Reforming Reform

 

I recently stated that I had decided not to vote for Reform UK in the upcoming general election because of the shameful way they had betrayed their candidates in the recent local government elections, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2024/06/farage-is-back-again.html. However, just a few days later I watched an interview with Reform's deputy leader, Ben Habib, on Times Radio. The presenter spends the whole ten minute interview focused on a single issue, the "chequered past" of their election candidate for the Bexhill and Battle constituency, Ian Gribbin. It's the usual story; Mr Gribbin made some wrongthink comment at some time in the past in an irrelevant context and then stands for the party in the election, and the leadership are therefore "informed" about it, even though he apologized. Mr Habib does a good job of rejecting the suggestion that Gribbin should be deselected. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2FjBDgGBEo. What's more Nigel Farage has been in a similar interview and also declined to submit. I must say, it was rather cringeworthy to see Richard Tice standing beside his new leader, nodding along with such an innocent look on his face. Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjmmrwexv4ko. This is progress. It is obvious that since Nigel got back, the leadership of Reform have had a get together and decided quietly to reverse their previous policy of instinctively throwing anybody their enemies point to under the bus. I still believe they should apologize to all the previous outcasts and offer them their nominations back for all future elections. Hopefully that will be their next step. I might vote Reform after all.
See here for more background: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/08/political-correctness-portal.html.
And: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2019/10/brexit-portal.html.