traditional conservative position.

This is exactly the point. Many traditional Tory voters felt that their governments have been too centrist and need to move to the right for more radical policies. It is the MP’s that are also further to the right that have defected to Reform.

[Farmer Saint]

30 minutes ago, iansums said:

This is exactly the point. Many traditional Tory voters felt that their governments have been too centrist and need to move to the right for more radical policies. It is the MP’s that are also further to the right that have defected to Reform.

The ones that have been proven to be morons.

It's like a who's who of human crap.

Edited 3 hours ago by Farmer Saint

[Lord Duckhunter]

58 minutes ago, iansums said:

This is exactly the point. Many traditional Tory voters felt that their governments have been too centrist and need to move to the right for more radical policies. It is the MP’s that are also further to the right that have defected to Reform.

Exactly this. Calling Reform UK the Tory party MK2 is just wrong. The soaking wet Cameron wing of the party is still there. The more right leaning defections, the more the remaining Tory party will resemble the one all the people who will never vote for it, think it should be.
 

Let’s hope there’s more, then Rory Stewart, Grieve, Gauke etc can “ get their party back”. The electorate will then have their say, and they’ll get a shellacking which will make July 24 look like a great result. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Lord Duckhunter

[whelk]

C’mon Liz, you know you want to

[whelk]

3 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

heavyweight politicians like Jenrick

My how definitions change. The ultimate modern low substance, unethical vain politician now being considered a heavyweight

[iansums]

44 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

The ones that have been proven to be morons.

It's like a who's who of human crap.

Great work Farmer, excellent points, well made.

[Gloucester Saint]

52 minutes ago, whelk said:

My how definitions change. The ultimate modern low substance, unethical and outright corrupt, vain politician now being considered a heavyweight

 

[Gloucester Saint]

56 minutes ago, iansums said:

Great work Farmer, excellent points, well made.

If it was say Sajid Javid defecting, a long-standing and fairly solid Minister and Conservative, I’d have said that was a coup. That’s like Koeman signing Pelle or VVD. Let alone a Jeremy Hunt, very effective across several of the main Whitehall Depts. 

But Braverman? That’s signing Ravel Morrison. Badenoch was bit out of the order with the jibe, but clearly she reckons Suella is a liability and even Truss couldn’t wait to get rid of Leaky Sue. Sunak did so as soon as he thought she’d skewered herself. Her record as Home Secretary was appalling, worst ever, leaving record AS case backlogs.

Jenryck didn’t help with all of the dodgy hotel deals as Immigration Minister. He didn’t hold any of the really high offices. Ambition and track record are divergent. Sleaze on toast as well https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2024/07/controversial-ex-housing-secretary-to-run-for-conservative-leader/

Kruger is a fundamentalist loon, Dorries is a piss artist, and Sarah Pochin really doesn’t like those black and brown faces.

Edited 1 hour ago by Gloucester Saint

[Farmer Saint]

1 hour ago, iansums said:

Great work Farmer, excellent points, well made.

Ok, sorry, which one of them isn't a despicable human being? Interesting to see where your moral compass points to.

I apologise that I didn't make any points - I assumed that whether you were left/right, white/black, clever/thick, we all knew that the recent defections were from the disgraced end of the Tory dregs. Just Dizzy Lizzy, Priti my Arse and Frosty Jack to go. I genuinely, hand on heart, did not think anyone on here, save Nutty Nic, would respect any of them as politicians.

Edited 1 hour ago by Farmer Saint

[The Kraken]

18 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Ok, sorry, which one of them isn't a despicable human being? Interesting to see where your moral compass points to.

I apologise that I didn't make any points - I assumed that whether you were left/right, white/black, clever/thick, we all knew that the recent defections were from the disgraced end of the Tory dregs. Just Dizzy Lizzy, Priti my Arse and Frosty Jack to go. I genuinely, hand on heart, did not think anyone on here, save Nutty Nic, would respect any of them as politicians.

It’s an interesting question tbf. Of all the dregs that have reverted to reform, it definitely would be interesting to hear why someone would say “that’s a shame, I really like their politics”. What is it about Bobby Jenrick and Suella that makes people like Ian want to vote for them?

At least say it out loud as to why, Ian.

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by The Kraken

[iansums]

21 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Ok, sorry, which one of them isn't a despicable human being? Interesting to see where your moral compass points to.

I apologise that I didn't make any points - I assumed that whether you were left/right, white/black, clever/thick, we all knew that the recent defections were from the disgraced end of the Tory dregs. Just Dizzy Lizzy, Priti my Arse and Frosty Jack to go. I genuinely, hand on heart, did not think anyone on here, save Nutty Nic, would respect any of them as politicians.

This is an even better post, outright indignation followed by comedy genius.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

2 hours ago, iansums said:

This is exactly the point. Many traditional Tory voters felt that their governments have been too centrist and need to move to the right for more radical policies. It is the MP’s that are also further to the right that have defected to Reform.

The scale, and relative seniority, of the defections means that, like every political party, there's going to be a rebalancing. Reform presumably hoping for the new weight to make it attractive to previous Conservatives, while maintaining an olive branch to the disaffected from other parties.

At the same time though, will be those at the right of reform who will now have seen a lot of people, looking to nab top spots, arrive in their own party, and who they may consider not radical enough.

As @Lord Duckhunter indicates, if more move, the weight of who is left could then resemble a more centrist place. Caught having to pretend to be reform and not leaving enough room between themselves and Starmer to resemble a Conservative party.

By blocking Burnham, Starmer has stymied any party-wide move back left. For as long as that stands, he's holding together a broad party, and voting base. Only the Mammary Mesmirist and Corby's Boys Club to keep an eye on. That's the range any electable party needs, and Reform will be looking to get.

[rallyboy]

Fareham and Waterlooville voters overwhelmingly rejected Reform in the election.

Surely in no sensible world can it be right that the seat now belongs to the party that came 4th, this goes against the express wishes of the electorate.

By-election time?

[sadoldgit]

Of course there should be a by-election. You can bet your last Euro that Farage would be kicking up a stink if his MPs were defecting to the Tories.

She stood for election on the Tory manifesto not Reform’s. It is down to the constituents to decide which party represents them, not Braverman.