Reform’s ‘think tank’ isn’t serious

Donors of the Reform party are considering creating a partisan think tank in the American style. These plans are subject to change, but it is not looking good. Many Reform backers, it seems, see the proposed institution, named provisionally as ‘Resolute 1850’, as a way to attract American money. Someone like Elon Musk hands over hundreds of millions of dollars to organisations supportive of the Republican party and Donald Trump but remains legally unconnected to them. Reform donors hope that a similar body could be made in Britain. It would attract money that political parties legally cannot gather, from people who might have problems, as Musk appears to do, with Reform’s own leadership, including Nigel Farage.

A new think tank is not itself a bad idea. Britain’s politics could certainly use a good one. Observers might think there are enough of them: they pop up like mushrooms, in little rings. Some concentrate on defence and foreign affairs like Chatham House and Rusi.