What a bloody chancer. If he had said that his political beliefs were more closely aligned with Reform, then fair enough, but he is pretty much saying that he thinks he has more chance of retaining his job by jumping ship.
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Never understood how an elected MP can can just switch parties.
The voters in his constituency might have voted for the Conservative party rather than for him personally.
Now this constituency is represented by Reform, who the voters didnt vote for.
If he wants to leave the Conservative Party he should stand down and by election should be called for that constituency.
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I’m surprised there have been no rumblings of a leadership challenge within the conservatives. If they’re willing to lose vores and seats to reform then i cant see howxthe party survives
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It’s a loose loose for anyone who takes it on.
edit - in many ways the current chair holder is perfect to take the brunt of the heat and fall.
I think the only way the Conservatives stand a chance is bringing Rupert Lowe into the fold (convince him to become a Tory MP), and elect him as leader. He’s the only one who’d fracture the Reform vote. There’s quite a few in the Reform base who prefer him to Farage. If you look at the movement he’s set up - Restore Britain(not a political party), it’s batshit crazy, but we’re at the point where the electorate seems to want either a fruitcake (Farage), or a nutty fruitcake (possibly Lowe).
Would the remaining fragments and Tory party donors be willing to go there to stand a chance? I don’t know, but I think it’s the only way of halting Reform in their tracks, and it’d give Labour an opportunity to press the reset button of ditching Starmer for a more emotionally connectable leader who is social media savvy, and potentially avoid the carnage in 2029 if Reform is elected.
I think the Conservatives may pull the trigger on Bad Enoch in 2026
That assumes that the traditional One Nation Conservative supporter would still vote for them. They maybe voted for Boris Johnson because of the constant cries of “but Jeremy Corbyn” but I don’t think you can take them completely for granted.
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Yes, that’s true, and I guess it’s whether they’d be willing to go that far and take a punt on someone like him to try and avoid being completely finished as a party.
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Where Reform are winning is by convincing people that they will be different. I suspect they wont, but that does leave an opportunity for someone to actually look at politics in the UK and propose something wildly different. But I suspect they cant be any of the same faces unless they propose something very radical.
Provided political and military support for a genocide. Though that’s obviously not what Musk is referring to
It should trigger a by-election.
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Does reform have much of a platform beyond immigration and nebulous things like “taking our country back”?
The “immigration” angle is clearly popular among a certain percentage of people in this county right now, which could include our neighbors, work colleagues, even our family or friends?
Yet, what do many of them even understand about it, apart from the hysteria being whipped up about those who may look or sound different to themselves?
All of this “we want our country back”? What does that even mean? Want it back from where? From whom? Of course, it seems that they would prefer a white population, like it’s 1957 again, and no doubt that played its part in Brexit, but the last time I looked, the UK is over 80% white, so what is it these people are actually afraid of? Their own shadows?
And, as for claiming it as “our country”, excuse me you dummies but it’s not just your country. It’s everyone’s. Same with the flags, which they purport to respect yet are shaming them in just the same way with their ugly, bigoted views and their nasty, racist behaviour.
So, yeah. Reform is different because it’s being allowed (through persistent press and tv coverage - BBC especially - and a weak response from government) to spread their poison and embolden those who complained for too long that, “you can’t say anything these days”, to actually come out with greater frequency and visibility to express all of these twisted thoughts.
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Setting them up to fail with that attitude - history and politics are both very important and a Hons I from a top university can help them have a much more positive impact than you realise.
The path is their own. I will not influence it - indeed I do not make such comments/jokes in their presence, as u highlight. Ultimately my angst is with any university education. I was part of an intake of about 300 in Biological sciences and I am likely only one of 3 that is still plying the trade as it were… So History and Politics is fine, and as I think I mentioned, as long as they are passionate and committed to it - then all good.
So why doesnt it?
Not really. They have announced some policy stuff. Financially you could drive the Titanic through it. It is the Truss budget on steroids. Otherwise it’s all about immigration and some soundbites of reopening coal mines in South Wales and the blast furnaces in Port Talbot. Oh yes, scrapping green energy stuff.
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Because it’s an absurd anachronism of our parliamentary democracy?
There are no rules requiring the resignation of an MP who leaves one political party for another. A convention that the Member changing parties does not resign to fight a by-election accords with the arguments of Edmund Burke in the late 18th century. This MP, himself a rebel in a number of policy areas, considered that a Member was a representative rather than a delegate. Historically, the Commons has acted on the principle that all Members of the House of Commons are individually elected, and voters put a “cross against the name of a candidate”. While decisions on candidates may be affected by their party labels, MPs are free to develop their own arguments once elected, until it is time to face the voters in the next general election.
I am aware of that, which is why I called it anachronistic.
The idea that people vote for a local candidate rather that a party is no longer valid. Crossing the floor largely amounts to electoral fraud.
Another one