Mailwatch(ed) Forum

Credit due to a sane Tory in Essex for calling out this Reform bollocks.

In other news, Essex county council’s Reform UK leader Peter Harris has been accused by Conservative Tom Cunningham of “stoking division” over plans for a private security force to patrol near a former military base housing hundreds of asylum seekers.

Cunningham, the leader of Braintree district council, said Harris was taking a “confrontational approach” with the controversial three-month security trial to “protect” local residents near MDP Wethersfield, a former military base situated outside the village of the same name in north Essex.

In a strongly worded open letter to Harris, Cunningham condemned the plan for private security guards to patrol the area in a plan dubbed Operation Vanguard by Reform UK. In his letter, he points out that there are already eight police and community-led initiatives to tackle crime locally, that asylum seekers in Wethersfield have been victims of some crimes and that Braintree town centre is experiencing less crime than three years ago.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Fri Sep 11, 2026 2:44 pm Credit due to a sane Tory in Essex for calling out this Reform bollocks.

In other news, Essex county council’s Reform UK leader Peter Harris has been accused by Conservative Tom Cunningham of “stoking division” over plans for a private security force to patrol near a former military base housing hundreds of asylum seekers.

Cunningham, the leader of Braintree district council, said Harris was taking a “confrontational approach” with the controversial three-month security trial to “protect” local residents near MDP Wethersfield, a former military base situated outside the village of the same name in north Essex.

In a strongly worded open letter to Harris, Cunningham condemned the plan for private security guards to patrol the area in a plan dubbed Operation Vanguard by Reform UK. In his letter, he points out that there are already eight police and community-led initiatives to tackle crime locally, that asylum seekers in Wethersfield have been victims of some crimes and that Braintree town centre is experiencing less crime than three years ago.

I take some comfort from stuff like that as it's evidence that, despite Badenoch's best efforts, the Tories are still not yet the same as Reform.
It does, however, raise the question of why the fuck people like Cunningham are still in the Party?

I sometimes think, and I may be wrong, that rural councils are the last vestiges of the One Nation Tories, who see local politics as a form of community work.

In other news:

Reform receives record £36m donation from crypto billionaire

[Ben] Delo said he was donating £1m a month between now and the latest date Labour could call a general election in 2029 - but that he would give all the money up front in case the government tried to limit mega-donations in future.

Sheffield-born Delo, who has already donated £4m to Reform, has previously said he will move back to the UK from Hong Kong in order to continue his backing for the party.

Last year, Delo was given an unconditional pardon by US President Donald Trump over a Bank Secrecy Act violation.

Party leader Nigel Farage said he was "honoured and humbled" by the gift.

Humbled another convicted money launderer wants to give him some readies.

Hang on a minute, though. Isn’t Harborne still Thailand-based ? So his donations to a political party are not legally permissible ? Which is why his £5m “personal gift” to Farage is being investigated.

Did I miss something last week about donations? As apparently it was Labour’s own goal and Labour’s fault due to Bluesky or is it the usual bollocks over there.

From X For Lefties:
I'd say we're already there.

Not one but two billionaires each give GBP 36m to a one-man-show party who are under all manner of investigations with potentially crippling ramifications.

Now, we know that these crypto-bros like a flutter, but this makes practically no sense whatsoever.

kreuzberger wrote: ↑Sat Sep 12, 2026 5:58 pm Not one but two billionaires each give GBP 36m to a one-man-show party who are under all manner of investigations with potentially crippling ramifications.

Now, we know that these crypto-bros like a flutter, but this makes practically no sense whatsoever.

Unless they know something we don't.

Been promised an up-side so bountiful that it's worth the risk?

kreuzberger wrote: ↑Sat Sep 12, 2026 6:23 pm Been promised an up-side so bountiful that it's worth the risk?

Something like that.
Plus Trump may have promised to make the investigations go away.

mattomac wrote: ↑Sat Sep 12, 2026 2:12 pm Did I miss something last week about donations? As apparently it was Labour’s own goal and Labour’s fault due to Bluesky or is it the usual bollocks over there.

Yep.



Someone talking sense.

And still their fanbase will say they're anti-Establishment.

Is the UK's democracy up on Facebook Marketplace or eBay yet?

davidjay wrote: ↑Sat Sep 12, 2026 7:16 pm And still their fanbase will say they're anti-Establishment.

Businessmen with a sense of destiny. Very different from the establishment, don't you know?
They've got more money than the establishment, but as a bonus, they're fascist.