"Like a 1970s rust-belt serial killer, Nigel Farage is painstakingly assembling around him the political corpses of Boris Johnson's final, terrible cabinet. Think about it. You never see Reform's defectors after the initial unveiling press conference, and I'm beginning to wonder what happens to them. I think Nigel amateurishly embalms them or stuffs them with horsehair and sackcloth, then seats them round a cabinet table in his cellar, where they all silently agree with him at all times, and never interrupt him."
"But look, I'm prepared to consider more outlandish fan theories too, particularly after the sheer farce of Robert Jenrick's defection on Thursday. If Nigel's sloppy-seconding carries on at this rate, the Reform/Conservative party differentiation is going to feel a lot like it did when Bucks Fizz factionalised and split, then mounted rival tours of the UK. Neither music nor the United Kingdom was the beneficiary."
Nigel Farage is assembling former ministers from Boris Johnson's final cabinet into Reform, creating a cohort that rarely appears after initial press unveilings. The defections come across as staged and theatrically managed, with performative unity and little dissent. Robert Jenrick's defection exemplified farce and produced a five-hour limbo when he belonged to neither party. The Reform/Conservative split resembles the fracturing of a music group, producing rival tours and few beneficiaries. Farage has embraced former critics, moving from denunciation to cosying-up. Reform expresses anxiety that incoming defectors will import Tory infighting and cultural tensions.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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