German comedian Henning Wehn once joked that anyone who was a child during WWII was technically on the side of the Nazis, as they were a net drain on resources.
There are several reasons why Wellingborough might (might!) be a high water mark for Reform:
This is also a lower result than what UKIP were achieving in by-elections in their prime. UKIP were getting over 20% in key by-elections, and even winning 2 seats where the incumbents defected to them.
His appeal has just been rejected, so another by-election seems likely now.Is another by-election in the pipeline? The standards committee has recommended a 35 day suspension for Scott Benton.
Potential by-election as ex-Tory MP Scott Benton faces Commons suspension
Scott Benton committed a "very serious breach" of parliamentary rules, standards watchdog finds.www.bbc.com
(Unless he resigns the recall petition process takes 6 weeks, after which the by-election will happen if enough people approve the petition, in all likelihood meaning May 2nd. for the by-election along with all the other elections on the same day.)
Rees-Mogg was inferring exactly that in an interview on Friday:
Rees-Mogg and his ilk are either in a filter bubble because they only engage with others having similar views, or it is in their self-interest for the party to move to the right.
His appeal has just been rejected, so another by-election seems likely now.
Scott Benton: Lobbying scandal MP loses suspension appeal
The decision could pave the way for a by-election in MP Scott Benton's Blackpool South constituency.www.bbc.co.uk
(Unless he resigns the recall petition process takes 6 weeks, after which the by-election will happen if enough people approve the petition, in all likelihood meaning May 2nd. for the by-election along with all the other elections on the same day)
Some did live through the after-effects of the war though. My best friend live in one of a group of prefabs sited in a gap between houses in a long row which were close to a factory that had been converted for war-work; there were still other gaps which just had the remains of foundations or parts of walls where we used to play. Some houses still had air-raid shelters in the back garden where we would go in bad weather. There were also the people who still had signs of war wounds; my father had a burn down the side of one leg caused by an ejected shell casing, to which he applied a cream every day to ease the pain, but there were worse, much worse. Parents telling you not to stare at someone with a facial or limb disfigurement caused by enemy action. We knew there had been a war, and we knew some of the impact it had had. Much may depend on where you were; I could see a factory that made ship's turbines out of my bedroom window and passed a former munitions factory on my way to school. I would have thought that for those brought up in Hull, the East End of London, Coventry, Liverpool, Plymouth and similar places, it was even more obvious.
I'm of the belief that Reform, like Ukip before them, don't have to win any parliamentary seats to be successful, they just have to make the Conservatives lose by taking away enough votes from them that Labour or the Lib Dems win instead. This in turn means their policy objectives can be achieved because the Conservatives will inevitably change their approach to stem the losses.
... with the risk that more moderate Conservative voters will stay at home, or switch to another party. I don't know what things are like elsewhere but locally, several councils have seen a rise in the size of independent groups, who appear to have absolutely no problem with forming alliances with Labour, LibDem, Green (there may even be the occasional one with the Conservatives). These seem to be the successors of the Ratepayers, who tended to be quite conservative, but they are finding they can work just as well with other parties. Their supporters may be tempted to vote Labour/ LibDem/ Green if their candidate is one of the councillors they have been working with.
Which is why, despite never having won a parliamentary seat, Farage is in some ways the most successful politician of our era, having remade the Tory party in his image.
Which debunks the notion FPTP prevents extremes getting power, the major parties just get hijacked by extremists instead (Momentum hijacking Labour is a left wing example of this).
Probably, and most of those who traditionally vote Tory will continue to do so, seemingly unaware that it's no longer the party of MacMillan, Home and Heath and hasn't been for some years. Meanwhile, the Reform candidate at Rochdale is a former Labour MP!
Not sure what to make of this particular character:
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/01/labour-mp-simon-danczuk-crisis-management-expenses
I think traditional Tory voters are only too well aware the current version is "Tory" in name only and will be as glad to see the back of them as the rest of us.
Indeed, Liz Truss' speech in America was an eye opener for sure!
Liz Truss' continued existence and influence in political circles even after all that sums up everything that's wrong with modern politics. Room temperature IQs all round.
I doubt her bank manager would agree. They are lapping it up over there (even if the MAGA crowd don't know who she is), doubtless she will be well paid. Book coming out soon so getting plenty of publicity. And all the while the people of South West Norfolk are unrepresented - she has not been seen in the House this month.
It just goes to show that you can indeed fool some of the people all of the time.
How not to do things?
