This is the first of a hopefully regular series on the week’s main political events. I hope to share my thoughts on what I see happening, as well as providing a useful summary of the main events so that the reader can see a comprehensive digest in one place.
Heavy Labour
The year has started at breakneck speed with a huge range of varied stories. For Labour, the year has already challenged the Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with President Donald Trump’s incursion into Venezuela and the extraction of President Nicolas Maduro, most certainly not the start to the year that the PM would have hoped for. So far, Starmer has said little about the matter. Opinion is divided into two broad camps: those who argue that Starmer should speak out in a principled defence of international law, and others who argue that he is playing a clever diplomatic game and coordinating a response in line with other European leaders. Personally, I’d like to see a little more speaking out for international sovereignty, and I’m a little confused how this squares with Starmer’s much more forthright statement about the sovereignty of Greenland and Denmark. Perhaps it’s because Greenland is not yet a fait accompli that explains the difference.
The PM has also featured in the news over the so-called “Brexit reset bill.” This bill would give ministers powers to bring the UK into alignment with EU rules and regulations, which is intended to reduce the friction in the UK’s ability to trade with the bloc. Again, this is likely to be highly contentious. Arch “rejoiners” will argue that this action will not go far enough to undo the impacts of Brexit, while the bill is also likely to be fiercely opposed by both Reform and the Conservatives, as well as incurring the wrath of the right-wing press. I can visualise the headlines in the Daily Express, Daily Mail and The Telegraph right now. Mr Starmer will have to use all his political skills to navigate this tricky route.
The usual Reform chaos
As is common nowadays, the week has also seen Reform 2025 Ltd featuring regularly in the news. At a national level Nigel Farage posted on social media that while Trump’s action is in breach of international law, it may prove to be “a good thing”. Deputy Leader Richard Tice has defended Trump’s actions in Venezuela, arguing rather bizarrely that Trump’s actions “are in accordance with US domestic law”. I really don’t see that as a credible argument.
Farage has also talked about spending £5mn on the upcoming May elections, looking to double Reform’s seats on councils. I’d love to know who is funding that spend. Given that up to the last election, Reform were 92% funded by fossil fuel donations. Could that be where the money is coming from?
Nigel Farage made the news again talking about possibly scrapping the Office for Budget Responsibility. The man really doesn’t seem to like scrutiny, and after all, ignoring the OBR worked so well for Liz Truss. He also caused surprise on January 7 by calling for Reform mayoral candidate Dr Chris Parry to apologise after racist posts suggesting that David Lammy should “go home to the Caribbean”.
Chaotic councils
At a local level, we have seen the regular serving of stories reinforcing the notion that Reform councillors are the Keystone Cops of local politics. In the past week, we have seen Reform Councils raising council tax by maximum amounts, having promised reductions. Staffordshire County Council are raising council tax by 3.9%, with Derbyshire County Council and Lincolnshire County Council both raising it by the maximum amount possible, and Worcestershire County Council playing down reports of a possible 10% rise.
Their decisions have also been criticised. Staffordshire County Council came under fire for cutting funding for home visits for some children in care, Durham County Council for anticipated cuts in cultural spending, and in Kent a bizarre and destructive decision to remove some Victorian lamp posts from historic Canterbury. This doesn’t really fit into their image that they are about protecting Britain as it was, does it?
Colourful councillors
Reform’s councillors have also provided newsworthy antics with their trademark eccentric behaviour. Andrew Husband, Reform’s leader on Durham County Council, had companies collapse owing £1.5mn, a substantial chunk of which is owed to the taxman. In Wales the party even failed to send a representative to a Senedd debate. In Derbyshire a group of Reform councillors defected together to join Ben Habib’s Advance Party, as did another in Doncaster.
Also in Wales, Cllr. David Thomas was removed from Cwmbran Community Council for poor attendance. The entire board of the Sheffield East branch were banned from the party for life. Details of why are unclear, but it’s reported that there were postings on Facebook citing “scandalous and unprofessional treatment of volunteers.”
My personal favourite, though, is the ever-reliable Kent County Council, the epitome of the Reform shambles. This week their Reform councillors were described as “self-centred narcissistic lunatics” by a former colleague.
Overall, at councillor level, Reform serves up a weekly diet of scandals, controversy, defections, resignations, and infighting. I’ll need to think of a snappy phrase or acronym to capture these. It’s not very positive, but in my view a more accurate strap line for them would be “Vote Reform, Get Chaos.”
The Badenoch Bounce? Are the Tories on the rise again?
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch made the news in December after her popularity ratings rose, dubbed the so-called “Badenoch bounce”, and there was some speculation that the fortunes of the Conservatives might be back on the way up and that her leadership was beginning to cut through. The Tories may perhaps have been disappointed to see that the once-ardent Daily Express published an article saying that the Badenoch Bounce will be insufficient in a brutal critique of their perceived failings.
I must observe personally that it appears that the Tories are really struggling at present to gain much publicity, be it positive or negative. I’m wondering whether this is going to lead to another rash of voluble outrage videos on social media from leading Conservative politicians. Perhaps Robert Jenrick will reprise his role as a fare-dodging vigilante.
Not many Green shoots
The Greens Party has had a relatively quiet news week. Zack Polanski doesn’t seem to have been visible. Apart from a defection to the Greens by a former Labour councillor and a gaffe by former Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer on University Challenge. Zack Polanski, their leader, has done much to increase the amount of coverage the Greens receive, so expect him to be back with some newsworthy antics next week.
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats have had a similar quiet week. Apart from the resignation of one of their councillors in Oswestry, I have seen very little reporting on them. Perhaps it’s time for Sir Ed Davey to do some more “Traitors” style missions in the coming weeks.
An overall round-up
In total, there have been quite a high volume of events considering that Parliament has recently been in recess. The highlights have been the new diplomatic challenges which the Prime Minister will have to successfully navigate.
The Reform party still appears to disproportionately dominate the news, with a mix of their controversial policies and opinions, the odd scandal here and there, and the antics of their politicians, especially the local ones.
The Conservatives may be facing challenges this year to avoid sinking into anonymity, so I feel that their press advisors will need to significantly up their game.
The Greens need to boost the amount of coverage back to the new levels that Zack Polanski has attracted, and the Lib Dems face their ongoing struggle to gain the degree of coverage proportionate to their size of representation in Parliament.
I expect it will be another year of combative politics. My biggest question for this year is whether Reform can continue to maintain both their momentum and also their unity. My sense is that there are more stories appearing of dissent and infighting within the party, and I wonder whether they will be able to hold it all together. It’s going to be an interesting year if you follow politics closely. I’ll do my best to report and help people make sense of it all.
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