Tag Archives: reform-uk

‘Ahead of seismic local elections, what we know about Reform’s ability to put boots on the ground for the campaign’, The Conversation, 20 January 2026

What we used to think of as Britain’s two main parties, Labour and the Conservatives, seem more than happy to postpone as many of this year’s upcoming local elections as possible. Labour insists the delays are needed because of ongoing local authority … Continue reading

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‘Churchill’s defection didn’t kill the Tories. Robert Jenrick’s certainly won’t’, Daily Telegraph, 19 January 2026.

On May 31 1904, a high-profile MP defected from the Conservative Party and joined its main rival. Not everyone believed his claim to be driven by principle rather than personal ambition. Yet it took two years and an election that … Continue reading

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‘Even tactical voting will not help Labour survive a Tory-Reform pact’, Independent, 3 December 2025.

As the English philosopher RG Collingwood didn’t quite say, “the only clue to what a man can do is what a man has done”. Given that Nigel Farage denied he would do any kind of deal with Boris Johnson’s Conservatives – until, … Continue reading

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‘A Reform UK government isn’t inevitable’, Interview with LSE’s Joanna Bale (no relation!), 18 September 2025.

With Reform’s recent success in local elections and a parliamentary by-election, do you think we’re witnessing a temporary populist surge or the beginning of a longer-term realignment in British politics? I’m rather cautious about the idea of a realignment or, … Continue reading

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‘Who are Reform members?’, House Magazine/PoliticsHome 4 January, 2025.

Nigel Farage has been banging on about ‘the People’s Army’ for over a decade. Turns out he’s finally recruited one. Reform UK says it now has a membership of well over 100,000, overtaking that of the Conservatives. So, who are those members, … Continue reading

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‘2024 proved two-party politics is in its death throes. It could be Nigel Farage’s opportunity’, Big Issue, 1 January 2025.

If the 2024 election proved anything – aside from the fact that the majority of people who bothered to vote rid of a government that had run things for 14 long years – it reminded us that the UK is no longer a country … Continue reading

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‘Out of the box: the Tory case for electoral reform’, House Magazine/PoliticsHome, 18 July 2024

Britain’s first-past-thepost (FPTP) electoral system has always been something of a sacred cow to the country’s Conservatives. But it’s one they now need to think seriously about slaughtering.  At the beginning of the 20th century, most of the Conservative Party’s … Continue reading

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‘UK election: Reform and Green members campaigned more online – but pounded the pavements less’, The Conversation, 27 September 2024 (with Paul Webb and Stavroula Chrona).

It’s party conference season in Britain, a chance for members to meet and talk through their successes and failures from the election campaign – and start talking strategy for the next. Perhaps inevitably after it suffered such a crushing defeat … Continue reading

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‘Don’t count Nigel Farage out just yet’, Unherd, 25 May 2024.

Who knows what Nigel Farage is really up to? Apart from Farage himself, that is, though he sometimes seems to have trouble making his mind up. But now he has, what are we to make of his decision not to stand for … Continue reading

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