REVEALED: How Farage’s Italian nightmare has shaped Reform’s evolution

BRITISH PATRIOT’S SUBSTACK

Whether you agree or disagree with Nigel Farage’s leadership of Reform, in order to properly understand why he acts as he does you need to remember the truism: “all of us are shaped by our experiences and understanding of them”.

Some people approve of Reform recruiting defectors from other parties, whereas others do not – although generally this seems to be more based on their opinion of the defector rather than a rigid point of principle.

As the roll call of defectors grows longer, and the pace seems to quicken, many are beginning to push back, arguing that if Reform is to be a truly revolutionary party it cannot be filled with political retreads but should, instead, be composed purely of untainted insurgents. Those who are responsible for Britain’s problems cannot be trusted to solve them, they say. Political virgins are better than experienced failures, they claim.

This is a persuasive argument. And yet Nigel Farage has repeatedly maintained that Reform’s lack of experienced politicians is its weakness, and that it must people who know their way around the corridors of Westminster. So why is this? And is he right or wrong?

During the press conference introducing Robert Jenrick as a new Reform recruit, Nigel Farage briefly opened a window into his soul, allowing us to see the monster that gives him nightmares. No journalist picked up on this, so I am doing so for you.

Farage mentioned that when he was a UKIP MEP he got to know the Italian political party known as the 5 Star Movement (which was a member of the same group as UKIP in the European Parliament) and he did not want Reform to take the same path, and suffer the same fate, as they did. So let me tell you about them, as this is important.

There once was a second-rate Italian TV comic called Beppe Grillo. Think of him as an Italian Les Dennis or Noel Edmonds. He became increasingly politically engaged and contemptuous of the existing political establishment. So finally, in 2009, he launched his own political party – the 5 Star Movement – which achieved immediate electoral success. But the thing is this: because Grillo was so disgusted by the existing political parties and politicians he forbade any of them from joining. He insisted that only political neophytes could join – those he deemed clean, pure and untainted.

In the 2013 general election it got 25% of the vote, more than any other single party. But that was its problem: it was a single party, and all the other political parties were in coalitions – either on the Left or the Right. But Grillo prided himself on being independent (in fact, he hated normal politics so much he even refused to stand for election himself) and his manifesto was a hotchpotch of Left- and Right-wing policies. I’m not saying that it’s wrong to take the best policies from across the political spectrum, without being rigidly dogmatic, but you do need to have a unifying philosophy, and the 5 Star Movement did not have this.

So after the election, which left Italian politics with a hung parliament and a right mess, lengthy negotiations took place, but the 5 Star Movement could not agree to be involved in any government alliance, and ultimately was frozen out and, instead, a ragbag of left-wing parties joined together to govern the country. At that point the 5 Star Movement began to disintegrate, with several of its MPs leaving to join other parties, on both the Left and Right. The party survived however and with the failure of the left-wing government, and the public growing ever more unhappy with politics, it actually grew even stronger, and at the next general election (in 2018) it gained a third of the votes. This time it was too big to be left out of a government coalition and, indeed, it became the main party of government. But their lack of either ideological consistency or experience, and their gross political and administrative incompetence meant that their first alliance – with the right-wing League – was soon dissolved, and their next alliance – with the left-wing Democratic Party – also eventually failed. They were thus exposed as complete numpties and at that point the Italian people realised they were not the answer and so at the following election (in 2022) their vote collapsed. They have never been in government again (even though, like the LibDems here, they still retain a small but devoted following of deluded morons) and have moved ever more leftwards.

So that, dear reader, is the example that Nigel Farage is determined to avoid. A party that was so obsessed with rejecting anyone who had any political baggage that in the end it was unable to govern and was an ignominious failure.

So instead Farage has adopted what I call the ‘Gladiators’ strategy: recruit a varied collection of star fighters.

There are those who have raised a couple of objections to this. The first is that not everyone agrees on who qualifies as a ‘star fighter’, with Nadine Dorries and Nadhim Zahawi probably being the most criticised. Neither would feature in any cabinet that I would put together – but I don’t think they will feature in any Farage cabinet either. Dorries was recruited partly because at the time Farage was being criticised for not having enough women on board, but mainly because she has a regular weekly column in the Daily Mail. This is one of the most important papers for Reform (together with the Telegraph and the Sun) and so she is a great recruiting-sergeant for the party.

Zahawi was even more problematic to the party base. Whereas airhead Dorries was met with a rolling of the eyes, Zahawi provoked real anger, being the man who was put in charge of the Covid vaccine rollout. His supporters will say that he was just following scientific advice, and the orders of the prime minister, and that his ‘crime’ is that he was too good at the task he was given. His detractors on the other hand will say that he should have been more sceptical of an unproven technology (mRNA ‘vaccines’) and less dogmatic about injecting everyone without a proper evaluation of the risks and benefits. Personally, I side with the latter viewpoint. Farage himself has said: “I believe in vaccinations when they’re vaccinations. I don’t think what happened with Covid were vaccinations“, but clearly thinks this is all water under the bridge.

Nigel Farage clearly also underestimated the anger that many people still harbour for what happened during the Covid crisis. I suspect that his rationale for recruiting Zahawi was that he was a former Chancellor and that Reform needs more economic credibility, and also that Zahawi is a very well connected businessman and proven fundraiser. Indeed, twice during their press conference Farage commented directly to Zahawi that he expected him to help bring in funds, and although he said this with his customary chortle you can be sure that he was deadly serious. As to the future, I doubt that Zahawi will be a parliamentary candidate for Reform; it is much more likely that he will be elevated to that politicians’ rest home known as the House of Lords, where the party is desperate for some representation.

The second criticism of the Gladiators strategy is that there is some sort of dishonour in switching parties and that those who do so cannot be trusted. Really? Would you say this of those famous switchers Winston Churchill and Enoch Powell?

The most idiotic criticism of those who defect from one party to another is that they are ‘traitors’ who have ‘betrayed’ their party. This argument presupposes that one should have loyalty to a political party, something I absolutely reject. A political party is just a means of achieving an end. It is simply a vehicle for governing a country. And that’s the point: a politician’s loyalty should be to the country – not to his political party. Indeed, I would say that it is those politicians who are loyal to their party rather than the country who are the real traitors.

A political party is a tool, nothing more. Loyalty to a party which is not doing its job is like being ‘loyal’ to a hammer when you really need a screwdriver. It is utter nonsense. So not only are those who criticise defecting MPs wrong in their logic, they actually represent all that is wrong in politics itself. Fuck the party: think of the country.

And who can blame any genuinely patriotic politician who decides to leave the Conservative party? Not only are the Tories awash with lefties who would prevent the party from ever governing from the Right, but patriots are not only out-numbered – they are unwanted. Just listen to Kemi Badenoch’s response to Robert Jenrick leaving. She said: “I am cleaning out the rubbish from the Conservative Party”. This just shows what a nasty, spiteful, arrogant and deceitful woman she is. Jenrick was on her front bench (so she is saying she appoints “rubbish” as shadow ministers!) but was also the most popular shadow minister with the party rank and file – even more popular than Badenoch herself. What patriot would want to be in a party where they are considered “rubbish” by their own leader?

So where does Reform go now? Farage has said that 7th May is the cut-off date for those wishing to defect to Reform. This is very sensible. I have previously explained that one of the most important things Farage must do is appoint a shadow cabinet. People want to know who will be doing what, and shadow ministers must be free to speak and decide policy for their allocated responsibilities. It is important that this top team is appointed as soon as possible, so if any experienced MPs are to be accommodated in it then they must move soon, or it will be too late for them to be selected for a portfolio.

I am expecting a few more defections, both from Labour as well as the Tories, and both sitting MPs and former ones. We have been promised a former Labour MP this week, and as for Tories, I think Suella Braverman, Katie Lam, Esther McVey and Sir John Hayes are all possibilities.

Any of these would strengthen the Reform team, but is important for Reform’s image to be settled long before the next election, and while defecting MPs can be exciting they can also be unsettling. So let’s get all the defections over with and then we can see the team in action and get a feel for where the party is going. This is clearly Farage’s strategy for Reform. Let’s see where it takes them!

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This article (Nigel Farage’s ‘Gladiators’ Strategy) was created and published by British Patriot’s Substack and is republished here under “Fair Use”

The sad decline of Reform UK

An old people’s home for former Tory MPs.

LAURA PERRINS

Some of my lovely readers asked that I comment on the state of UK politics. In truth, it is overdue. One (cowardly) reason I have not done so for some time is because I find it so unbelievably depressing.

I find it depressing that Islamic extremism is becoming mainstream such that police forces collaborate with their lies and cancel a football match because the Jews will be there. This is just a taste of things to come. As more councils are run by Islamists you can expect more of this kind of nonsense including schools cancelling speeches by Jewish MPs.

There are some fools out there that think this can only be confined to the ‘low hanging fruit’ of Israeli football teams and Jewish MPs. This is idiotic. Next it will be Christian MPs banned from schools for wanting to discuss the Bible or feminists banned for talking about women’s rights (there was already one of those male only 5K runs in London.)

It will be death by a thousand cuts and the ordinary British/English folk will think they can avoid the worst of it, that it can be contained. To state the obvious, the problem isn’t just the extreme Muslim MPs and councillors, it is the fact otherwise sensible British institutions such as the local police force and school are willing to go along with these cancellations. They are in truth terrified of upsetting this so-called minority that seems to increase its strength and influence by the day.

So then we turn to Reform UK. It would be nice to believe they could stop the rot, for hope springs eternal. I had wanted to reserve judgement on how effective Nigel Farage MP would be, if Reform could truly win an election and if so how much would they have to move to the so called middle ground in order to do so. But the defection and adoption of former Tory Nadhim Zahawi is the final nail in the coffin. Indeed, I agree fully with my reader and fellow Substacker All Mouth and Trouser on this ridiculous move. It is close to trolling.

As I continue to recover from the trauma of lockdown I have repressed many memories of it but I do remember Nadhim Zahawi being up to his neck in the very, very worst of the so – called Conservative party. He has the CV of the person who Reform should be keeping well away from.

Quoting from above: “Zahawi was Chancellor of the Exchequer for the Conservatives under Johnson. He also had other senior roles for the Conservative party, including Party Chairman, Minister for Children and Families, Minister for Education, Business Minister and Covid-19 vaccines Minister.

In 2023 while Chairman of the Party PM Rishi Sunak sacked Zahawi for not informing the house he was under investigation by the Inland Revenue over a £5m tax bill. Zahawi had threatened journalists with legal action if they printed the story.

This was after being caught up in the MP’s expenses scandal. 2009 it was found he had claimed £5822 for the heating costs for a stables on his country estate (he’s integrated all right) as part of his MPs expenses. He was said to be “mortified” and paid the sum back.

And just three years ago Zahawi ran to be Conservative party leader, being knocked out in the first round.

For these reasons alone Farage should never have contemplated accepting him into the party but a look at some of his quotes should seal the deal for any “Trust the plan” Faragians.”

Yup a vaccine nut. Someone who charged the taxpayer for keeping his horses warm. That’s almost worse than the duck house and moat. And he had previously been sacked for failing to declare an investigation by HM Revenue & Customs into his tax affairs. So that’s a Chancellor who had been investigated by HM Revenue and Customs. That’s Irish levels of corruption.

The people who want to vote for Reform do not want the very worst opportunists from the Conservative party. It’s ridiculous. The ‘moderates’ (so called moderates) in the commentariat have been warning for years that Reform can go the right, but the calculation must be that the further they move the right, the more voters they lose in the middle. The likes of Matthew Parris and Dominic Grieve and Anna Soubry will no longer identify or vote for them. Yes, devastating I know. As a matter of calculation though, they are probably right.

However, now Reform must make the calculation that the further they move to the ‘respectable middle’ the more votes they lose on the right. But how could it get more right wing than Reform, you may ask. Well a lot of people just won’t vote. And then there is Advance UK.

Now, I admit I don’t know much about Advance UK and I am neutral on Ben Habib. That’s not a cop out, I just don’t have the energy to take a position on every single soul in British politics. But my former editor at TCW Kathy Gyngell talks about them here and is addressing an event here.

(No, I absolutely have not been asked to plug this event in any way shape or form.)

So what can I say – go and judge for yourself.

The defection of Robert Jenrick MP to Reform is a plus, but unlikely to stop the decline. He’s competent and has a great social media presence. But he’s just one man, a very good looking man, but just one man at the end of the day. He can’t make miracles happen.

Reform now have the following former Tories: Nadine Dorries, Lee Anderson, Zahawi, Danny Kruger and Robert Jenrick. An old people’s home for former Tory MPs. A sinking ship. A reverse takeover. Call it what you will. Be as conspiratorial as you wish. In sum, the whole thing is bloody depressing. Dreadful, as you might say in Kent, part of which has been without water.

In truth this is all starting to feel a bit Irish. There are now the following parties I can name on the right: the Conservatives, Reform and Advance UK. What are their policy differences? In the first past the post system, this can’t end well. Ireland also has too many parties on the Right: FF, FG, Aontú and Independent Ireland but at least they benefit from a system of PR. It’s still silly.

I am afraid I cannot be any more positive than that. Nigel Farage MP wants to be Prime Minister and he will do anything to make that happen.

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This article (The sad decline of Reform UK) was created and published by Laura Perrins and is republished here under “Fair Use”

Featured image: British Patriot’s Substack (modified)