Mailwatch(ed) Forum

satnav wrote: ↑Sat Jan 17, 2026 10:10 pm I'm going to make a prediction that the Labour politician who is going to jump into bed with Reform this week will be David Blunkett. If you see some of the articles he has written for the Telegraph over the last year they all seem to lean towards Reform. He has called for the suspension of the ECHR to stop the boats, he has called for a crackdown on benefits and he has opposed the government's policies on net zero.

Laura Kuenssberg asked Tice if Kate Hoey was the defector, I must admit, I'd completely forgotten about her but it's astonishing that she didn't join UKIP years ago.

She left Labour in 2019. It might be her, or Gisela Stuart who also left then. Reform types aren't always the most precise. It could be Blunkett, but I'm sure there are several Labour Lords who've got very rightwing as they've got older, and whose peerage made some sort of sense at the time.

I have mercifully avoided Blunkett's journalism, but would joining Reform help him? There's always a market for a "liberal mugged by reality", so joining Reform might not hurt. But my guess is that his appeal to the Right is stronger if he stays in Labour. Blah blah blah I'm not going anywhere blah, I'm the one who's really Labour, why should I, blah, why won't Starmer listen to me?

For conoisseurs of Labour politicians swinging to the Right, I give the case of Lord Chalfont.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alun_Gwyn ... l1979p1-18

In fairness to him, he didn't hang about in Labour, and the party was genuinely becoming much more hostile to his Labour Right politics at the time (early 70s). But he certainly hung about in the Lords, till 2015, when he was 95. God knows what he was like then. Already in the 80s, he was a strong advocate of sports tours to Apartheid South Africa.

Labour's Lords reform may be modest, but at least Chalfont would have been forced to retire 15 years earlier.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Sun Jan 18, 2026 3:27 pm For conoisseurs of Labour politicians swinging to the Right, I give the case of Lord Chalfont.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alun_Gwyn ... l1979p1-18

In fairness to him, he didn't hang about in Labour, and the party was genuinely becoming much more hostile to his Labour Right politics at the time (early 70s). But he certainly hung about in the Lords, till 2015, when he was 95. God knows what he was like then. Already in the 80s, he was a strong advocate of sports tours to Apartheid South Africa.

Labour's Lords reform may be modest, but at least Chalfont would have been forced to retire 15 years earlier.

Another Rhyming Slang politician, similar to Jeremy Hunt.

Oboogie wrote: ↑Sun Jan 18, 2026 2:44 pm

satnav wrote: ↑Sat Jan 17, 2026 10:10 pm I'm going to make a prediction that the Labour politician who is going to jump into bed with Reform this week will be David Blunkett. If you see some of the articles he has written for the Telegraph over the last year they all seem to lean towards Reform. He has called for the suspension of the ECHR to stop the boats, he has called for a crackdown on benefits and he has opposed the government's policies on net zero.

Laura Kuenssberg asked Tice if Kate Hoey was the defector, I must admit, I'd completely forgotten about her but it's astonishing that she didn't join UKIP years ago.

She was more likely to join the DUP.

I'm pretty sure she is still in the DUP.

The Weeping Angel wrote: ↑Sun Jan 18, 2026 4:25 pm I'm pretty sure she is still in the DUP.

Her Wiki makes no mention of the DUP. It did however inform me that she left Labour in December 2019 (which I either never knew or had forgotten) so, in light of that, I think it's a stretch to call her a Labour defector.
It's either someone else or Reform are bullshitting again - either is possible.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Sun Jan 18, 2026 10:21 am Blunkett would likely get a hefty discount on that figure. I’ve no idea why anyone would choose to live in a hotel.

A radio caller revealed he lives permanently in a Berkshire hotel as it is cheaper than paying “astronomical” rent.

Speaking to LBC on Tuesday (26 November), listener Matthew shocked host Tom Swarbrick when he explained he has moved into a budget hotel in Reading.

Matthew, who is partially disabled and needs to be close to the city centre, said that his new home saves him from paying for council tax, bills or contracts.

“In a way, that is genius”, said Swarbrick, likening the caller to Steve Coogan character Alan Partridge, who lived in the fictional Linton Travel Tavern hotel. https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/r ... 73541.html

Kate Hoey has never been in the DUP.

She also stopped being a Labour Party member about seven years ago.

So it’s not her.

Gisela Stuart told Beth Rigby unequivocally that it isn’t her, either.

In other news, Fargle has apparently announced that the deadline for further Tory re-treads to sign up to Reform UK is the date of the local elections on 7 May. No more Former Tories (or former Labour MPs, if Farage’s own rumour mill is to be believed) will be allowed in after that (aye, right). It’s an attempt by Fargle to fend off the inescapable accusation that Reform is nothing more than a care home for distressed former Tory failures.

If it was a serving Labour MP, Farage would be shouting about it. I'll pick Glasman as he's an attention seeking twat with few friends in the party.