Reform UK discussion

[styles]

So who's expecting more to come out about Farage this weekend?

I expect we've probably got as much as we're going to for the foreseeable future. Anything else which comes out will probably be the result of the internal standards investigation or a police investigation, neither of which are likely to report anything by the weekend.

The question will be whether the by-election gets called before or after recess I expect.

 

[35B]

I expect we've probably got as much as we're going to for the foreseeable future. Anything else which comes out will probably be the result of the internal standards investigation or a police investigation, neither of which are likely to report anything by the weekend.

The question will be whether the by-election gets called before or after recess I expect.

You may not have seen this story in the Guardian - "More Reform UK transactions worth millions reported to National Crime Agency" (timed today at 17:00). Quoting the opening of the piece:

A host of transactions involving Reform UK’s most senior figures and donations to the party caused bankers to report potential money-laundering concerns to the National Crime Agency, a Guardian investigation has found.

On Tuesday, the Guardian revealed that the undisclosed £5m gift provided to the Reform leader, Nigel Farage, by a cryptocurrency billionaire shortly before the 2024 general election was reported to the NCA.


It can now be revealed that, separately, banking staff judged that transfers of funds between Richard Tice, the party’s deputy leader, a major donor, Fiona Cottrell, and the senior party figure and convicted fraudster George Cottrell, required further investigation, according to finance industry sources.

Suspicious activity reports (SARs) raised by bankers were passed to the NCA for examination.

 

[Broucek]

I have very mixed feelings about the "deep state" but having something to nobble Truss or Farage perhaps stops us going down the sad path the US has followed... And I say that as someone of the (centre) right rather than left of politics

 

[thenorthern]

How many people are actually driving that frenzy? And how many of those on your streams are resident in the Clacton constituency, though? There are something like 75,000 people registered to vote there - I'd be surprised if the social media frenzy touched more than a few hundred.

Also Clacton has a higher than average age, the average person in the United Kingdom is 40, according to the ONS the average person in Clacton is 50 with nearly 30% of the population over the age of 65.

The median age in Clacton-on-Sea (town) is 50 years (2021).

16.3% of people in Clacton-on-Sea (town) are under 16 years old, and 29.8% are aged 65 and over. For context, the England average was 18.6% and 18.4%, respectively. https://assets.publishing.service.g...5d299c71177bd1a/_WITHDRAWN_Clacton-on-Sea.pdf

 

[edwin_m]

Nigel Farage / Reform UK will easily win in Clacton. The only opposition to them winning is the Conservatives who at the moment are a bit dysfunctional so unlikely to win. Restore Britain could gain the seat but it's unlikely.

Any claims that Labour, the Liberal Democrats or the Green Party could win Clacton are completely misguided.

Does that show they were more attacked than Farage, or merely that those attackers succeeded?

If this really comes down to Nigel Farage vs Count Binface he won't be able to claim much of a victory simply because his only opposition is a joke candidate no matter the percentage. It'd be the equivalent of bragging about beating a blind man in a game of darts.

Who's going to start a Binface thread?

 

[alex397]

How many people are actually driving that frenzy? And how many of those on your streams are resident in the Clacton constituency, though? There are something like 75,000 people registered to vote there - I'd be surprised if the social media frenzy touched more than a few hundred.

With average Clacton residents perhaps not on social media and still reading newspapers, there is also the factor of whatever The Sun, Daily Express, Daily Mail tells them who to vote for.

 

[D1537]

Also Clacton has a higher than average age, the average person in the United Kingdom is 40, according to the ONS the average person in Clacton is 50 with nearly 30% of the population over the age of 65.

And - somewhat linked to age - Clacton has 30% of the population with no formal qualifications (UK average 18%) and 21% with a degree or higher (UK average 37%).

In the Brexit vote, lower educational standards and higher age were the two main demographic drivers of those voting Leave, so it is unsurprising that Clacton has had both a UKIP and a Reform MP in the last decade.

It depends where the tipping point is where even those demographics run out of patience.

 

[wanderingriver]

At the time of writing, according to pollcheck.co.uk, the candidates/parties for the Clacton by-election are:

• Nigel Farage - Reform UK
• Count Binface
• Laurence Fox - Reclaim Party
• Candidate TBC - Rejoin EU Party
• Candidate TBC - Monster Raving Loony Party
• Candidate TBC - Climate Party
• Kai Stephen - British Democrats
• Adham Alkhatip - The Forward Party
• Marc Berger - Independent

Link can be found here: https://www.pollcheck.co.uk/by-elections/clacton

Wikipedia says Ollie Granger is also running as an Independent candidate but the page for the by-election on Wikipedia keeps changing constantly

 

[Intercity_225]

I really hope that Binface wins

 

[Killingworth]

I really hope that Binface wins

We all know another comedian who surprised the world with his stand against Putin and Trump!

 

[JD2168]

One of the most odd moments of this rediculous by-election is Count Binface being interviewed on Radio 4 Today programme & by BBC Breakfast with Sarah Campbell managing to keep a straight face

 

[Brightonboy]

One of the most odd moments of this rediculous by-election is Count Binface being interviewed on Radio 4 Today programme & by BBC Breakfast with Sarah Campbell managing to keep a straight face

I watched the interview with Count Binface which I thought was a ludicrous piece of television - but if he is going to be a leading candidate in the election I guess he is entitled to some airtime.... I did, however, spend some time trying to identify the voice; the best I could come up with was that he sounded like Henning Wehn!

 

[Chuffing Heck]

I have very mixed feelings about the "deep state" but having something to nobble Truss or Farage perhaps stops us going down the sad path the US has followed... And I say that as someone of the (centre) right rather than left of politics

Conveniently nothing is ever mentioned about all the fraud
lie-bour and con-artists get up to!

 

[Harpo]

Conveniently nothing is ever mentioned about all the fraud
lie-bour and con-artists get up to!

Some examples to back up your assertion about Labour & Tory fraud?

 

[styles]

At the time of writing, according to pollcheck.co.uk, the candidates/parties for the Clacton by-election are:

• Nigel Farage - Reform UK
• Count Binface
• Laurence Fox - Reclaim Party
• Candidate TBC - Rejoin EU Party
• Candidate TBC - Monster Raving Loony Party
• Candidate TBC - Climate Party
• Kai Stephen - British Democrats
• Adham Alkhatip - The Forward Party
• Marc Berger - Independent

Link can be found here: https://www.pollcheck.co.uk/by-elections/clacton

Wikipedia says Ollie Granger is also running as an Independent candidate but the page for the by-election on Wikipedia keeps changing constantly

I completely forgot Laurence Fox existed. I remember him running in the Uxbridge by-election. He spoke at great length about how people want rid of Sadiq Khan, yet Labour returned their best result in the constituency's history, and the best result since 1966 in its predecessor. Turns out, people actually sort of like ULEZ.

I'm surprised he never ended up as a Reform candidate though. He'd have far better odds.

 

[GusB]

I watched the interview with Count Binface which I thought was a ludicrous piece of television - but if he is going to be a leading candidate in the election I guess he is entitled to some airtime.... I did, however, spend some time trying to identify the voice; the best I could come up with was that he sounded like Henning Wehn!

Oh, I'd so love for that to be true, especially in the event that Binface actually won; defeated not only by someone in a silly costume, but by a foreigner too.

 

[zero]

Farage (the name) sounds more foreign than Count Binface's real name of Jonathan David Harvey.

 

[Bantamzen]

It would be funnier and more effective if the novelty candidates didn't stand. Farage uncontested and with no opportunity to claim any sort of renewed mandate through a test of public opinion would be more damaging to him. As it is, we will get liminal fascist Lozza Fox of the Divorced Dad party and one or two unfunny attention seekers like Binface.

I disagree. Farage having to stand against the novelty candidates is the last thing he needs. Already social media is exploding with Count Binface memes, and long discussions on if he will win. Farage played this hand because he wanted to take back the narrative, he knew the parliamentary investigation was going against him as was public opinion even amongst Reform supporters. So he wanted to re-take control of it, putting himself front & centre. And fighting a campaign against established parties / candidates would have given him exactly that. "I'm fighting the establishment" & "The establishment are after me" would have been the rallying calls to his loyal Clacton base, and they would have lapped it up so that when he rode victorious back into The Houses, he could play the victim card when it came to looking at the money he's received, claiming to have the "people's mandate".

But instead someone else, in this case Binface, has completely stolen the narrative and is now the main character. He probably won't win if we're being completely honest, but he doesn't have to. Even if he just gains a decent haul of votes to make Farage sweat a bit, he'll have done more damage to Farage than any of the major parties could dream of. And instead of his victory lap of Parliament, Farage's return will be to howls of laughter after being forced to beat a man with a bin on his head. It's his worst nightmare, having the limelight taken away from him, and in this case by a comedian. Worse still, unless he has some real skeletons in his cupboard, Binface is pretty much immune from anything Farage can throw at him. I've seen mutterings from some Reform supporters on social media on how they want to who is funding Binface, but thus far Farage has for some reason avoided this particular line. I can't image why...

I honestly think this is the one scenario Team Farage never envisioned when they hatched the resignation plan. They thought they were onto a winner, trying to claim back the high ground. Instead they've crashed the bus into a farce, one the likes of scriptwriters for Monty Python or Spitting Image could not have hoped to dream up. Unless Farage has a number of aces up his sleeve, I think he has just shot himself in the foot, and I honestly think this could be the beginning of the end for this chapter of his political career. I wouldn't even rule him dropping out of the Clacton election yet, because can you imagine the damage to him if Binface actually did win?

 

[Class73Electro]

Count

I think he has just shot himself in the foot, and I honestly think this could be the beginning of the end for this chapter of his political career. I wouldn't even rule him dropping out of the Clacton election yet, because can you imagine the damage to him if Binface actually did win?

If Binface does win then Farage will be toast. He will forever be remembered as the MP who lost to a man wearing a bin. His "success" of Brexit will be really overshadowed!

 

[Intercity_225]

Count

If Binface does win then Farage will be toast. He will forever be remembered as the MP who lost to a man wearing a bin. His "success" of Brexit will be really overshadowed!

Didn't Farage get beaten by a Dolphin in the 2010 election?

 

[SuspectUsual]

Over the last day or so I’ve seen various interviews with other “leading” figures in Reform where they’re defending Farage.

Tice, Jenrick, Pochin and Cunningham.

They are all terrible interviewees and I think to anyone who is undecided they’ve done more damage than good for Reform and Farage. Cunningham is especially awful. (Imagine being worse in front of a microphone than Pochin!!)

But of course that probably won’t make a difference because opinions are already so entrenched

 

[dosxuk]

Didn't Farage get beaten by a Dolphin in the 2010 election?

He wasn't the incumbent then, and he didn't trigger that election to try and regain control of the narrative surrounding himself.

I'm surprised he never ended up as a Reform candidate though. He'd have far better odds.

By the time Reform was getting going he'd already become too unsavoury even by their standards.

 

[Intercity_225]

He wasn't the incumbent then, and he didn't trigger that election to try and regain control of the narrative surrounding himself.

That's true. So that means it'll be even more funny and even more humiliating than 2010

 

[BAFRA77]

Farage was trying to get publicity for He Himself Personally by standing as it is normally convention that the Speaker is generally elected to their constituency unopposed.

 

[edwin_m]

I honestly think this is the one scenario Team Farage never envisioned when they hatched the resignation plan.

I think they realised he'd backed himself into a corner and chose the least bad option, realising there were no good ones. Perhaps didn't expect the main parties to decline to stand, or to do so within a few hours. Someone should have known about the precedent of David Davies when he did the same on a point of more genuine principle, and none of the main parties put up a candidate.

Farage could have avoided falling into this hole by declaring the donations, although it's possible that might have hit his rise to relative popularity after the 2024 election.

 

[oldman]

I don't like novelty candidates normally, but it would be good if there were a lot of them, preferably in animal costumes - in recent times we have had a dolphin, a fox and a gannet, perhaps we could have a skunk or even a slime mould (not sure about the costume). It would be nice to see Farage on election night in his suit and tie and a fixed grin standing next to a menagerie.

Binface standing as a candidate putting forward ideas is a bad idea. He can easily be presented to Reform voters as a typical metropolitan, educated, soft-on-migration liberal looking down on 'ordinary common-sense folk like us' and used to get the faithful out to vote.

 

[dosxuk]

Farage could have avoided falling into this hole by declaring the donations, although it's possible that might have hit his rise to relative popularity after the 2024 election.

He could have done, but he's demonstrated that he wants zero scrutiny of his income. Personally I find it more working that there is a section of our society who are that devoted to the Farage cult that they see nothing wrong with this situation. This is mainly the same section that kicked up a massive fuss over Starmer being given a free VIP box at a football match - would it really be less dodgy for him to be accepting multi million pound donations for his personal use?

 

[martin butler]

I don't like novelty candidates normally, but it would be good if there were a lot of them, preferably in animal costumes - in recent times we have had a dolphin, a fox and a gannet, perhaps we could have a skunk or even a slime mould (not sure about the costume). It would be nice to see Farage on election night in his suit and tie and a fixed grin standing next to a menagerie.

Binface standing as a candidate putting forward ideas is a bad idea. He can easily be presented to Reform voters as a typical metropolitan, educated, soft-on-migration liberal looking down on 'ordinary common-sense folk like us' and used to get the faithful out to vote.

If Count bin face, were to win, then the real winners would be the people of Clapton, because they would at least get a local MP who isn't off on his various side jobs, instead of the one he was elected to do, To serve the interests of the people of Clapton, not of faceless billionaires who pay him to do their bidding,

 

[dgl]

I just hope there are some headlines along the lines of "It's time for Binface to take out the trash!"

Imagine if there was a debate between Farage and Binface, that'd be TV gold!

 

[Tetchytyke]

ersonally I find it more working that there is a section of our society who are that devoted to the Farage cult that they see nothing wrong with this situation. This is mainly the same section that kicked up a massive fuss over Starmer being given a free VIP box at a football match

The double standards are fascinating. Starmer was a season ticket holder at Arsenal (which he paid for) and the club offered to put him in a VIP box for fairly obvious security reasons- theirs and his.

Apparently this was a sign of awful sleaze, but being given an undeclared £5m by a Thai crypto and arms dealer- Harborne's stake in QinetiQ seems to fly under the radar, even in The Guardian- for security isn't anything to be upset by.