A very disappointing move by Jenrick
But is there any silver lining to any of this at all?
It is what it is now. Disappointed. Economy over culture has been chosen. Americanised Britain. Anglican Islamic Britain. You get the picture. No real change will be delivered.
Tories should have made him the leader when they had the chance, he should have chosen to fight for the leadership and reform Tories from within. For all my dislikes of Kemi as a politician, at least she showed more spine than him and stuck to her guns. Although there was no need for Kemi to come out in that zoom/teams meeting style video and kick him out. That I still think was a false move. She either should have had conversations with him and promised him the world to make him stay, or ignored it till he defected himself so she could have claimed him to be a snake for doing so.
More Tories will follow, and as I said before I think this may well signal the end of Tories. But Reform will not be an improvement, just the same version of the same old, which means even worse at this conjecture where the British are facing a real existential threat. The next 5 years will be very telling and very revealing.
However, let’s explore alternative ideas here. I mentioned it a long time before that Farage should bring in Jenrick and make him his deputy with a promise of future leadership before the Tory Leadership challenge. Let him influence the policies and shape them in the right way. Is that still a possibility? Am I being too much of a doomer here or is there a possibility that we might still live to die another day when it comes to proper social conservatism? Culture over economy argument?
All I can say, for better or for worse, this will pave way to other defections. I would suspect the likes of Suella Braverman, Nick Timothy, and Katie Lam following suit. And the next elections are as good as in the bag for Reform. I joined Advance UK last summer and I really want them to do well, I left SDP to join them because they had real momentum. I don’t think they still have lost any momentum. Forty thousand plus members is good going in the first year for any political party. But I don’t think they will now be in a position to win the elections, although I never they would have been in such a position anyway. I have always thought of them like a Lib Dem style project for the conservative argument as they are for the liberal left. Hold enough seats in parliament to act as a pressure group on some key issues and influence and steer their side of politics to where it ought to be. And that is what my mindset will be regardless of whatever bravado is put forward by Advance UK or Restore project, they need to do it as its the nature of the beast. Although I have to say, Rupert Lowe’s hesitancy in joining Advance at the right time has given Reform the edge they needed. Lowe should reconsider the advice he is getting and reflect on it. Ben Habib was right, the time was right when he started Advance, and if Rupert joined him then it would have made a huge impact.
But as I have often said, British politics is a series of missed opportunities, hesitancy causing failure. I really think Lowe should have joined Ben with Advance from the start. If he had done it the momentum would have been like a tsunami and Farage would have had the time to recover from his fuck ups throughout the last year when it came to views on immigration, displacement of the English, needing Muslim votes etc etc. The iron was hot then, the time to hammer it was then. Now the future is Reform and Lib Dems.
So, can the Reform party be infiltrated enough by social conservatives that they can steer them in the right direction? Will Reform party prove me wrong and show why the breaking of Tory and Labour hegemony was more important than having the right policies off the bat or a concrete political philosophy? The proof will be in the pudding. We shall all see. Could be like the last days of Rome, with a temporary fake revival, and everyone got over joyed. Hey the boys are back. Till it all came crashing down.
Echoing your thoughts as a member of both Advance & Restore....
We're doomed, dooooomed...