Phase Two little too late, PM?
WHAT a contrast.
In London, a rattled Prime Minister tried to put his disastrous first year in office behind him with a reshuffle — forced on him by the humiliating resignation of his deputy Angela Rayner.
GettyNigel Farage told the Reform conference to prepare for Government, declaring: ‘It’s happening’[/caption]
He claims it’s the start of “Phase Two” of his Government.
In reality, it had the feel of a frantic roll of the dice by a leader who, unbelievably, is no longer guaranteed of seeing out a full five years in No10.
Meanwhile, in Birmingham, Nigel Farage was greeted on stage like a rock star, predicting an election as soon as 2027.
He told the Reform conference to prepare for Government, declaring: “It’s happening.”
You’d be brave to bet against him given the ongoing decline of the Tories, and the shambolic mess the almost comically inept Starmer administration has got itself into.
First, Angela Rayner.
For all her self-serving complaints about media pressure, she had to go.
A housing minister who doesn’t bother to check she’s paying the right housing tax — depriving the public purse of £40,000 — is not fit for high office. Simple as that.
Hypocrisy
The fact the PM and his Cabinet tried to save her, after howling for a string of Tory resignations when in Opposition, was hypocrisy of the worst kind.
But the rot runs much deeper.
An economy buckling under ruinous levels of taxation. No plan for growth. Net Zero madness hiking up family bills. A total inability to control Britain’s borders. Billions blown on asylum hotels. Cancel culture and wokery rife in public life. Crime not taken seriously. The list goes on.
Indeed, the scale of Labour’s failure was the reason for the depth of yesterday’s reshuffle.
The PM is effectively starting again.
We welcome the appointment of tough-talking new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who has just one mission: Stop the boats.
Enforcer Pat McFadden can hopefully put some much-needed spine into his party when it comes to tackling grotesque levels of welfare spending.
Yvette Cooper will bring more intellectual force to the Foreign Office than David Lammy, who gets the consolation prize of Deputy PM to go with his new Justice brief.
But will any of this be enough?
Or has the public been so alienated by the freebies, scandals and general incompetence that there will be no second chances?
For his part, Farage’s main message was the need for his party to develop a proper set of policies and prove Reform is no one-man band.
For him and Starmer, the stakes could now not be any higher.
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