Reform roadshow rolls on as latest defector unveiled
Top Tory becomes latest scalp for Farage
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Nigel Farage has form when it comes to staging political ambushes but not everything always goes to plan and even by his standards, the unveiling of Robert Jenrick as the Reform party’s latest defector took some beating.
Chaotic doesn’t really do justice to events in a sweaty room at a conference centre in London but it soon became clear why - for once, Nigel was not leading but reacting.
The man at the centre of this latest drama Robert Jenrick had inexplicably handed the Conservative leader the advantage by carelessly leaving his resignation speech on his desk for all to see.
Reform hastily arranged a press conference which was not quite the conference it had in mind. Behind the scenes, Jenrick and Farage set about how best to present this latest defection after his ‘plotting’ led to him behind a desk, this was a test of his ability to turn events around as journalists peppered him with reminders of how he had insulted Jenrick on many occasions, to which Farage simply responded that he had changed his mind.
On occasion, he spluttered indignantly at some perceived slight and sounded as if his batteries had short-circuited as he waited for his new friend to appear.
Jenrick was rather delayed which led to a short-lived period of speculation that he had changed his mind but of course he hadn’t.
It looked like he had had a haircut of the kind that schoolboys have before term starts - rather too short - but deemed necessary.
Anyway, Jenrick made light of his delayed arrival and proceeded to have the same kind of awkward questioning that Farage had to fend off.
It was hard to keep tabs on the number of times he referred to “broken Britain” (a lot) and exhorted his fellow former colleagues to join the Reform party (a lot), as they were only ones he said were capable of turning things around.
But if he had known about the challenge of fixing broken things, why was it that he hadn’t when he was in the Conservative party?
He didn’t really have an answer to that and Farage simply wafted the question away or pretended he hadn’t heard it.
So, another scalp for the Reform party but one that comes as a little tarnished. The rate of attrition among disillusioned Tories continues apace but there is a limit to the cumulative impact.
Next week, there comes the promise of news of another high-profile defector - this time from the Labour ranks.
The Reform roadshow rolls on; but the appetite for constant change is possibly wearing thin.
Voters won’t be satisfied if all the Reform party can do over the next three years is produce a never-ending list of people who are fed up with everything (all of the time).