*** OFFICIAL BREXIT SUNLIT UPLANDS and #MEGA THREAD ***

[OngBonga]

Reform got 4 seats with more votes than the Lib Dems, who got 72 seats. I wouldn't be fistpumping that if I thought they were a bunch of racists.

One of two things happens with Reform. Either the Conservatives sort their shit out, move back to the centre right, and win back the vote they lost to Reform, which renders Reform redundant, much like UKIP after Brexit. Or, and this is a very real possibility, the Conservatives are basically a dying party and their vote could move en masse to Reform at the next election.

Given Reform got enough votes to win 70+ seats if only their supporters didn't happen to be spread more evenly around the country rather than concentrated in particular regions, I think they have to be taken seriously.

[Poopadoop]

Reform got 4 seats with more votes than the Lib Dems, who got 72 seats. I wouldn't be fistpumping that if I thought they were a bunch of racists.

They're not ALL racists, but enough of them are that it's a big problem with their party.

One of two things happens with Reform. Either the Conservatives sort their shit out, move back to the centre right, and win back the vote they lost to Reform, which renders Reform redundant, much like UKIP after Brexit. Or, and this is a very real possibility, the Conservatives are basically a dying party and their vote could move en masse to Reform at the next election.

The Tories will never die in this country, despite themselves. They have two options: stay as they are now, basically trying to appeal to the superrich and the racists, while pretending to care about working class people. In that case they'll continue to split the right wing vote with Reform. Or, they go back to the center in which case they will have a chance of governing again someday.

The two parties aren't going to merge into some super right wing bloc, because they're just too different. Can you see the Times writing Op Eds in favour of a Toreform party? No way. They'd throw their support behind the LibDems before they did that.

Given Reform got enough votes to win 70+ seats if only their supporters didn't happen to be spread more evenly around the country rather than concentrated in particular regions, I think they have to be taken seriously.

Yes but those people aren't diehard supporters, they're disaffected Tory voters who don't like the current iteration of incompetence and chaos in the Tory party, but who won't vote Labour because they think they're a bunch of commies. It's basically a protest vote against the Tories, just like votes for Lid Dems are.

Neither Reform nor Toreform will ever get enough votes to form a gov't. The population is just too centrist, too conservative, and too reverent towards the establishment to start voting en masse for extremists. Maybe in 100 years, but not in this century.

[OngBonga]

Starmer probably has got control of antisemitism in his party. Farage needs to do the same with Reform when it comes to ultranationalism. But I think he has the will and the authority to do it. Farage himself is, as best I'm aware, not a racist. I have never seen footage of him saying something unambiguously racist. If such footage existed it would go viral.

If Farage can mould the Reform Party in his image, they have to be taken seriously. People on the centre right like him. He's not as extreme as leftists wish he was, and he has more charisma than any other politician I can think of, excluding the Monster Raving Loony Party of course.

[Poopadoop]

Farage needs to do the same with Reform when it comes to ultranationalism. But I think he has the will and the authority to do it.

Lol, the guy campaigning for him in Clacton called Sunak a Paki. That hardly seems like someone who has ultranationalism under control.

Farage himself is, as best I'm aware, not a racist.

If you lead a party full of racists, you're pretty much a racist whether you come out and admit or not. Either that, or he's just a political opportunist. Either way he's associated himself with racists and that's why he'll never be PM.

If Farage can mould the Reform Party in his image, they have to be taken seriously.

If you mean not extremist, then good luck with that. The party attracts extremists, that's their whole reason for existing. Farage is not going to change them into a Tory party.

People on the centre right like him. He's not as extreme as leftists wish he was, and he has more charisma than any other politician I can think of, excluding the Monster Raving Loony Party of course.

Right, people should vote for him because he's not as openly extremist as the extremist party he leads. Or, because he's a charmer. Remember the last time someone with a lot of charisma was PM? How did that end?

There is no way someone like Farage will ever be PM. You can dream all you want, it's not happening.

[OngBonga]

Some classic British election comedy...