Will Makerfield force the Right to unite?
Oliver Dean
The pact question will not go away, but it is also not yet the right question to be asking. The right question, for now, is whether conservatism can make itself compelling enough that the answer becomes irrelevant.
—
Farage is factoring in that delivering what Reform supporters expect is not as easy as they thought
Giles Dilnot
The likelihood of any deal with the Tories seems to have greatly diminished. The question ‘why not’? – to which there are many good answers – doesn’t.
—
Why, despite everything, I just can’t join Reform
Peter Franklin
Some people think that his party is a personality cult. But that gets it backwards. The real problem with Big Nige is that if he didn’t have such a firm grip on Reform, it would fall apart.
—
Ten years on, this Government is still trying to reverse Brexit – not harness its opportunities
John Redwood
There are so many opportunities to Brexit if only we would cut tax rates and remove damaging regulations. Going back in would be ruinously expensive and would lower our growth rate with all the extra regulatory and tax burdens it would impose.
—
Reform cannot win London, but the Conservatives can
John Moss
The only prospect of a Reform win in the Mayoral race was to edge the Conservatives out of second place in the first round, then take Conservative second preference votes to overtake Labour. That is a mountain they are not going to be able to climb based on the numbers from last month.
—
Aaron Jacob
Where we work harder than they do, knock on more doors than they do, and cover more ground than they do, we can win.
—
I made a mistake defecting to Reform. They are not a serious party
Robbie Lammas
Despite policy disagreements, the Conservatives are fundamentally united by shared values – like one big family. Reform are like one big HMO – they don’t like each other and are united by grievance alone.
—
Lord Ashcroft
Last month I surveyed 850 members of Reform UK, asking about their priorities for government, their attitudes to Britain, Conservative defectors, how they see prominent figures inside and outside the party, whether they trust elections, and how they think the civil service and the political establishment would react to a Reform victory.
—
I went to the opening of the brand new CCHQ and met the man who inspired me to be a Tory
Simon Whelband
What struck me most was the atmosphere. The Party has endured a difficult few years and nobody is under any illusions about the scale of the challenge. Yet there was a genuine sense of optimism in the room. People were not dwelling on the past; they were talking about the future.
—
John Healey’s resignation is proof the government has lost the ability to make hard choices
Tommy Birch
Healey’s critique, that the plan is backloaded when the danger is front-loaded, that the Treasury has prioritised fiscal comfort over national security, and that the armed forces are being asked to operate with reduced readiness, is not a partisan argument. It is a strategic one.