So, is the nightmare nearly over? According to a new YouGov poll, Reform UK is now no longer considered a main political party in the UK. Thank the heavens.
Reform’s latest series of disgraceful blunders include the perverted comments of Chris Whelan, and the downright disgusting racist remarks from Alan Feeney. In an ITV undercover documentary, Reform UK Councillor Chris Whelan was recorded talking about a female Reform candidate: “If she was my daughter, it would still be bath night on a Thursday… I’ll wash you properly this time.” Wheelan was also recorded talking about another female Reform MP saying, “I’d have been sniffing that seat as soon as she got up.” I suppose it makes sense that he’s best buddies with the equally foul Reform Councillor Alan Feeney, who referred to Muslims as “parasites” that Britain is “infested with,” adding that “no more than 1% of the British population should be non-white.”
Am I surprised? Absolutely not. Am I joyously celebrating the fact that Britain might have finally clocked on to how revolting these people and their views are? Yes!
As much as I’d love to go on about Reform UK’s consistent public failures (like Nigel Farage being booed at his rally in Plymouth after getting the city mixed up with Portsmouth, or the major police investigations for Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick and deputy leader Richard Tice), it’s also worth appreciating that there are other factors behind Reform’s steep drop in popularity. It doesn’t take a great historian to notice there is a glaringly obvious link between major economic depression and a subsequent rise in political extremism — just look at the fascist and communist rises after the economic turbulence of the 1920s.
It’s no secret that the world suffered after the pandemic. Economies were crippled, and we all felt the loss (at least all of us that don’t have a billion pounds to our name). And in the aftermath? People became fed up with the leadership status quo.
Obviously, Britain recognised the Tory’s abject failure to handle Covid, rightfully condemning their parties and cheeky PPE deal handouts to friends, and voted them out. For most of the UK, changing the status quo meant moving to the centre-left with a Labour government, increasing public spending and welfare. For the less politically educated of our society, however, this wasn’t enough — apparently we needed to get as close to fascism as was socially acceptable, and blame an ethnic minority for the economic instability of the entire country. The only silver lining to this is that Reform has proved to be so overtly incompetent and repulsive, that even in the aftermath of one of the worst economic crises of the century, with the prime conditions for political rightwing extremism, they still can’t keep up support.
It would be remiss of me not to mention the reduction in support for the Green Party too — I’d hate to come across as biased — as they have also been recently demoted from the position of a main UK political party. Amongst contentious antisemetic scandals, the Green’s popularity has dropped, and despite having 70 seats in the House of Commons, the Lib Dems also continue to not be seen as a main political party. So are we back to a two party system? It looks like it.
The growing support for both Burnham and Badenoch suggests that Britain is crawling back to its faithful centre parties, after a rebellious few years of populist experimentation.
As we get ever so slightly further from the last economic crash, and hopefully not closer to a third world war, with Britain’s raging far-right finally seeming somewhat subdued, our domestic politics might eventually start to even out. Famous last words.
Photo by Marcin Nowak on Unsplash.
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The nightmare might be finally over: Britain’s populist hangover
So, is the nightmare nearly over? According to a new YouGov poll, Reform UK is now no longer considered a main political party in the UK. Thank the heavens.
Reform’s latest series of disgraceful blunders include the perverted comments of Chris Whelan, and the downright disgusting racist remarks from Alan Feeney. In an ITV undercover documentary, Reform UK Councillor Chris Whelan was recorded talking about a female Reform candidate: “If she was my daughter, it would still be bath night on a Thursday… I’ll wash you properly this time.” Wheelan was also recorded talking about another female Reform MP saying, “I’d have been sniffing that seat as soon as she got up.” I suppose it makes sense that he’s best buddies with the equally foul Reform Councillor Alan Feeney, who referred to Muslims as “parasites” that Britain is “infested with,” adding that “no more than 1% of the British population should be non-white.”
Am I surprised? Absolutely not. Am I joyously celebrating the fact that Britain might have finally clocked on to how revolting these people and their views are? Yes!
As much as I’d love to go on about Reform UK’s consistent public failures (like Nigel Farage being booed at his rally in Plymouth after getting the city mixed up with Portsmouth, or the major police investigations for Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick and deputy leader Richard Tice), it’s also worth appreciating that there are other factors behind Reform’s steep drop in popularity. It doesn’t take a great historian to notice there is a glaringly obvious link between major economic depression and a subsequent rise in political extremism — just look at the fascist and communist rises after the economic turbulence of the 1920s.
It’s no secret that the world suffered after the pandemic. Economies were crippled, and we all felt the loss (at least all of us that don’t have a billion pounds to our name). And in the aftermath? People became fed up with the leadership status quo.
Obviously, Britain recognised the Tory’s abject failure to handle Covid, rightfully condemning their parties and cheeky PPE deal handouts to friends, and voted them out. For most of the UK, changing the status quo meant moving to the centre-left with a Labour government, increasing public spending and welfare. For the less politically educated of our society, however, this wasn’t enough — apparently we needed to get as close to fascism as was socially acceptable, and blame an ethnic minority for the economic instability of the entire country. The only silver lining to this is that Reform has proved to be so overtly incompetent and repulsive, that even in the aftermath of one of the worst economic crises of the century, with the prime conditions for political rightwing extremism, they still can’t keep up support.
It would be remiss of me not to mention the reduction in support for the Green Party too — I’d hate to come across as biased — as they have also been recently demoted from the position of a main UK political party. Amongst contentious antisemetic scandals, the Green’s popularity has dropped, and despite having 70 seats in the House of Commons, the Lib Dems also continue to not be seen as a main political party. So are we back to a two party system? It looks like it.
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The growing support for both Burnham and Badenoch suggests that Britain is crawling back to its faithful centre parties, after a rebellious few years of populist experimentation.
As we get ever so slightly further from the last economic crash, and hopefully not closer to a third world war, with Britain’s raging far-right finally seeming somewhat subdued, our domestic politics might eventually start to even out. Famous last words.
Photo by Marcin Nowak on Unsplash.
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