Another eventful week in UK politics, but arguably it’s a repeat of a standard pattern of events. For yet another week, Reform 2025 Ltd seemed to grab most of the limelight, with a repeated pattern of defections, scandals, gaffes, dubious comments and behaviour.
More hard Labour
For Labour, especially Keir Starmer, it was an arduous week, with the spotlight more on international geopolitics. President Trump’s increasingly outrageous comments on acquiring Greenland for “security reasons” have stimulated considerable diplomatic issues with many European allies, and Sir Keir has been heavily involved in managing the diplomacy.
In a bizarre text message to the Prime Minister of Norway, Trump argued that Denmark could not claim sovereignty over Greenland “just because a boat landed there 300 years ago.” By the same “logic”, I wonder what that means for the arrivals on the Mayflower. Starmer certainly has his work cut out to manage this situation.
More domestically, Rachel Reeves made a big promise to spend more money on the railways, while Health Secretary Wes Streeting claimed the largest reduction in NHS waiting lists in 15 years.
But perhaps the biggest news concerning the Labour Party was the news that Andrew Gwynne was resigning due to ill health, with a by-election now due in his Gorton and Denton constituency and the rumour mill suggesting that Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham may now stand as an MP with the aim to put in a leadership bid against Keir Starmer.
Will Labour’s National Executive Committee, normally supportive of Starmer, object, keen to stop Burnham from having the means to mount a leadership challenge, perhaps because it leaves open the Mayor of Greater Manchester position?
The Reform circus continues, with some new acts
It’s been a familiar week for Reform, with some new actors joining their merry troupe.
Nigel Farage made the news on several occasions. An early start was his appointment of Lord Offord as Reform Leader in Scotland, doing so without consulting their Scottish members. Farage also made the news by being pranked.
Farage famously makes money from a site called Cameo, where celebrities are paid to make short video messages. Farage has previously been pranked via Cameo, making a video using a pro IRA slogan. This time, for a payment of just under £100, he was tricked into expressing condolences for the late Ian Watkins, a convicted paedophile, saying that Ian was well-known to him and “loved his kids”. As you can imagine, this raised eyebrows. Interestingly, Farage claimed that Watkins was well-known to him, when my search suggests they have never met. It’s fascinating to see how he peddles this story without a hint of embarrassment, yet no one holds him to account.
Farage also caused a stir by pulling out of Laura Kuenssberg’s Sunday morning politics show, citing ill health. He did subsequently “recover” quickly and was doing press conferences the next day followed by a trip to Davos, an event that he previously decried as a “globalist” event.
Mr Farage, in the past, has been remiss in failing to update the register of MPs’ interests. Again he was criticised this week when it emerged that he has failed to update the register in respect of 17 issues and £380,000 of income. Farage has apologised and, of course, blamed a member of staff for the omission. It’s never Farage’s responsibility.
Defections galore
It’s also been a big week for defections, the first being Nadhim Zahawi, former Conservative Chancellor. This was rapidly followed by Robert Jenrick, who has been increasingly right-wing over the last few months. Jenrick’s thunder was somewhat stolen, as his planned defection was leaked to Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch. She promptly called a press conference, withdrew the whip and kicked him out of the Conservative Party just before Jenrick’s big announcement. Overall, it’s an interesting volte-face for a man who previously described Nigel Farage as a “fraud”.
Some Reform Party members were upset that the leadership had been willing to accept these men into the party, describing them as “damaged goods”. Interestingly, Jenrick has clashed in the past with Zia Yusuf over the latter liking an antisemitic tweet on X (formerly Twitter), so it will be interesting to see how that relationship plays out.
The final big defection was that of Andrew Rosindell, another right-wing Tory who had been under investigation for sexual offences, although charges were dropped in 2024.
The wave of defections caused Starmer to describe Reform as a “laundry service for disgraced Tory politicians.”
Council capers
At council level, it’s been more of the same. In North Northamptonshire, the local leader said that no further action would be taken against the Reform councillor I reported last week as having been on a white supremacist dating site. Kent County Council leadership also said that no further action would be taken over a councillor who threatened to punch a colleague in a leaked WhatsApp message.
In West Northamptonshire, Reform was under fire after claims that it was planning to increase care home charges by up to 50%. In Lancashire, the Reform leadership were also criticised for care home changes which would “scatter the elderly” around the county.
Capricious councillors
Northumberland County Councillor Barry Elliott is still in hot water over £40,000 of unpaid council tax arrears, which a court has ruled he must, yes you guessed it, pay to his own council.
The “Reform Charmer of the Week” award goes this week to Joan McTigue, a Middlesbrough councillor who is reported as saying, “I would bloody drown them. Gypsies at Appleby Horse Fair!”
No week in Reform would be complete without at least one batty story about a Reform character. My favourite this week was Graham Edwards, who announced that he wants to be a Reform candidate in this year’s election. The slight snag is that Porthcawl isn’t holding a council election this year. Do they not know how to use Google?
More Tory Travail
It depends how you look at it, but it’s debatable whether it’s been a good week or a bad week for the Conservative Party. Many would say that the defection of two “big beasts“ to Reform was a disaster. Others might say good riddance. In any event, leader Kemi Badenoch took swift action and called an emergency meeting of the remaining Tory MPs to give them a pep talk. It will be interesting to see whether there will be further defections, and if so, how many.
Liberal Democrats still largely unreported
The Liberal Democrats had another quiet week in terms of press coverage. Sir Ed Davey made the news a couple of times, once for calling out for the removal of South East Water’s operating licence after another water outage that left thousands of people without mains water. Davey also had a rather back-handed compliment when he came out in a poll as the “least unpopular” leader in the event of a coalition being needed.
Davey made an outspoken comment in PMQs, describing President Trump as “acting like an international crime boss”.
On an even less positive note, The Guardian reported on alleged frustration and unease amongst Lib Dem MPs that the party’s approach to policy was overly cautious. It looks like Davey still has much work to do.
Polanski goes out on a limb
Zack Polanski made the news a couple of times. Only recently he made a public call for the UK to expel the US from British military bases and wean itself off relying on the US. He also called for the UK to leave NATO. His approach was described as “reckless and irresponsible” by Sir Keir Starmer in PMQs.
Polanski also made the news by calling for a wealth tax and actions to reduce inequality in London. These policies are considerably out of line with the other parties, so it will be interesting to see if any of this cuts through, though I am personally sceptical.
A week of crisis and division
Taking a helicopter view, the political week has been dominated internationally by Trump’s antics over Greenland. The Prime Minister characteristically is working diligently to try to manage a difficult diplomatic situation, while the other parties are struggling to make political capital from the issue.
Reform will be anticipating more defections to the party, though I’d suggest that Farage may have to be thoughtful about accepting further Tories. Farage felt the need to say that “Reform is not a rescue party for the Tories.” This claim will have to be backed up with actions, particularly in light of some members’ unease over the accepting of some who have defected already.
Time to buckle up for another week of political thrills and spills.
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