‘One-man band Nigel Farage recruits Tory backing singers however it’s the identical drained tune’
Nigel Farage unveiled his ‘shadow cabinet’ today – but the razzmatazz of the announcement won’t distract from the fact he’s swelled Reform’s ranks with Tory failures
Nigel Farage unveils his ‘shadow cabinet’ (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
Nigel Farage is keen to show Reform is not a “one man band”.
So today he recruited some Tory has-beens as backing singers for his tuneless right-wing outfit.
You might remember Robert Jenrick, who ditched his Tory Remainer image for another crack at the big time as an anti-immigration insurgent.
Or Suella Braverman, whose string of hits include claiming asylum seekers pretend to be gay, saying it’s a “lifestyle choice” for homeless people to sleep in tents, and attacks on the “tofu-eating wokerati”.
Then there’s Richard Tice and Zia Yusuf, Tory members turned Farage devotees, ready to bang the drum for his divisive ideas.
Shut your ears to the racket and remember that this band of charlatans spell misery for Britain.
READ MORE: Reform UK slammed by veteran over ‘disgusting’ D-Day claimREAD MORE: Who’s who in Nigel Farage’s ‘shadow cabinet’ of horrors stuffed with ex-Tories
They are trying to cast themselves as a fresh new offering but in reality, Reform is swelling its ranks with the same old Tories who starved public services and destroyed public trust in politics.
Farage wants Tory defectors to bolster his inexperienced party, and to show wavering voters that Reform is a serious prospect.
But turning his party into the Tories 2.0 is a big gamble.
Reform has capitalised on a build up of years of public frustration, which has boiled over at Labour as Keir Starmer struggles to deliver the change he promised to impatient voters.
Bringing in people tarnished by their time in Government risks undermining that.
Guess who was in the Home Office when use of asylum hotels ballooned? Robert Jenrick.
Who presided over the failed Rwanda deportations scheme that cost the taxpayer £700million? Suella Braverman.
Then there’s demoted Reform leader Richard Tice, who was forced to make way for Farage’s return in 2024, and is himself a former Tory donor and member. Zia Yusuf was also once a card-carrying Conservative.
Farage said he wouldn’t tolerate the levels of psychodrama seen under the Tories but this is a shadow cabinet of big egos, and he’s only begun making appointments.
All the razzmatazz around yesterday’s announcement won’t do any good.
The public has heard this tired old tune before.
