Reform UK discussion

[JamieL]

Does anyone know who picks up the cost of a byelection? I know the costs for local government elections are paid for by the local authority but was wondering if that also applies for Westminster byelections? Just keen to know whether it is just the people of Clacton, or all of us, are paying for this Farage vanity event? Noting that it is not an insignificant cost - the average byelection was priced at £239k in 2014 (so about £340k in today's money).

The average cost of Westminster by-elections since 2010 has been £239,529

Source:

Small Data: How much do by-elections cost?

By-elections cost more per constituency and per voter than general elections.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[martin butler]

If Farage wanted to do all those things, he could just pull out and leave parliament for good. Losing to Binface would be the ultimate humiliation, such that even if he's no longer under investigation, his grifting potential plummets.

Not so sure, he would be claiming victimhood, milking how the "establishment" knobbled him, to grift donations, and to play the victim card, both here, and in the US, whilst he can, until his appeal begins to wane

 

[AlterEgo]

Does anyone know who picks up the cost of a byelection? I know the costs for local government elections are paid for by the local authority but was wondering if that also applies for Westminster byelections? Just keen to know whether it is just the people of Clacton, or all of us, are paying for this Farage vanity event?

Central public funds - known as the Consolidated Fund.

So we are all paying for this charade.

 

[SuspectUsual]

If Farage loses (or doesn’t stand) he’ll make himself honorary life president of Reform

 

[Purple Train]

If Farage loses (or doesn’t stand) he’ll make himself honorary life president of Reform

As he was, I think, before he received Harborne's £5m and stood in Clacton.

 

[The Ham]

You also have to ask why are these people feeling so disenfranchised? Is it because they are being told on an hourly, daily basis that its immigrants that's the reason why everything is pared to the bone?

Someone who at least listened at school, and isn't easily manipulated i would hope sees through Reform, and their true nature, it's about the big donors, the 1 % who want more but expect not to pay towards it,

The reason why we have a housing problem is because we as a nation, didn't build enough of the houses we need, small starter homes, prised that people can afford them, we slashed state help, called people scroungers, demonised them, yet most of them, were actually in work,

We cut back schemes that helped parents, such as early start, affordable childcare, adult learning classes, and made to believe, there was no such thing as society, it was everyone for themselves.

It seems to me that population growth in a country that refuses to build housing and sufficient infrastructure is a recipe for price rises and asset inflation and indeed has been a recipe that has been working well recently.

The issue with housing is only in part due to population growth, for example when comparing the need for more houses due to:
Population growth
Shrinking households

For every 10 homes needed 4 are related to population increases and 6 are due to falling household sizes.

A lot of the latter is down to our aging population (for some reason older people don't have as many small children at home as younger people).

Obviously don't things like "your granny living in a big house is why you can't afford a home" isn't going to win votes (and isn't really all that true either) it's much easier to say that someone "other" is the issue.

The fact that actually those "other" are likely to be living in larger households (for example 4 young people households sharing, a family with 3 or 4 children, a generational household, etc.) is also likely to mean that those "other" are likely having a lighter impact on housing than is typically expected.

 

[Harpo]

A lot of the latter is down to our aging population (for some reason older people don't have as many small children at home as younger people).

Obviously don't things like "your granny living in a big house is why you can't afford a home" isn't going to win votes (and isn't really all that true either) it's much easier to say that someone "other" is the issue.

The fact that actually those "other" are likely to be living in larger households (for example 4 young people households sharing, a family with 3 or 4 children, a generational household, etc.) is also likely to mean that those "other" are likely having a lighter impact on housing than is typically expected.

With stamp duty especially, there is no incentive for older folks rattling around overly large properties to downsize.

If the older folks rattling around oversized properties were incentivised to downsize, i’m sure we’d get the usual gerontophobic responses.

 

[speedy1]

The issue with housing is only in part due to population growth...

That's all nice and academic but the solution is the same: build more houses, as I mentioned.

 

[jfollows]

Central public funds - known as the Consolidated Fund.

So we are all paying for this charade.

Reform offered to pay for this election, but - rightly - this offer was declined, thin end of the wedge, political parties paying for elections, the look would have been terrible.

 

[brad465]

With stamp duty especially, there is no incentive for older folks rattling around overly large properties to downsize.

If the older folks rattling around oversized properties were incentivised to downsize, i’m sure we’d get the usual gerontophobic responses.

Burnham reportedly wants to scrap stamp duty as part of a tax overhaul that includes bringing land value tax in, however major tax policy overhauls take time and could be contentious is no concrete manifesto pledge exists to support this.

 

[Bantamzen]

Part of me is beginning to wonder, might it actually be beneficial for Farage to lose this election?

Think about it, if he wins, he faces an investigation, that most likely will see him facing another by- election, if he chooses to stand again,
If he loses, that all stops, and he is then free to carry on with his grifting, He might still face police questioning over money laundering claims,
but he still has the means to evade justice, if he were to decide to, if he's already out of the country,

Reform, have hit their peak, and no longer can they use Starmer as a ploy, especially if Bernham fights them head on,

To be fair it's entirely possible that Farage might have thought about forcing a new by-election, get beaten by one of the main parties, whinge about the establishment being after him and continuing with his grifting. However losing to Count Binface... That's going to destroy his grifting. Who the heck is going to invest in a bloke who lost to a guy with a bin on his head? That's a career ending moment, which is why Reform are going full tilt in trying to dig the dirt.

 

[jon0844]

Central public funds - known as the Consolidated Fund.

So we are all paying for this charade.

What's more Reform knows this, but keeps saying (Nigel and Richard have repeated it) that they'll pay for it.. and I guess the base either assumes they did, or if they find out they didn't it can be blamed on the establishment wanting to rip the public off - further proof of why Nigel needs to win.

It's all very well calculated.

 

[Harpo]

It's all very well calculated.

Practically abandoning the race for a major prize in Manchester to send the cavalry to Clacton to rescue the leader’s vanity flounce doesn’t feel at all ‘well calculated’.

 

[jon0844]

Practically abandoning the race for a major prize in Manchester to send the cavalry to Clacton to rescue the leader’s vanity flounce doesn’t feel at all ‘well calculated’.

Reform is Farage. You are right, it's dumb. The whole resigned and standing again is dumb.

But that doesn't mean there isn't a strategy to what Nigel is doing, with everyone toeing the line (including on social media where everyone has now been sure to have mentioned the word-of-the-week 'Establishment' multiple times).

 

[JamieL]

Reform offered to pay for this election, but - rightly - this offer was declined, thin end of the wedge, political parties paying for elections, the look would have been terrible.

The party can still make a donation of the same amount to the general fund. Are they going to do this?

 

[jon0844]

The party can still make a donation of the same amount to the general fund. Are they going to do this?

No. I think they'll settle on letting people think Nigel paid for it, or that Nigel wanted to pay for it but was undermined. Far cheaper either way.

 

[brad465]

The party can still make a donation of the same amount to the general fund. Are they going to do this?

If you would like to donate to Reform UK, don't forget to tick the box titled "grift aid."

 

[styles]

Does anyone know who picks up the cost of a byelection? I know the costs for local government elections are paid for by the local authority but was wondering if that also applies for Westminster byelections? Just keen to know whether it is just the people of Clacton, or all of us, are paying for this Farage vanity event? Noting that it is not an insignificant cost - the average byelection was priced at £239k in 2014 (so about £340k in today's money).



Source:

Small Data: How much do by-elections cost?

By-elections cost more per constituency and per voter than general elections.

www.bbc.co.uk

Taxpayers.

Candidates do have to place deposits for MP elections, which is returned if they secure 5%+ of the votes. In theory this disincentivises unserious candidates, but with crowdfunding platforms etc, raising the £500 deposit is quite easy. It does however mean that at least a small amount of the cost of the election is returned to the taxpayer. In the 2021 London Mayor election, there were I think 20 candidates with only 4 (Lab, Con, LD, Green) getting their deposits back. The ballot paper was a bit ridiculous though, and it has to be handed to voters folded (to encourage folding it up again to put in the ballot box) then unfolded (to avoid being seen as giving more prominance to some candidates above the fold). I sometimes think the deposit amount should be higher, but at the same time setting it too high will discourage lower income or less-well-off candidates who aren't fortunate enough to have a political party backing them.

But long story made short, the taxpayer pays for elections and a tiny amount is returned via candidate deposits.

I think Farage's move here shows disdain for the Clacton electorate, and for taxpayers. It would be cheaper to just produce some evidence of what he spent the £5m gift on, though I suspect there's a reason he's not doing that!

Other non-joke candidates will likely come forwards even if the major parties are giving it a swerve. Laurence Fox is in the running and again, not somebody I agree with politically, he could probably convince a fair few voters that he's better than electing a joke candidate who may just immediately step down and cause another byelection, or Farage who it seems is losing public trust. He can't do much worse than his London Mayor candidacy!

 

[SuspectUsual]

Lovely bit of performative grief from Farage yesterday, going to lay flowers outside Widdecombe’s house, just happening to have two film crews with him, and posting it on social media. As bad as Dan Wootton after the Queen died.

There seems to be no limit to Farage’s grubbiness

 

[Stathern Jc]

The ballot paper was a bit ridiculous though, and it has to be handed to voters folded (to encourage folding it up again to put in the ballot box) then unfolded (to avoid being seen as giving more prominance to some candidates above the fold).

A less obvious reason that it's useful for Ballot Papers to be folded before being handed to voters in highly contested elections where a high turnout is expected (not so likely at Clacton this time), is that they will all be folded in the same way making the sorting at the count far easier when a box full of large papers are tipped onto the table than would be the case if they had been folded randomly.

Also, at the busier Polling Stations, papers when folded similarly can sit better in the Ballot Box during the day.
The Scottish Parliament Regional Ballot Papers are usually quite a size, and in those elections where I was Presiding Officer sometimes even by the middle of the morning you would need to give the box a good shake and / or poke a ruler in the slot to pack the papers down to make a bit more room.

 

[PGAT]

Practically abandoning the race for a major prize in Manchester to send the cavalry to Clacton to rescue the leader’s vanity flounce doesn’t feel at all ‘well calculated’.

The fact that he feels threatened by Binface at all in the safest seat for them imaginable shows he is rattled.

 

[D6130]

If you would like to donate to Reform UK, don't forget to tick the box titled "grift aid."

Where's the 'like' button?

 

[Ant1966]

Where's the 'like' button?

x2. comment of the week

 

[gg1]

Reform is Farage. You are right, it's dumb. The whole resigned and standing again is dumb.

But that doesn't mean there isn't a strategy to what Nigel is doing, with everyone toeing the line (including on social media where everyone has now been sure to have mentioned the word-of-the-week 'Establishment' multiple times).

As a cheap publicity stunt there is a certain logic to it, keeps Farage in the headlines at no risk to himself, as in a conventional by-election it's a safe Reform seat.

His mistake was in not considering the dual possibilities of the other parties refusing to play along with his games, and that an independant candidate of broad enough appeal to hoover up the anti-Farage vote of everyone from the hard left to one nation Tories would stand.

 

[JamieL]

If anyone is after some entertainment, then I can recommend yesterday's Any Answers on BBC Radio.4. A Reform supporter phoned in and attempted to make an argument that Count Binface represented the establishment. It was absolutely hilarious. Where do these people come from?

 

[jon0844]

If anyone is after some entertainment, then I can recommend yesterday's Any Answers on BBC Radio.4. A Reform supporter phoned in and attempted to make an argument that Count Binface represented the establishment. It was absolutely hilarious. Where do these people come from?

As you'll see when everyone in the UK suddenly learned the word 'sovereignty' and were able to start using that to hide their real motives for Brexit (getting rid of foreigners), so too we've seen that the right-wing chat groups have all told the base to talk about 'Establisment'. I suspect Google could provide stats to show a huge leap in searches for the word - most likely with terms like 'What does Establishment mean'.

It's quite funny how obvious it is, especially when you then see the online bots that cut and paste the same things on X, Facebook and other social media pages. They'll all say the same things, and that's because they're programmed to.

The problem is that bots can't vote. They can skew opinions and steer narratives, which can influence voting, but if Nigel loses the average man who is sensible enough to see that an individual person who might get thrown a few quid to stand, but isn't on the payroll of someone like George Soros or whatever conspiracy theory people want to believe today, isn't part of any establishment, he's got a problem.

Nigel wanted to beat the big parties to prove support for him, which in his mind means all charges and accusations are dropped because.. reasons.

It's sheer desperation at this point, but Nigel is at least able to avoid more questions on his finances as long as he keeps the focus on the murder of Ann Widdecombe and his 'opinions' that it was premeditated and possibly political. The family has asked for it not to be made political, but Nigel doesn't listen to families of victims when it suits him. He's a truly horrible self-serving man.

 

[GusB]

If anyone is after some entertainment, then I can recommend yesterday's Any Answers on BBC Radio.4. A Reform supporter phoned in and attempted to make an argument that Count Binface represented the establishment. It was absolutely hilarious. Where do these people come from?

Yes, that did make me chuckle slightly. It must have been quite difficult for the presenter to keep a straight face when she was talking to that caller!

Link here if anyone wants to have a listen (around the 13-minute mark):

Any Answers? - 11/07/2026 - BBC Sounds

Listeners respond to the issues raised in the preceding edition of Any Questions?

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[The Ham]

Yes, that did make me chuckle slightly. It must have been quite difficult for the presenter to keep a straight face when she was talking to that caller!

Link here if anyone wants to have a listen (around the 13-minute mark):

Any Answers? - 11/07/2026 - BBC Sounds

Listeners respond to the issues raised in the preceding edition of Any Questions?

www.bbc.co.uk

I quite liked the presenters comment after the end of that call, which was something along the lines of:

"There's a number of candidates who have thrown their hat, or dustbin lid, into the ring"

 

[AlterEgo]

Harvey may or may not be "the Establishment" but he is exactly the sort of person Reform imagine they're up against in their quest for political power. And they'd be right. Harvey does represent a sort of London-centric elitism and cosiness with the mainstream media. The fact he is being treated as a proper candidate by the media only adds to this - he's been on LBC, Today, BBC News for example. He's the anti-Farage, he isn't a satire.

 

[The Ham]

Harvey may or may not be "the Establishment" but he is exactly the sort of person Reform imagine they're up against in their quest for political power. And they'd be right. Harvey does represent a sort of London-centric elitism and cosiness with the mainstream media. The fact he is being treated as a proper candidate by the media only adds to this - he's been on LBC, Today, BBC News for example. He's the anti-Farage, he isn't a satire.

The issue Reform have is that even with the above, Count Binface has been much more media literate in a way in which Reform (and specifically NF) haven't been doing to the same extent.

In part as they have a much harder sell than their opponent.

Even though the comedian behind Count Binface has produced work for the likes of the BBC, that's something which is going to be hard to sell as a bad thing to a lot of people.

Yes, it may go down well with their core voters, the issue is, that for a lot of the rest of the UK (I.e. not the 25% who late June early July were saying they'd vote for Reform) probably don't care.

Why's that matter, they aren't likely to vote in Clacton?

Well, it makes it harder for the wider population take Reform seriously if their big attack is that Count Binface used to produce material for the BBC and that's why he's the establishment and even though several people at the centre of Reform are millionaires, they aren't.

Even if they are new money and "the establishment" is old money, that's not something someone who is struggling to make ends meet its going to be too bothered by. They are more likely to think that the rich are all the same, that their friends will give them money, put them up in their homes and otherwise help out other rich people

As such it'll be interesting to see what impact this has all had on the polls when they are next updated.