As an observer of politics on the right, I can’t let it pass without comment that Ben Habib has started a new party. This comes on the same day as Rupert Lowe launching his own venture - which appears to be a policy unit and pressure group, not unlike Habib’s GBPAC.
The success of Thatcher - the fact of it I'm not making a judgement about it per se - was underpinned by Sir Keith Joseph's plan, a detailed map of how to proceed once in government and at her first Cabinet meeting she slammed a copy of Hayek's The Road to Serfdom on the table saying "this is what we believe".
That is, the success of Thatcherism was underpinned by intellectaul heft and an ideology, but it was also because, as her biographer Charles Moore noted, she was first and foremost "a preacher". Remember her constant refrain, preached time and time again, that the problem with socialism was that you eventually ran out of other people's money (Reeves take note).
Reform flit from soundbite to soundbite and in a short space of time have accumulated a number of contradictory positions. As a protest party that can work - is working - away from a general election, but does not inspire belief in their capacity to govern.
Olukemi suffers the same affliction that Sunak did of constantly having to manage the factionalised parliamentary party that is an unstable coaltion of centrists and conservatives. Sunak had so many policies watered down by trying to square the circle in his own party and Olukemi's response appears to be to avoid saying anything too controversial within her own party let alone among the wider electorate.
The right is inded split: Reform, Conservatives, Habib, Lowe, Heritage, Homeland, English Democrats, UKIP and probably more. Most are inconseqentially small. Reform are more dedicated to destroying the Tories than devising an actual plan for government. The refusal to give Farage acknowledgement for standing down candidates in 2019 - the real source of his hatred for the Tories - may prove the most consequential of all the Tory missteps.
Where are the Joseph-Thatcher heavyweight equivalents today? Farage is a pied piper not a preacher. Habib and Lowe lament where Thatcher once preached Meanwhile, Starmer piles acts of parliament on the UK's funeral pyre.
I think you underestimate the intellectual weight of Habib and Matt Goodwin, the courage and industry of Lowe and the absolute dedication of them all. There others coming up behind them, the real dilemma is who is going to eventually harness this stable of thoroughbreds and make the coach run? Reform has been holed below the waterline and is destined to sink unless rescued.
Reform is not polling like a party holed below the waterline. I don't doubt the sincerity of Habib or Lowe, but their intellectual weight has yet to be displayed.
“Holed beneath the waterline” means its dangers are not yet visible. I disagree about the intellectual weight of Ben Habib. I think he is exceptional and I have a lot to compare him with. He is definitely on a par with Prof Matt Godwin and Dr David Starkey, both of whom are strikingly astute, informed and erudite.
I know less about Rupert Lowe but the courage and conviction of his determined performance so far has put Farage and Co. In a quandary as they struggled to keep with him. He is most definitely a strong leader.
Invisible dangers are indistinguishable from wishful thinking.
I like Habib and wish him well. He does not have quite the political grasp you think (which is not the same as intellectual weight in any case which Starkey does possess) as Integrity bombed so he retries with Advance. Lowe has merely set up what appears to be a think tank for others to contribute to. All these luminaries of the right are to be applauded but they are not the second coming or figures to be put on a pedestal. Do you expect Advance to i the Senedd next year? It was said Lowe's exit from Reform would hole it yet Reform won handsomely in May.
I feel that Olukemi is improving, bit by bit, and learning. After all, she is an engineer! I'm changing my mind about her, but time will tell. Daniel Johnson wrote a good article about her in July's "The Critic" magazine. I used to feel that nothing short of destruction and rebuilding of the party that calls itself Conservative, was required, but maybe it can be reformed.
I see no one around who has both "Thatcherite vision and leadership qualities".
Meanwhile we have Reform, Restore Britain, Reclaim and Homeland nibbling at the edges of the right wing vote but 2029 is a very long way off. Much will change between now and then.
I'd have to say, not really. Taking the potted timeline from Wikipedia. She was born in 1980, and ran for office in 2012, so at 32 she gave up on a technical career.
Looking further, she did poorly at A-level maths (a D), that being essential for an engineer, but only read "computer science engineering", so programming really. She got a masters in 2003, and actually started working in 2003.
From 2003 to 2006 she was working as a programmer, implicitly a junior. While at that job, she decided to change tack (and got a Law LLB in 2009). Then became a "systems analyst" at RBS, before switching to financial services in 2006.
So her only time as an "engineer" was actually as a junior programmer, between 2003 and 2006.
I'd have to suggest that she has never been an engineer, and that largely would seem to stem from never having had the maths ability to even cope at A-level.
This is too dismissive of the dissident voices of Habib and Lowe and the strength of their arguments. Policy statements are by their very nature without detail of the structure of their enactment and the criticism is futile.
Sorry to say but this reads to me as a bit of a sulk about Habib not doing just what North told him to do and Lowe not being interested in the first place.
Habib and Lowe must avoid looking like political old fossils. I think that’s their main weakness with voters. Lowe is worse at this than Habib but in truth, both men are political forces in waiting. Waiting for Reform to show itself to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, paid for and controlled by shady Muslim masters, as yet barely visible. The rescue team is more likely to come from a reformed Conservative Party under Robert Jenrick, shorn of the disunity of the “broad church” concept and the Leftie dopes that came with it. Then both Habib and Lowe can return to a political homeland in which they are both valued and, quite rightly, revered for their brave and moral stand.
I encourage you to get on the podcast circuit, lotus eaters, etc. I am prepared to buy you an airfix model of your choice for each appearance. There’s a clear need for this policy vacuum or sloganising to be put front and centre, to shame slop merchants and even well-intentioned commentators.
Thanks as ever - all a bit of a disappointment and a damp squib given the buildup Lowe was giving it. We all wondered if he was going to wander into an existing political party or start a new one.
Ben Habib is good on a few issues and would make an energetic campaigner, but he's neither a policy type nor a political leader.
Like you (and some others, I suspect) you can't help but feel that these announcements are the wrong way around.
And...did these two discuss things with each other? Did they even sound out the possibility of working together? I'd be interesting in knowing if discussions took place.
I agree with the last bit, it will split the vote or people will think it will split the dissident/protest vote so they will stick with the devil they know - the tories.
A week is a long time in politics, it only needs some incident or issue for kemi to get hold of and raise her profile. Similarly if reform have another zia in/out or lowe style argument it will lower them back down .
It could be come election time they are all on 20 percent in the polls
The success of Thatcher - the fact of it I'm not making a judgement about it per se - was underpinned by Sir Keith Joseph's plan, a detailed map of how to proceed once in government and at her first Cabinet meeting she slammed a copy of Hayek's The Road to Serfdom on the table saying "this is what we believe".
That is, the success of Thatcherism was underpinned by intellectaul heft and an ideology, but it was also because, as her biographer Charles Moore noted, she was first and foremost "a preacher". Remember her constant refrain, preached time and time again, that the problem with socialism was that you eventually ran out of other people's money (Reeves take note).
Reform flit from soundbite to soundbite and in a short space of time have accumulated a number of contradictory positions. As a protest party that can work - is working - away from a general election, but does not inspire belief in their capacity to govern.
Olukemi suffers the same affliction that Sunak did of constantly having to manage the factionalised parliamentary party that is an unstable coaltion of centrists and conservatives. Sunak had so many policies watered down by trying to square the circle in his own party and Olukemi's response appears to be to avoid saying anything too controversial within her own party let alone among the wider electorate.
The right is inded split: Reform, Conservatives, Habib, Lowe, Heritage, Homeland, English Democrats, UKIP and probably more. Most are inconseqentially small. Reform are more dedicated to destroying the Tories than devising an actual plan for government. The refusal to give Farage acknowledgement for standing down candidates in 2019 - the real source of his hatred for the Tories - may prove the most consequential of all the Tory missteps.
Where are the Joseph-Thatcher heavyweight equivalents today? Farage is a pied piper not a preacher. Habib and Lowe lament where Thatcher once preached Meanwhile, Starmer piles acts of parliament on the UK's funeral pyre.
I think you underestimate the intellectual weight of Habib and Matt Goodwin, the courage and industry of Lowe and the absolute dedication of them all. There others coming up behind them, the real dilemma is who is going to eventually harness this stable of thoroughbreds and make the coach run? Reform has been holed below the waterline and is destined to sink unless rescued.
Reform is not polling like a party holed below the waterline. I don't doubt the sincerity of Habib or Lowe, but their intellectual weight has yet to be displayed.
“Holed beneath the waterline” means its dangers are not yet visible. I disagree about the intellectual weight of Ben Habib. I think he is exceptional and I have a lot to compare him with. He is definitely on a par with Prof Matt Godwin and Dr David Starkey, both of whom are strikingly astute, informed and erudite.
I know less about Rupert Lowe but the courage and conviction of his determined performance so far has put Farage and Co. In a quandary as they struggled to keep with him. He is most definitely a strong leader.
Invisible dangers are indistinguishable from wishful thinking.
I like Habib and wish him well. He does not have quite the political grasp you think (which is not the same as intellectual weight in any case which Starkey does possess) as Integrity bombed so he retries with Advance. Lowe has merely set up what appears to be a think tank for others to contribute to. All these luminaries of the right are to be applauded but they are not the second coming or figures to be put on a pedestal. Do you expect Advance to i the Senedd next year? It was said Lowe's exit from Reform would hole it yet Reform won handsomely in May.
I do believe that the best hope for the 'Right' is a reformed Conservative party led by a person with Thatcherite vision and leadership qualities.
At the moment that is still a long way off especially under one Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch.
I feel that Olukemi is improving, bit by bit, and learning. After all, she is an engineer! I'm changing my mind about her, but time will tell. Daniel Johnson wrote a good article about her in July's "The Critic" magazine. I used to feel that nothing short of destruction and rebuilding of the party that calls itself Conservative, was required, but maybe it can be reformed.
I see no one around who has both "Thatcherite vision and leadership qualities".
Meanwhile we have Reform, Restore Britain, Reclaim and Homeland nibbling at the edges of the right wing vote but 2029 is a very long way off. Much will change between now and then.
Jenrick beats her IMO.
Agreed.
"After all, she is an engineer"
I'd have to say, not really. Taking the potted timeline from Wikipedia. She was born in 1980, and ran for office in 2012, so at 32 she gave up on a technical career.
Looking further, she did poorly at A-level maths (a D), that being essential for an engineer, but only read "computer science engineering", so programming really. She got a masters in 2003, and actually started working in 2003.
From 2003 to 2006 she was working as a programmer, implicitly a junior. While at that job, she decided to change tack (and got a Law LLB in 2009). Then became a "systems analyst" at RBS, before switching to financial services in 2006.
So her only time as an "engineer" was actually as a junior programmer, between 2003 and 2006.
I'd have to suggest that she has never been an engineer, and that largely would seem to stem from never having had the maths ability to even cope at A-level.
Thanks. Oh, so not really a real engineer then. I'll be more critical from now on.
I have joined Bens party.
My logic is this :-
1) I don’t trust Nigel Farage.
2) I do trust Ben Habib.
If at the next election Nigel decides to add new policies (eg Ulsters future within Eire or the UKs future in Islam) it will be too late to change.
Perhaps Yusuf will be announced as the new Prime Minister, if Nigel decides to retire - for whatever reason?
As for Rupert Lowe - Ben Habib joined his organisation, so where is the fall out? In fact their aims are complementary.
Ben is an alpha male like Rupert, but I’m sure they will sacrifice their parties for the greater good, come the general election.
That’s what Nigel did when he welcomed back Yusuf, perhaps?
Putting all your eggs in the Tory Party basket (case) is a bit like gay people supporting Hamas.
Don’t be surprised at the outcome.
This is too dismissive of the dissident voices of Habib and Lowe and the strength of their arguments. Policy statements are by their very nature without detail of the structure of their enactment and the criticism is futile.
Sorry to say but this reads to me as a bit of a sulk about Habib not doing just what North told him to do and Lowe not being interested in the first place.
Habib and Lowe must avoid looking like political old fossils. I think that’s their main weakness with voters. Lowe is worse at this than Habib but in truth, both men are political forces in waiting. Waiting for Reform to show itself to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, paid for and controlled by shady Muslim masters, as yet barely visible. The rescue team is more likely to come from a reformed Conservative Party under Robert Jenrick, shorn of the disunity of the “broad church” concept and the Leftie dopes that came with it. Then both Habib and Lowe can return to a political homeland in which they are both valued and, quite rightly, revered for their brave and moral stand.
I encourage you to get on the podcast circuit, lotus eaters, etc. I am prepared to buy you an airfix model of your choice for each appearance. There’s a clear need for this policy vacuum or sloganising to be put front and centre, to shame slop merchants and even well-intentioned commentators.
Hope you are already considering this.
Come an Election, Mr Starmer will be laughing all the way to the Palace.
Thanks as ever - all a bit of a disappointment and a damp squib given the buildup Lowe was giving it. We all wondered if he was going to wander into an existing political party or start a new one.
Ben Habib is good on a few issues and would make an energetic campaigner, but he's neither a policy type nor a political leader.
Like you (and some others, I suspect) you can't help but feel that these announcements are the wrong way around.
And...did these two discuss things with each other? Did they even sound out the possibility of working together? I'd be interesting in knowing if discussions took place.
I agree with the last bit, it will split the vote or people will think it will split the dissident/protest vote so they will stick with the devil they know - the tories.
A week is a long time in politics, it only needs some incident or issue for kemi to get hold of and raise her profile. Similarly if reform have another zia in/out or lowe style argument it will lower them back down .
It could be come election time they are all on 20 percent in the polls
The Tories due to vote against Starmer's watered down/u-turned benefits package, maybe precipitating a major defeat and humiliation for Starmer.
Hopefully the start of Badenoch finding her footing, getting her eye in and aim straight.