A recent survey from the Popular Conservatism group has revealed 53% of Conservative Party member support merging with Reform, while a striking 70% advocate for a closer relationship between the two parties. The numbers suggest that a large portion of the Tory base sees synergy with Reform as the best way forward. Another poll pointing to who the real LOTO is…
The realisation that Reform’s momentum is far from waning pushed the PopCon lot to hold a conference event posing the question: how do you solve a problem like Reform? The conclusion seemed to be the Tories need to find a way to reunite the right to fend off a growing Reform Party. As Annunziata Rees-Mogg succinctly put it, “We failed to deliver on being Conservative.” A return to common sense policies and proper Tory values, with unity behind a leader being essential. Slightly ironic, given that even those in PopCon can’t agree on a single candidate themselves…
Reform are already taking the Commons by storm, and they’re showing no signs of slowing down. The party’s machine is in full swing, opening up a slew of jobs for party members—covering everything from finance and research to video editing for full-time or internships roles. Loyalty pays…
One title in particular — a £50,000-a-year Regional Director post — has already seen over 150 eager applicants since it was advertised just yesterday morning. Meanwhile, “broke” CCHQ has been slashing jobs and shutting down departments as donations dry up. Reform, on the other hand, are cracking on with setting up over 100 local branches to marshal its 75,000 paying members. The real opposition…
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg issued a stark warning to the Tories last night, saying none of the leadership candidates have a cure for the threat of Reform. He told the grim message to GB News last night:
“The candidates have been good at identifying the problem. But what is the cure when the party is untrusted and Reform has pinched our finest clothes?”
Meanwhile, the candidates are desperately throwing out numbers on a legal migration cap in their efforts to appeal to Reform voters. A reminder: Cameron promised to cap the numbers the tens of thousands. Last year net migration was over 700,000. And over half of Tory members think a merger Nigel’s “real opposition” would improve Tory chances of winning at the next election…
Suella has done her first interview since confirming she won’t stand for leadership of the Tories. When asked by Chopper how she felt at that moment, she said she was sorry to her supporters:
“You know I did have a lot of support from members of the party, I had 10 MPs who were prepared to sign my nomination form to get on the ballot. I was sorry to them because they decided to back me, I was sorry to the thousands of Tory members who had written to me in recent weeks urging me to go forward. But you know, I have to read the room. In Parliament I didn’t have the support to proceed and so it’s better for everybody.”
The Tories also got a convoluted threat of Suella’s long-rumoured Reform defection: “I’m not going to defect to Reform. And I hope I’m not driven out to Reform by my colleagues.” Stay right…
“New kids on the block” Reform have been getting to grips with Parliament this week. Getting lost in Portcullis House is a rite of passage…
Formal roles have been divvied out:
They’ll be looking forward to having some fun in Parliament while the Tories are busy navel-gazing…
Josh Simons, newly elected Labour MP for Makerfield who also happens to be executive director of Starmerite think tank Labour Together, has been making quite the song and dance of his powers of persuasion. At his acceptance speech and in subsequent media interviews he told the story of a Reform voter, Patricia, who he valiantly re-educated:
“She had a Reform UK poster outside her house. She was going to vote Reform, she joined Reform as a party member. After speaking to her for half an hour, 45 minutes, it was very clear to me that she essentially thought that who she voted for in a parliamentary election made no difference to her life. But when I explained how a Labour government could make a difference to her life, she was willing to place a bet on change but that bet was tentative, it was full of scepticism, and our job now as a Labour government is to make sure we demonstrate that that bet was worthwhile for her and for millions of others like her.“
An inspiring story. The only problem is, some people involved dispute several of the facts. Patricia herself goes on record now to say she actually voted Reform, donated £50 to the party when the election was called, and had convinced all her friends and family to vote for Farage’s party. On seeing Simons’ self-congratulatory tweet thread, she says:
“He had no right to use my photo and now all my friends and family will think I’m a traitor voting for Labour when I’ve told them all to vote Reform“.
In Simons’ Twitter story (which has been seen 130,000 times) , he goes on to say that Patricia complained about a local overgrown alleyway, which he immediately had dealt with. Turns out she also disputes that – some Reform volunteers turned up after the fact and strimmed it themselves. Looks like Simmons’ powers of persuasion may only be matched by his talent for creative writing…
