[Tubby Isaacs]

I think Reform polling bear where they are now would be sufficient to focus the mind for lots of people. There wasn't any polling in North Herefordshire to lead us to vote Green, but it was clear that Labour and the Lib Dems weren't really bothering. Those parties lost 19.4% between them.

[Abernathy]

ITN was doing a couple of “vox pop” interviews with ordinary working class voters in the once Labour stronghold of Bolsover. I think it’s these sort of things that annoy me most. Two erstwhile Labour voters opined that It was “time to change - perhaps to Reform”. Perhaps it was the fault of the reporter, but there was nothing further. No exploration of why it was supposedly time to change , nor why it should be to Reform. You were left with the distinct impression that these people were considering voting Reform for no other reason than that they are new, and they want a change. No exploration or consideration of what a Reform/Farage government would mean for them in reality. None whatsoever - a completely irrational and capricious decision with minimal consideration of anything of any significance.

[Tubby Isaacs]

21% of Bolsover voted for UKIP in 2015, even with the Tories running on an EU referendum and having a presentable leader. No great news that Reform might do well there when the Tories are led by Badenoch.

[Andy McDandy]

Point out the dismal track record of Reform councils and MPs, and they'll tell you they don't care. All MPs are corrupt, and the council has always been useless. They want something else, anything else. They don't care about the how and why, they just know that they don't want this.

I don't know how to politely deal with them.

[satnav]

Bolsover is an odd kind of place. Dennis Skinner was the MP there for 45 years. For much of that time he traded on his links to the mining industry in an area where mining was the main source of employment. After the mines closed he relied on the fact that he was an hardworking constituency MP. He was also anti-EU so probably pulled in many of the voters who have since switched to UKIP or Reform.

Bolsover council has been run by Labour for donkey's years which has led to a lot of complacency. Recently a number of councillors have stood down following complaints of bullying and corruption. So this may explain why many people in Bolsover are considering switching to Reform.

Whilst the town of Bolsover is the centre of the constituency other parts of the constituency have grown over the years. Shirebrook used to be a very rundown town but in recent years the town has grown very prosperous mainly as a result of an influx of migrant workers working at Sports Direct.

I think the Labour MP has worked hard in the constituency which might help her cling on come the next election. Bit if it comes down to a two horse race between Labour and Reform, Reform could well nick it.

[Youngian]

Jason Statham is from Shirebrook but doesn't sound like he's been there for a very very long time.

Skinner could also rely on his man of the people reputation as an honest says like it is MP who sticks to his principles. Having never stepped up to the plate in his life to make tough decisions that piss people off.

[The Weeping Angel]

An MP for nearby Bassetlaw has an interesting idea how to beat Reform.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpd9544889po

The government should fit solar panels to "pensioner bungalows" as part of a strategy to combat Reform UK, a Labour MP has said.

Jo White, the MP for Bassetlaw, said voters needed to see a "tangible benefit" from Labour's climate policies - and she called for grants for heat pumps and solar panels to be given to "working people" not just those on benefits.

White made the policy proposal as MPs brainstormed ideas on how to fight back against Nigel Farage's party at a fringe meeting at Labour's annual conference in Liverpool.

The opening days of the conference have been dominated by debate about how to beat Reform, which continues to lead Labour in the opinion polls.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband pledged his Net Zero policies would lower people's energy bills by £300 by 2030 by replacing expensive fossil fuels with cheaper renewables.

But the benefits are yet to be felt as energy bills have continued to rise due to spikes in gas costs, which White said felt like the government was "taking the Mickey out of my constituents".

[Abernathy]

Farage is complaining that Starmer’s criticisms of him and his party’s policies have put him at risk of violent attacks from “antifa”.

What bollocks. Farage is no more in danger of violent attacks on him as a consequence of Keir Starmer’s conference speech than he was before Starmer even opened his gob. He is also not in the slightest bit worried about being at risk of violent attack, despite dishonestly claiming to be.

Farage is of course, a liar, and a racist hypocrite with an ever-ready eye for trying to accrue political capital. And trying to win political capital is all he is doing with this ludicrous whinge about being put at risk of violence.

Call him out.

[RedSparrows]

That mysterious 'antifa' that is apparently behind all the violence and death in... the US... and also apparently Clacton, because... reasons. This is the same shit the Yanks are saying about literally any violence at all (often right-wing), even January 6th (the contradictions in their stories are utterly insane, of course). Say it enough and the tanked up goons on both sides of the pond believe it, and it's all the excuse they need to act tough and even commit some violence themselves.

It's hot air and blather, but for the permanently online amongst his fans, it will make Total Sense.

[davidjay]

Nobody, but nobody, will climb onto their high horse faster than a populist who gets a bit thrown back at them. And Antifa doesn't meaningfully exist in the UK.

[Abernathy]

Also, the bloke that murdered Charlie Wotsisface wasn't from "Antifa" was he? In fact, wasn't he a MAGA supporter?

And of course, the man that murdered Jo Cox MP was a far-right "Britain First" supporter.
And the man that murdered David Amess MP was an Islamic State sympathiser - hardly "antifa".

[Tubby Isaacs]

The government should fit solar panels to "pensioner bungalows" as part of a strategy to combat Reform UK, a Labour MP has said.

Jo White, the MP for Bassetlaw, said voters needed to see a "tangible benefit" from Labour's climate policies - and she called for grants for heat pumps and solar panels to be given to "working people" not just those on benefits.

White made the policy proposal as MPs brainstormed ideas on how to fight back against Nigel Farage's party at a fringe meeting at Labour's annual conference in Liverpool.

The opening days of the conference have been dominated by debate about how to beat Reform, which continues to lead Labour in the opinion polls.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband pledged his Net Zero policies would lower people's energy bills by £300 by 2030 by replacing expensive fossil fuels with cheaper renewables.

But the benefits are yet to be felt as energy bills have continued to rise due to spikes in gas costs, which White said felt like the government was "taking the Mickey out of my constituents".

Does "Dr" Jo not understand that 2030 means 2030? She's John Mann's wife, the two having apparently fallen in love sitting on stools in The Red Lion. Wouldn't be surprised if she or one of her Red Wall Caucus pals decamped to Reform at some point.

There are subsidies available to "working people" for electric cars, heat pumps and solar panels already. I note the usual elision of pensioners with the poor. GB Energy is rightly focussed on public buildings. What would the budget have to be if it were to be doing "pensioner bungalows" for free as well?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Useful reference material:

Reform UK is, by the literal definition, far right. That is not a slur or a partisan attack, it is the straightforward conclusion drawn from political science and from the party’s own words.

The far right is defined in academic literature as a family of ideologies that sit beyond mainstream conservatism, rejecting pluralism, undermining universal rights, and portraying society as a homogenous whole under threat from outsiders. It is marked by extreme nationalism, nativism, exclusionary policies, authoritarian instincts, and a constant narrative of decline and redemption. Reform UK meets every part of that definition.

Its manifesto and its leader’s rhetoric are steeped in nativism. Britain is portrayed as under siege by immigration and multiculturalism, its culture and identity eroded by outsiders, its sovereignty diminished by global institutions. Reform demands a freeze on non-essential immigration, describes multiculturalism as a failed project that has imported communities unwilling to integrate, and rails against “globalist” treaties and international law. This is not traditional conservative caution, it is very clearly far-right nativism.
The party’s exclusionary agenda is explicit. Migrants are to be deported at speed, asylum seekers sent offshore, and foreign nationals made second-class through the stripping of citizenship. A “Minister for Deportations” is promised, as if human beings were nothing more than problems to be processed. Nigel Farage’s long record of remarks about Muslims and about the “ethnic” character of voting makes clear who the targets are.

This is exclusion, it is designed to look like sensible policy, but it is designed to dehumanise.
Reform also embraces authoritarian measures that reject the basic principles of liberal democracy. It wants Britain to leave the European Convention on Human Rights so deportations can go ahead unchallenged. It calls for the scrapping of equalities law, the banning of what it describes as “transgender ideology” in schools, and the imposition of rigid cultural hierarchies. It pushes laws to police speech, not to protect liberty, but to privilege its own worldview. And Farage’s flirtation with election denialism, questioning results in Rochdale because of “ethnic” voting, corrodes trust in the ballot box itself. This is Trumpian.

The populist style runs through it all. Society is split into “the people,” defined narrowly as native and traditional, against “the elite,” condemned as woke, globalist or corrupt. The country is painted as decaying under immigration, environmental policy, and cultural liberalism, requiring radical redemption. Farage casts himself, a wealthy man with decades at the centre of politics and media, as the voice of the forgotten. It is the classic far-right script of purity against betrayal, all coming from a man deeply embedded into the elitist political circles he claims to be tearing apart.

Reform’s economic programme follows the same logic as its cultural politics. It promises deep tax cuts for corporations and for higher earners, while forcing migrants to wait years for access to welfare and penalising employers who hire them with an extra levy. Net Zero is scrapped on the grounds that it burdens “ordinary people,” even as the party reserves the benefits of growth for a narrow in-group. This is not a vision of a fair economy but a system where resources are ring-fenced for those deemed to belong, and withheld from those cast as outsiders.

Taken together, the picture is unmistakable. A party built on nativism, exclusion, authoritarianism, and an economic model that entrenches hierarchy is not conservative in any ordinary sense. It fits precisely within what scholars define as the far right. That is not rhetoric, it is classification, and Reform UK sits there by the letter and the spirit of the definition.

So, is Reform far right? You best believe it, the evidence has never been more clear!

[Youngian]

Nobody, but nobody, will climb onto their high horse faster than a populist who gets a bit thrown back at them. And Antifa doesn't meaningfully exist in the UK.

You were saying Nasty Keir says hurty words to Nigel.

[Abernathy]

Keep twisting the knife, Keir . Farage boats. Like Farage riots.

[Youngian]

Has Starmer called Alistair Campbell in?

[Tubby Isaacs]

You were saying Nasty Keir says hurty words to Nigel.

Ha ha ha, Pathetic, dish it out but can't take it.

[RedSparrows]

Nobody, but nobody, will climb onto their high horse faster than a populist who gets a bit thrown back at them. And Antifa doesn't meaningfully exist in the UK.

You were saying Nasty Keir says hurty words to Nigel.

Jesus Christ. Absolute drivel.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Has Starmer called Alistair Campbell in?

Not a bad idea...

[Abernathy]

The confected outrage from Reform, ridiculous, absurd and hypocritical as it is, is at least being well-co-ordinated across the Party’s front-line team of wankers. As well as the frog-faced cunt himself, Tice and Yusuf have been popping up all day on news media to perform the (no doubt) centrally prescribed full confected pearl-clutching act.

It’s transparently absurd, and utter hypocrisy. For the party that welcomed Lucy Connolly, a self-admitted racist who pleaded guilty to inciting race-hate driven violence and served gaol time for it, to its conference platform and lauded her as some sort of folk hero to complain of being the victim of racially-incited violence, goes some way beyond even the rankest hypocrisy.