The cost of exposing the charlatans keeps increasing. The Americans failed to learn about Donald Trump in 2016-20 and are learning an even more expensive lesson with his second term. We had a dose of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss over here. A new 'mega poll' from Yougov now appears to show that Nigel Farage is on his way to Downing Street after the next election. The United Kingdom has already suffered serious economic and reputational damage at the hands of the Reform UK leader, since he is largely responsible for Brexit. It seems we must now suffer a catastrophic collapse to show that Farage is actually incapable of doing anything with the slightest trace of competence.
Years ago, men and women like these would have been rooted out at an early stage, well before they got anywhere near power. Political parties tended to avoid idiots, and idiots probably felt out of place in those circles, and weren't attracted to the intellectual challenges. Not so today, where the average IQ at the top of the main parties has reached an all-time low in my opinion.
So now, entire nations need to be trashed to demonstrate to simple minded voters that loud-mouthed demagogue and morons are not usually very good at running governments.
We may be able to avoid such a fate if people pay attention to Reform UK's 'trial run' in local government, where they are engaged in what looks like political farce. In Warwickshire, the newly elected leader of the county council has just resigned, citing (apparently recently diagnosed) health problems, leaving his 18-year-old deputy to take over as interim leader. Warwickshire CC has £1.5 billion in assets and £5 million a year in revenue.
Even The Telegraph has seen the light: Reform has failed a basic test of political organisation in Warwickshire.
Their article points to "Reform’s ongoing struggles with professionalism" and asks, "Was it really the case that, of the 23 elected, the best two leaders the councillors could find were a man sufficiently unwell to do the role for six weeks, and a lad who has barely started shaving?"
In neighbouring Worcestershire, the newly elected Reform UK cabinet met for the first time. The meeting lasted 20 minutes with one item on the agenda. This was a report on the council’s accounts. Unfortunately, the cabinet member for finance was missing, and so was the member for business. Others turned up late. Leader Jo Monk refused to answer most councillors’ questions, and the meeting was mostly occupied by a row over attendance.
In Kent, nine out of 22 scheduled meetings have been cancelled since the local elections, including legally required meetings of important committees like governance and audit. An opposition councillor said the cancellations were "shocking" and questioned Reform's ability to lead the council.
Meanwhile, in Nottingham, the leader of the Conservatives on the County Council has called the start of Reform UK's leadership there "shambolic" after it was reported that council meetings had been cancelled and rescheduled to give them more time to prepare. Reform leader Mick Barton dismissed the criticisms as "political rhetoric from the opposition." Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?
At a national level, Byline Times reports that Nigel Farage made a mistake in claiming that cutting government spending on ‘DEI’ programmes – representing diversity, equality and inclusion schemes designed to reduce discrimination could save £7 billion a year. The real saving apparently is £27 million, about 1/250th of the actual total. One MP even raised it in the House of Commons.
Farage has also been accused of 'fantasy economics' for also suggesting we could save £225 billion over five years by scrapping net-zero projects. But, it turns out most of the £225 billion is 'investment' that comes from the private sector. Jill Rutter, senior fellow at the Institute for Government, told The Standard: “Cancelling private investment does not save the Government money.” It is insane. I don't think anybody in Reform UK is actually capable of reading and understanding reports.
This chaos is a harbinger of things to come if Farage and Reform UK Ltd ever get elected to parliament in numbers. The Yougov poll doesn't indicate an overall majority; they are forecast to win 271 seats, but if the Tories can hang on to 60 seats, you can guarantee a coalition would be formed with Farage in No 10.
None of these shenanigans in Reform's local authorities show any signs of slowing Farage's rise to the pinnacle of British politics at the moment. Eventually, it may be necessary for voters, as in the USA, to have these things forcefully explained to them in terms they understand and by example in their own blinkered lives and communities.
But don't think this will come cheap because it won't.
