Reform isn’t pushing for a new referendum or for Brexit to be delivered, they just want to destroy the Tories
As well as leading to new members signing up to Reform, Anderson appears to have started a trend of Tory defections
It wasn’t so much Labour’s apparent 25-point lead that frightened MPs but the fact it put theThis time last year, Tory MPs were fairly relaxed about Reform – the party that businessman Richard Tice formed in the place of the Brexit Party following the 2019 general election. While some MPs on the right would cite it as a concern, it was below 10 per cent in the polls.
Reform figures have been speaking with other figures – including more than 10 MPs – about defecting. While those inside the party are keen to down play expectations, they view the period soon after theas the most likely transfer time pre-election. “But we think actually most will come to us after the general election – realising they should have jumped sooner,” says a Reform figure.
But one part of the Reform message any manifesto or strategy will struggle to neutralise is an anti-Westminster sentiment. As the pollster Lord Hayward recently put it: “There’s an anti-politician frame of mind at the moment and it will benefit what I call the disruptors.” While Reform has policies of its own – a large part of its message is simply that they want to destroy the Tories.
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