Farage's Breakthrough: Reform UK Makes Waves with Four Parliamentary Seats

[nauseus]

4 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

There is no ‘uniparty it doesn’t exist.

 

Farage runs his mouth with easy promises of easy fixes to complex problems in the full knowledge that he’ll never have to implement any of them.

 

Further more, he can’t stand scrutiny.

 

His response to being hit with hardball questions on BBC QT is a perfect example.

 

He’s a blowhard, an empty vessel that makes a lot of noise.

 

Moreover his policy positions are favorable to the continuing consolidation of wealth and power in the hands of the hyper wealthy.

 

Distract the masses with scapegoats while pushing for stripping them of their rights and pushing yet more money and power up the social ladder.

 
‘Uniparty’ let’s see how that absurdity plays out.

 

 

 

Strange comments. Even some of the planted weeds in the QT "audience" seemed impressed with Farage's responses - he did really well. 

[nauseus]

4 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Erm no.
Hence the reaction to Labour’s astounding win.

 

 

With 36% more of a gift than a win.

[nauseus]

3 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Again, Farage makes promises he knows he will never have to keep

His promises don’t even add up.

 

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/live/nigel-farages-reform-uk-manifesto-doesnt-add-up-warn-economic-experts-125411543.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAG9U6l2qbZ8eJrg0x6UJS0fA2b2bVPmoUjoiDmwskuehoAr2rSs_LbfEyuWQQFn3RG66-ysUDuVDBnFRrtvVJ_jDEUwZascnlT810gXJwm2oAaVn4lGd0-lYGGPDe9nafI66--9wAJKshONJTRq55x4G9thKWLeYNebI0mMHPBjy

 

A bit like your links, methinks.

[herfiehandbag]

6 hours ago, pegman said:

Time for a reality check. Reform with 0.6% of seats. Despicable corporate media making out like he was posed to take power. 

Perhaps the reality check should be how can a party which has 14% of the national vote only have 5 seats, when one which has 12% has 71 seats. Still, no doubt the Lib Dems will be spurred on to renewed enthusiasm in their argument for proportional representation...

Edited July 6 by herfiehandbag

[dunroaming]

7 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Well spotted.

 

They are two examples of the same con.

 

And they both caught you out.

I think it ended up with five seats after a recount.  Prediction was 13 seats for reform so not such a great success.  The results showed all parties increased their share apart from Conservatives and the SNP.  The Liberal Democrats were the biggest winners apart from Labour.

 

But let's be clear, (I borrowed that from the politicians handbook)  this wasn't some great swing to Labour, it was people voting to get the Tories out.  Where I live in the South East there was a big swing to the Lib Dems as expected, they were never likely to vote Labour.  Even the Greens picked up seats.

 

There were a lot of votes for reform from the right wing side of the Tories when they couldn't bring themselves to vote for the cretins running (and ruining) their party.  So the obvious protest vote turned them to reform.

 

I am actually quite pleased that Farage got elected.  It is important to always have a clown in the mix and now Johnson has been binned, Nigel will bring some comic relief with his ridiculous rants.

[Pickwick]

2 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

Perhaps the reality check should be how can a party which has 14% of the national vote only have 5 seats, when one which has 12% has 71 seats. Still, no doubt the Lib Dems will be spurred on to renewed enthusiasm in their argument for proportional representation...

I don't know why people are having a dig at the Lib Dems over this? They have consistently campaigned for PR and their leader has already pledged a commitment to continue to campaign for change (this morning). Some have been harking on about this for decades - odd that now everyone on AN suddenly seems to think it's the biggest issue, as it was barely mentioned here before the election. Quelle surprise. 

 

To his credit, Nigel Farage has talked about this for some time, but even some left wing Guardian journalists agreed with him nearly a decade ago; it's not new:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/02/nigel-farage-electoral-reform-left-first-past-the-post-proportional-representation

 

It also stands to reason that some (many?) people would vote differently if the system of voting was different. I know people who were impressed by some of the Lib Dems policies but thought that voting for them was a waste of time, in what was essentially a two horse race. Other smaller parties would most probably also see their share of the votes increase.

 

I don't believe that the 'silent majority' is made up of Nigel Farage supporters. It is people who are fed up with words like 'racist', 'nazi' or 'wokeflake'. If a party or person stops playing to those particular galleries, then they might find themselves with a genuine majority.

Edited July 6 by Pickwick
typo

[stevenl]

6 hours ago, Seppius said:

 

"astounding win" 

 

Not when you look at the facts Reform did rather well, they won 5 seats were second in 103, not bad when you think Farage only took over 5/6 weeks ago

 

Only 20% of the population 18+ voted for labour. Jeremy Corbyn did much better

 

Reform would have won 94 seats with proportional representation they got a whooping 14.4% of total votes cast, The lib/Dems had 12% of the vote yet got 70 seats, does that sound fair?

 

This wasn’t a Labour win, it was a Tory collapse, mainy caused by Reform targeting the core Tory voters, and when that sinks in the reality of a Starmer government will be seen for what it is

 

Here is the map would have been with proportional representation, Farage and Reform did rather well, roll on 2029 when they really will have their act together

 

 

 

 

I would say farage took over at the exact right time. Any earlier and the news would have worn of and his empty rhetoric seen through. It would have cost votes, not gained.

[nauseus]

3 hours ago, dunroaming said:

I think it ended up with five seats after a recount.  Prediction was 13 seats for reform so not such a great success.  The results showed all parties increased their share apart from Conservatives and the SNP.  The Liberal Democrats were the biggest winners apart from Labour.

 

But let's be clear, (I borrowed that from the politicians handbook)  this wasn't some great swing to Labour, it was people voting to get the Tories out.  Where I live in the South East there was a big swing to the Lib Dems as expected, they were never likely to vote Labour.  Even the Greens picked up seats.

 

There were a lot of votes for reform from the right wing side of the Tories when they couldn't bring themselves to vote for the cretins running (and ruining) their party.  So the obvious protest vote turned them to reform.

 

I am actually quite pleased that Farage got elected.  It is important to always have a clown in the mix and now Johnson has been binned, Nigel will bring some comic relief with his ridiculous rants.

 

No history of ridiculous rants from the new cabinet then?

[Will B Good]

11 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Indeed. 
 

Just look at the media attention Farage and Reform are getting.

 

Way in excess of their seats on Parliament.

 

 

As soon as i see CH is commenting I know I can sit back in the knowledge my comments would be superfluous .

[Chomper Higgot]

34 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

As soon as i see CH is commenting I know I can sit back in the knowledge my comments would be superfluous .

And yet here you are responding.

[KhaoNiaw]

Farage waiting to catch the Speaker's eye so he can put a question in. I'm not sure Westminster is going to be so accommodating for the TikTok clips as the European Parliament with its very healthy pension for former members who don't renounce it, was. 

Edited July 6 by KhaoNiaw

[mikeymike100]

On 7/6/2024 at 9:04 AM, Marcous said:

I wonder if he's actually going to bother to turn up to parliament or spend his time lining his pockets and stashing it away in offshore tax havens like he did when he was an MEP.

You have evidence?

[Marcous]

18 minutes ago, mikeymike100 said:

You have evidence?

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/ukip-leader-nigel-farage-worst-8302679

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/12/nigel-farage-eu-salary-docked-claim-misspent-public-funds

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jun/21/nigel-farage-tax-haven-trust-fund-mistake

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/03/nigel-farage-earns-at-least-30000-a-month-from-media-company

[Will B Good]

14 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

And yet here you are responding.

It was meant to be a compliment.

[Seppius]

Simple fact is, more people voted for Reform and the Tories than they did labour.

[kwilco]

Return of the Mosley-ites..

Fascism relies on 2 things, nationalism and gullibility.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, Seppius said:

Simple fact is, more people voted for Reform and the Tories than they did labour.

I see you are struggling to understand how first past the post functions when there are multiple parties contesting an election.

[kwilco]

18 hours ago, Seppius said:

Simple fact is, more people voted for Reform and the Tories than they did labour.

Not that simple - if you combine Labour, Green and Lib Dem, they got WAY more than reform and Tory combineed.

Greens actually suffered as big a seat deficit as reform.

 

People turned down PR before now it suits them several smaller parties want it......the Greens and Lib Dem have always wanted it, now Reform do to  - I wonder why?

[Pickwick]

36 minutes ago, kwilco said:

People turned down PR before now it suits them several smaller parties want it......the Greens and Lib Dem have always wanted it, now Reform do to  - I wonder why?

I agree entirely with your sentiment - though I would note that technically it was the Alternative Vote (and not Proportional Representation) that was voted against. Not much clamour for either from the traditional right as I recall. The first past the post system has been in place since 1950. There was scant mention of this electoral system on here before last Thursday, funny that it's suddenly the main issue now.

 

The Reform Party's rise is a much bigger problem for the Conservatives than Labour - perhaps even existentially so. We have seen what happened to the traditional, heavyweight centre-right Republicans Party in France. Weakened initially by Macron, and then fractured by the hard right RN. Now a shadow of its former self (even going into a desperate alliance with RN to save itself and thus fracturing even more). Of course, we cannot translate directly what happens in one country with another, but there are enough similarities that I'm sure it will have caused some alarm at Conservative HQ.

 

It is clear most people in France do not want a hard right government. I think that's also true of the UK. The majority are somewhere close to centre and/or moderate centre-right/centre-left. Too often we are voting against someone as opposed to for someone in a two-horse race. If the noise about PR continues, then perhaps this will change. I would expect support for the Lib Dems (or AN Other centrist party) to increase (and for other smaller parties) and perhaps then we will have more choice, and can begin to move away from the tiresome hard-right/hard-left rhetoric that is dragging us all down.

[Seppius]

22 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I see you are struggling to understand how first past the post functions when there are multiple parties contesting an election.

 

 Don't worry about what I do or don't understand

 

Mr U-Turn Starmer, don't believe a word he says. He wanted PR now he does not

[Chomper Higgot]

Just now, Seppius said:

 

 Don't worry about what I do or don't understand

 

Mr U-Turn Starmer, don't believe a word he says. He wanted PR now he does not

The whining continues.

[Seppius]

18 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The whining continues.

I agree for once, Starmer is such a whiner

[Chomper Higgot]

9 minutes ago, Seppius said:

I agree for once, Starmer is such a whiner

Yeh right, he’s just delivered a landslide, he can’t stop whining.

[mokwit]

On 7/6/2024 at 9:31 AM, Chomper Higgot said:

Indeed. 
 

Just look at the media attention Farage and Reform are getting.

 

Way in excess of their seats on Parliament.

 

 

He is a legend in his own lunchtime, unlike Starmer who nobody outside of the Labour Party faithful  had heard of prior to the election.

[Chomper Higgot]

46 minutes ago, mokwit said:

He is a legend in his own lunchtime, unlike Starmer who nobody outside of the Labour Party faithful  had heard of prior to the election.

And yet that same Starmer delivered a landslide victory for Labour.

 

The rightwing whinging continues.

[mokwit]

3 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

And yet that same Starmer delivered a landslide victory for Labour.

 

The rightwing whinging continues.

The landslide victory was delivered by the Tories the same way Hillary delivered the Trump win. A vote against. In the case of the Tories they were behaving like they were back at school and there was no consequence to their inactions.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, mokwit said:

The landslide victory was delivered by the Tories the same way Hillary delivered the Trump win. A vote against. In the case of the Tories they were behaving like they were back at school and there was no consequence to their inactions.

The counter factual nonsense continues.

[freedomnow]

Is Farage more like an old school 70s Tory ?

 

Is that his niche, as the tories have changed and also lost their direction ?

 

[Seppius]

2 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

And yet that same Starmer delivered a landslide victory for Labour.

 

The rightwing whinging continues.

Yet 80% of the UK voting public did NOT vote labour, some landslide

[Chomper Higgot]

6 minutes ago, Seppius said:

Yet 80% of the UK voting public did NOT vote labour, some landslide

You do know elections work on the basis of counting votes?