[Andy McDandy]

UKIP version 1 - the Alan Sked-led lobbying group - were quite narrow in their approach. They argued that the UK would be better off economically outside the EU. Which is a point of view.

The leave vote in 1997 was split between them and Jammy Fishpaste's referendum Party, which was the libertarian, small state don't tell me what to do outfit.

UKIP as we know it came from both of them, but more so from the BNP and other assorted far right parties. And I'd say that the major driving force behind it was 9/11, and the legitimisation (as many saw it) of Islamophobia, and subsequent xenophobia.

During my childhood in the 80s and 90s, the main target of the NF, BNP etc tended to be African-Caribbeans, characterised as stupid, lazy, criminal and savage. British Asians tended to be overlooked, or dismissed as wimps - passive, meek, almost frustratingly law-abiding, almost invisible. That changed, first with the Salman Rushdie affair, and then with the Bradford riots. Suddenly we were seeing angry Asians on the news. The first Gulf War didn't help either - if your local school was anything like mine, any kid with the quite common surname Hussein would have been mercilessly bullied.

And then, 9/11 and 7/7. Suddenly, talk of the enemy within and a presumption of guilt that had to be disproven, came to dominate. In that time, the Tories flirted with racism, but frankly it was more about Travellers than Jihadists. The BNP had too much baggage - bad memories of the past. Attempts to smarten up the party by Nick Griffin led to nothing. The suits didn't matter because they couldn't hide the bovver boots.

So the members (but not the recognisable faces) go to UKIP. Fargle rises in the public eye. He's one of those "Hey, I treat everyone equally, there's no such thing as [thing]ism, everyone's along for the ride (but never forget whose car it is)" types - barely tolerable at the best of times, but when things aren't so good, it becomes very clear who gets kicked out of the car first. "Hey, we've all got it tough, but you don't hear us moaning about it, Sambo!". He also dumbs down the 'sovereignty' debate to football-style jingoism, shot through with Loaded-era postmodernism. Ha ha, the Frogs and Krauts can't take a joke.

And after that, well, you know how it goes.

[Boiler]

An excellent post, Andy.

I knew someone who, in his own florid words, 'proselytised' for the Referendum Party. When that vote came in 2016, his self-published magazine had a massive "NO" on it.

Some of us took comfort that he never lived to see the exit from the EU he so craved.

[davidjay]

The one you can't remember has gone.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... signs-whip

[Tubby Isaacs]

Newspaper allegations incoming, but the sound of it. If he'd engaged in fraud around the Covid, that would put the tin hat on it.

[kreuzberger]

"Fraud and waste." Is farage booked for the weekend telly round?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

30p Lee suggesting it was no big deal because it was before he became an MP, or, as in the words of Kit Marlowe, 'Thou has committed fornication: but that was in another country, and besides the wench is dead'.

Or in his case, beat the wench up and got nicked.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Reform are big fans of by-elections. Perhaps Rupert Lowe could volunteer. Surely "Restore Britain" requires a new mandate?

I think Reform would probably beat Rupert Lowe pretty easily. Surprised Farage hasn't called for one.

[The Weeping Angel]

Yeah, but no one in the cabinet has run a business.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... c-services

Reform UK’s local election wins have led to teenagers being put in charge of vital public services, including a 19-year-old who is overseeing children and family services while at university.

Two months after the elections in which Nigel Farage’s party took overall control of 10 councils, concerns have been raised about the experience of candidates who have been appointed to roles with wide-ranging responsibility.

At Leicestershire county council, the Reform councillor Charles Pugsley, 19, has been made the cabinet member for children and family services.

Pugsley’s elevation has caused particular concern, as has that of Joseph Boam, a 22-year-old who has been made the deputy council leader and handed the adult social care portfolio, despite having previously expressed the view that “depression isn’t real”.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Pugsley.

Says it all...

[Samanfur]

The Addams family would have more class.

[Watchman]

Your Leicestershire correspondent reports……..”flags are the order of the day, and the only topic for discussion”

[RedSparrows]

Where's the 'common sense, university of life' brigade now?

[Tubby Isaacs]

I’m amazed that none of them seem to have zeroed in on special needs education yet. It’s a very big part of the budget. The message that “lots of these kids are just badly behaved” is grimly sellable to Reform’s voters, I’d have thought. Say what you like about Elon’s Doge, they’d have spotted the big sums. Reform have been distracted by flags and DEI.

[Boiler]

Your Leicestershire correspondent reports……..”flags are the order of the day, and the only topic for discussion”

Whilst here in Lincolnshire the roads are still crumbling. I've no idea what LCC are up to, they're not very communicative but I did notice that a new replacement road sign (replacing one squashed by a falling tree during the winter storms) now has, unlike all the others, the flag of Lincolnshire on it. I very much doubt that when I remove the ginormous Hebe from my front garden that they'll be in a rush to replace the sodium head on the street light (also in my garden) with an LED now.

I’m amazed that none of them seem to have zeroed in on special needs education yet. It’s a very big part of the budget. The message that “lots of these kids are just badly behaved” is grimly sellable to Reform’s voters, I’d have thought. Say what you like about Elon’s Doge, they’d have spotted the big sums. Reform have been distracted by flags and DEI.

I thought it was ED&I in this country? But like you Tubbs, I'm surprised that SEND hasn't come under the microscope for the reasons you cite: maybe that's what's hastened the decision of my nephew and his wife to get out of teaching and have a career change.

[davidjay]

I’m amazed that none of them seem to have zeroed in on special needs education yet. It’s a very big part of the budget. The message that “lots of these kids are just badly behaved” is grimly sellable to Reform’s voters, I’d have thought. Say what you like about Elon’s Doge, they’d have spotted the big sums. Reform have been distracted by flags and DEI.

It's the low-hanging fruit first. Flags are a lot more visible than kids in schools.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I'm thankful we didn't have elections in Herefordshire this year. We might have got Reform, just like Worcestershire next door.

This very weekend the Tory council are resurfacing the (quite appalling) main road with extra money they got from the Labour Government. It's a fairly low bar, but not one I'd be confident in PM Farage and Council Leader Billy Britain to deliver. Long Live The Uniparty.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Mr "I pushed her and she fell" Reform MP's scandal looks disappointingly survivable.

As Adam says, the clues were all there. Had I looked at his CV I'd have picked up straight away that "facilitated" massive deals was code for "I did the admin". Having picked up that he did admin, then it was clearly rubbish that the claim that he took a pay cut to become an MP was complete rubbish. Administrators in City firms get paid very well because they're generally excellent, and it's not worth scrimping on pay for someone who helps everything run smoothly for the moneymen, but no way would he have got paid £100k.

And there's more. He also claimed to have worked for Lehman Brothers (if he went there at all, it was a summer holiday placement, they went bankrupt when he was at university). And he says he was a "portfolio manager", which is a specific role that requires oversight by the FCA. The FCA have no record of him.

Dreadful but cheeky chappy survivable, sadly.

[Tubby Isaacs]

He's resigned the whip, so I guess that means Farage doesn't have to answer any questions. One question he won't have to answer is "would this guy have squeaked home by 98 votes if the electorate had known he was a massive liar who'd been to jail for violence towards his girlfriend?"

Actually, Reform would probably win a by-election in this constituency and in Rupert Lowe's constituency, so I shouldn't give him ideas.

[The Weeping Angel]

Oh god we're screwed.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I think in her case you can judge a book by its cover.