[Tubby Isaacs]

I see a member of the Welsh Assembly has defected to Reform. If she was OK in the Tories with Sunak leading it, how can it be anything but opportunistic to leave it now Badenoch is leading?

Do Reform really need a load of Tory defectors?

[Killer Whale]

I'm starting to see "they're all Tory rejects and/or carpetbaggers" from Labour activists commenting on the Reform posts my timeline. Someone obviously thinks it's a runner as a criticism. Associating them with the Tories might help Reform in Powys, but it could be an effective line over the mountains in Blaenau Gwent.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Labour have put a fair bit of effort and investment into the areas where Reform are likely to do well. So far it's not done them much good in polls, but it might start to pay off if there's a narrative to hang it on, and "Reform are Tory rejects' could be it.

Perhaps though the Barnett `Formula being unreformed is an unsurmountable problem.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Andrew Griffith is one of the biggest headbangers on the front bench. Here's his take on the India deal

Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, said the free trade agreement with India had only been made possible “because of Brexit delivered by the Conservatives”. Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, was critical of the deal when it was announced in May.

I mean, seriously? Who is this intended for that isn't going to prefer Reform?

Do they think Ed Davey didn't win enough affluent Southern seats last time? List of target seats here.

https://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battl ... l-democrat

Had the Lib Dems had the campaigning capacity last time, I think they'd have won a load of these off the Tories.

[Youngian]

The EU-India trade is scheduled to be completed before the end of the year so Griffith can compare and contrast. Doubt he will.

[Tubby Isaacs]

It’ll be a terrible sell out. Literally everything deal is interpreted to get in a talking point about the Chagos Islands.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I see the official Tory Facebook account was laughing along as Trump slagged off Sadiq Khan for doing a terrible job, despite the bad impression of Britain this stuff creates. I thought at first it much be kids running it. But it probably isn't, it's probably well paid senior employees, who think nothing of the national interest and would rather take bullshit political cheap shots.

[Tubby Isaacs]

They also had a video where they said Labour weren't building enough houses in London, but "concreting over" the rest of the country.

Again, would like to think a kid came up with that, but probably didn't. Somebody high up probably thinks that all the housing should go into one very small part of the country which is already by far the most densely populated.

Also something about asylum seekers, who were of course completely unknown before Starmer. Well, I suppose, processing the claims was becoming unknown.

[satnav]

It looks like Tory shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has been stretching the truth a bit after his recent trip to the Jungle in Calais. Early in the day there was a report that while he was in the jungle he saw somebody pull out a machete but by the time he had written the story up himself he was making out the machete was pulled out to threaten him personally which seems a bit of a stretch. I do wonder what kind of reception Philp expected to receive when he rocked up a camp set up for immigrants hoping to cross the channel. To the people in the camp he was just part of a group of suspicious looking outsiders entering the camp without good reason so it was hardly surprising that he and his friends received an hostile reaction. I wonder how Philp would react if a bunch of strangers rocked up in his back garden.