Reform is rattling the establishment

Everyone is talking about Reform: Rachel Reeves complains that Nigel Farage ‘doesn’t have a clue’ how to make the economy grow. Kemi Badenoch says Reform is offering ‘knee-jerk analysis’ rather than thought-through policies.

The obvious rejoinder is that Reeves doesn’t have any growth and Badenoch doesn’t have any policies, so these criticisms are a bit rich coming from them.

Reform supporters can also fall back on the old adage of public relations that there is only one thing worse than being talked about and that’s not being talked about.

Incredibly, given its struggles to achieve any cut-through at all until a year or so ago, Reform is currently the most visible brand in British politics. Just today the party and its leader are the focal points of two splashes in heavyweight newspapers. The Telegraph leads on Farage being poised to help Peter Mandelson forge good links with the incoming Trump administration, while the FT’s splash is about Reform treasurer Nick Candy’s vow that Reform will disrupt UK politics ‘like we have never seen’.