In a bizarre new strategy, I see the Tory faithful are positioning the multiple goodbyes of colleagues to Reform as a good thing. Clearing out the stable. Dumping the traitors. Leaving behind only the lavender fresh.
And what will this handful of saints do now that they are no longer encumbered by the Right-wing? The answer appears to be One-Nation Conservatism, which, according to one Tory supporter, would fill a ‘’gaping hole’’ at the centre of our politics.
That is complete tosh.
And if that is genuinely Kemi Badenoch’s view, I imagine the happiest man in Britain today will be Nigel Farage.
There cannot be a One Nation party because we are simply no longer One Nation.
It’s not the Seventies of Edward Heath. Today we are society made of many different ambitions, colours and religions. Each wanting to have their say. Social media means every single voter has a ballot box. And they are using it.
The days of broad-church parties are over. Parties of the future will be narrow and more focussed. They can’t be all things to all men.
Take the Muslims. There are five million of them and when they don’t want an Israeli football team coming to play the police bend at the knee. How does that fit into a One Nation strategy?
Reform may have other good ideas but the simply reason they are doing well in the polls and therefore upturning the apple cart is that they plan to stop tens of thousands of illegal migrants coming here.
Kemi Badenoch's One Nation tosh will turn the trickle of Reform defectors into a flood - Kelvin MacKenzie
|Getty Images
As simple as that. Yesterday Right-winger Andrew Rosindell became the latest Tory MP to say farewell to Badenoch. Hardly surprising since he forecast his constituency of Romford, Essex, will definitely go Reform in the next election.
Farage has said that his party was ‘’not a rescue charity for every panicky Tory MP’’ and nor can Reform become a Tory tribute band, but it’s hard to see this weekly trickly stopping anytime soon.
Mind you, they will have to get going as Farage has made it clear the drawbridge is being pulled up in around 14 weeks, i.e., before the May 7 council elections.
I suspect the reason the polling for Reform has fallen from 30 per cent to around 24 per cent is that illegal migration is no longer the headline-grabbing outrage that it was six months ago. Farage is trying to spread the message that his party is way beyond illegals.
With three years to go before an election, it makes sense. But my advice is that if he wants to maximise the vote come election day, he should make clear that migration is his number one policy. And that he will stop the boats.
Farage might be able to solve our economic ills, he might be able to defend us better, but what he can definitely do is do something about the tens of thousands of people from faraway lands coming here.
The Tories have started talking a better game about the illegals, but why should we believe them? They did nothing, absolutely nothing, under Boris, Truss or Rishi. Kemi says it's different with her.
Let’s see. I absolutely guarantee that she will be toast if she does start uttering that One-Nation nonsense. She’s doing fine at the PMQs, but that does not win elections, although I accept it cheers up her side.
Were she to start explaining how she will push back the Channel migrants, that would see her move up in the polls. Her problem then is that many simply won’t believe her.
The one thing I’m enjoying about the defectors is that it means the Right is dominating political discussion. Nobody seriously thinks Labour has a prayer. Polanski’s Greens are mainly nut jobs, and Corbyn has failed before he’s started.
So, the Right will win in 2029. The question is this: Will it be an outright win for Farage or a coalition with Badenoch?
No matter, it will be a darn sight better than Labour. That we do know.
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