Tony Porter Ponders : Reform UK Tories MkII?
Love him or hate him, the Donald is the gift that keeps on taking the urine. In recent days as part of his "hostile" take-over attempt of Greenland he questioned Denmark's ownership, saying they can't claim Greenland just because "they had a boat land there 500 years ago".
Erm, hang on, by that logic the native Americans should be able to claim back what is theirs and kick out the invaders.
He also added: "If we do not do it the easy way, we will do it the hard way. By the way, I am a fan of Denmark."
Seriously what is this guy on? Threatening a NATO country, it beggars belief.
In Blighty we are heading towards the local elections. Most pundits are saying Reform UK will wipe the floor with Labour and everyone else.
In my shop I have had many for months saying they will only vote for Reform, but when I ask them about policies other than "the boats," many are unsure as to what they stand for.
Having been on their website and reading its policy PDF, they have some good ideas, some not so good and some that terrify me.
I urge people to do some research before the next general election and maybe before local ones too.
All that said I feel that Reform UK is just becoming a home for ex-Tories and a few disgruntled Labour politicians. Is Reform just becoming Conservatives Mark II?
I am old enough to remember the Social Democratic Party in the late seventies with the abbreviation SDP. It was founded by Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams in March 1981, promising a whole new world of policies and a Great Britain again.
It was dissolved in March 1988. More recently UKIP came and went, was then resurrected but delivered little. Will Reform UK do anything or will it fizzle out?
The more Tories who join I think will make fewer people trust it to be radically different. Looking at all the parties, many have some decent policies, but all have iffy ones.
It is a shame we cannot cherry-pick the best policies for the people of Wigan and the UK and ignore others.