Andrew Neil backs Nigel Farage as he advises Reformers to crush Labor at next election | Politics | News
Nigel Farage is undoubtedly having a good few weeks: winning ‘Newcomer of the Year’ at the Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year awards, seeing his party lead the Labor government in a national poll and record victories in two by-elections.
And the resulting jubilation is not confined to the confines of Reform UK headquarters: veteran broadcaster Andrew Neil joins the growing chorus of politicians convinced of the threat Farage’s party could pose to Labor in the next general election.
In his last column for MailOnlineMr Neil suggested that the “stunned silence” that followed Farage’s “Newcomer of the Year” speech – in which he declared a “political revolution” and a sweep for reform in 2029 – was born from the realization that “he might just be right.” .
Highlighting Labour’s narrow victory in July, which saw Keir Starmer’s party win just a third of the total vote, Mr Neil predicted the Reform Party could become the largest party in government at the next election if it manages to overthrow the two-party system. and received around 30% of the vote, leaving the Conservatives and Labor with around 25% each.
As far-fetched as it may sound, a new poll conducted by Find Out Now found that the Conservatives were the most popular party with 26%, followed closely by Reform on 24% and Labor on 23%.
“Work seems doomed to self-destruction [and] the new Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has not yet succeeded in making himself known to the general public,” Mr Neil wrote.
Meanwhile, “reformers can campaign for oil and gas in Scotland, the car industry in the Midlands, rural farmers and against immigration and net zero everywhere”.
The party’s emergence as an outsider could be reinforced, he suggests, by the fact that Red Wall voters in the north of England feel disappointed by both the unpopular Labor government and the Conservatives. chic party.”
Reformers have no background in either party, and although Labor still pins its hopes on a party split of the right-wing vote, Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the United States last month last one should sound the alarm.
Especially if, as Mr Neil suggests, the Prime Minister repeats the mistakes of the Biden administration.
“His government is even more obsessed with net zero than Biden-Harris,” writes the former Spectator editor. “[He also] inherits a record migratory balance, but does not even bother to make it one of its so-called ‘missions’, and even less to quantify a possible reduction.”
Although opinion polls should not be given undue credence just months after the start of a new parliament, the winds of change appear to be blowing in one particular direction – and could be even more “dynamic” if rumors that Elon Musk financially supports Farage having some truth to tell them, which he has, for the record, denied.
After his first five months in power, Keir Starmer made a concentrated effort to reset the narrative in a speech on Thursday, in which he outlined six “milestones” that he said would allow the public to “keep their feet to the fire” on the political level. achievements of his government.
Speaking at Pinewood Studios, the Prime Minister pledged to improve living standards, build 1.5 million homes and reduce NHS waiting lists. However, he refused to provide a specific goal on immigration, and it is not among his “landmark” policies.
Mr Starmer said he instead saw border control as a “fundamental” part of government, separate from the “ambitious” goals he revealed in the speech.
