Wes Streeting’s surprising praise for Reform

After the general election this year, Nigel Farage argued that he was now the leader of the opposition, after his Reform party took more than six million votes, and came second in swathes of seats across the north of England. 

The Conservatives furiously disagree with him of course, especially given the Tory party’s higher vote share and seats – but one person at least seems to subscribe to Farage’s way of thinking. 

Speaking at an Ipsos Mori event at Labour conference on Monday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting pointed out that the Conservative party is currently in a fight for its survival and that ‘we are kind of due’ the sort of major party realignment that comes around every 100 years or so. 

He went on to point out that in terms of the right-wing opposition, it was Reform which had all the intellectual energy at the moment, and that it was the party diagnosing the problems with the country that most people agree with:

When I look in at the right of British politics, Reform is where the intellectual energy is, Reform is where the kind of right-wing alternative in this country is.