Will Nigel Farage destroy the Tories?

[@edwardderby178]

I dont think you guys understand how angry people are with the tories.

[@A.Mardle]

Smug and complacent commentators. Reform is about to eviscerate the Tories, and may shake Labour up too. The political establishment won't get this particular genie back in the bottle.

[@alanthecat59]

yep , way out of date , big lag on there wifi for sure

[@philipdenner8504]

Spot on.

[@fiveromannumerals]

They don't understand because they are leftists in DENIAL.

[@jackbuchanan2]

​@user-3282 Maybe so, but Labour have the advantage of not having been in Government for 14 years. Their voter base will turn up out of complete disdain for the conservatives terrible mismanagement of the country. Centre left voters like what Starmer is offering and The left may not like Starmers stance on many issues, but by and large they will vote for them unless tactically preferable to vote Green or Lib Dem. The right is completely split.

[@lotus7eater]

The Tories increased immigration by an astonishing amount. To Fraser Nelson that is business as usual. To voters it is a disaster.

[@SlowhandGreg]

Duh that's because they removed FOM

[@vincentlauria7857]

@@SlowhandGreg what are you on about, you blithering nincompoop?

[@Funintherain13]

Fraser Nelson is hopeless. I read the spectator for Douglas Murray. Rod Liddle is also very good

[@braxxian]

It’s cheap Labor for big business. It’s terrible for society.

[@michaelolver7684]

Fraser is the characateur of a tory boy who just doesn't get why people don't like immigration. It's fine for him, because he gets a cheap nanny out of it and his takeaway variety is on point. Oblivious to the fact that the social fabric of places is falling apart in towns and cities around the country and Britain is becoming an intolerable place to live.

[@miraforeman7567]

Tory destroyed Themselves

[@jmiller7209]

Mass migration is a civilisational issue

[@rahbourelas6457]

The “Conservative” are not conservative, Reform is.

[@scepteredisle]

Reform isn't conservative, it's Hard Right and doesn't speak for most conservatives, let alone most Brits. I PERSONALLY like a lot of what they say but there is ZERO chance of winning any election.

[@missaleromanum5614]

Reform is not conservative either. They are Thatcherite Neoliberals.

[@SlowhandGreg]

Reform are Libertarian nothing conservative about them same old Truss rubbish

[@TheMushroom74]

This may as well be king jong interview

[@philipdenner8504]

Spot on

[@lefroy1]

The Tories destroyed the Tories, right around the time they turned their back on conservatism.

[@susannamarker2582]

2005 under Cameron. Actually before, when Duncan-Smith was ousted.

[@kevinadamson5768]

I've always voted labour but not anymore, reform for me all the way. 😊

[@vincentlauria7857]

Same, voting REFORM 🇬🇧 people’s revolt.

[@susannamarker2582]

@Ray-gm2iz Tory media ???? Back in the 80s, perhaps. Where have you been since 1997 ?

[@josepharmstrong6852]

#ZEROSEATS

[@morsmagne]

Fraser Nelson’s powerful friends are about to be sacked! That’s all you need to know to understand his mental gymnastics!

[@mfecanegukurahundi24]

well said.

[@equaltemper]

Fraser Nelson sounds devastated

[@rw9854]

How on earth is leaving the ECHR “radical”? The fact that the editor of the spectator thinks that, shows how far the Overton window and “accepted opinion” has shifted left. We need Farage and Reform to smash through that bubble and get issues people care about on the table

[@Hipnosis65]

The Tories doused themselves in gasoline and lit a match. Vote Reform.

[@Molesey_97]

Vote reform 🇬🇧👍🏻

[@amandaowen5091]

I've never not voted Tory. Not this time. Reform for me. If that means I've got to suffer 5 years of Labour, so be it. The Conservatives shouldn't have shat all over their vote base. Fxck 'em.

[@helenrushful]

Yes, vote for a man that lied to you about Brexit, worked for Russia Today spouting Kremlin propaganda and supports Trump….the single biggest threat to global democracy in history. What can go wrong ? Lol.

[@SFRZRD]

So it’s the likes of you who got us here, nice one.

[@vincentlauria7857]

Same - my whole family have always voted conservative. We’re all voting Reform now.

[@snowyowel7961]

❤REFORM❤ 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 🌟NIGEL FARAGE🌟

[@carolegeorgina6114]

They are running scared I’m sick of the main two party’s we’ve put up with them for yrs. time for a change this country is being destroyed bit by bit…. I’m voting Reform.

[@zella417bcarter9]

REFORM for me too

[@Bill-uf6os]

Reform is the only way.

[@TJ_USA]

conservatism without Conservatives is not "the same sort of thing" as Conservatives without conservatism. Liz Truss didn't have a program of spending cuts. What are these guys smoking?

[@manfrombritain6816]

they're not smoking they're sniffing their own farts and saying nothing of substance

[@edmundoftheangles7977]

But the Conservatives are no longer right wing. The right hasnt split, there is only Reform UK

[@True_Heretic]

So Austerity was Communism was it? That's what I love about right wingers and their total lack of reality. Reform takes Tory votes away and now, the new Nazi UK party will take votes away from Reform. A three tier right wing with extremists, pseudo moderates and moderates. The one thing the Tories had on Labour was a united front. Now the right eats itself and Labour strolls to power in EXACTLY the same way that Blair's NEW LABOUR did. Welcome to New New Labour.

[@Tackytiger74]

Fraser, you must be the only person in the country that thinks Rishi Sunak "would like to" leave the ECHR!!!

[@narkyspark]

Hope so. And Labour too. Vote Reform. 🩵

[@Tracertme]

Remember Nigel Farage was one man pretty much on his own for a very long time in the EU and look at the impact he has had on that organisation, and what he predicted for their future, I am sure with one Nigel Farage in the House of Commons we would see a very significant impact… not to be underestimated.❤

[@alexiosi2646]

"we all know how Westminster works, can't be changed, blah, blah, blah" We can't be stuck in this paradigm forever, people are becoming sick of being held hostage by 'The Market', that kind of leverage is running out of steam. Like many people I know I've reached the point where I don't care if the whole system burns to the ground and to hell with the consequences, it ain't working for us anyway.

[@nicholashoward7251]

The spectator is really out of touch with its (soon-to-be ex-) readership

[@castropianoforte]

Immigration was running at about 40k/year in the 1990s. Why can't it be brought down to that now?

[@jamesdrury8405]

Because nobody are having children anymore, so that amount isn't enough to keep the country functioning. Want lower immigration? Need to actually fund social support networks for families and fund the NHS back to what it was under Labour during the 90s...

[@grai]

​@@jamesdrury8405 Immigrants also grow old so what then.? Ship in a revolving door of younger immigrants It doesn't solve anything long term

[@docken11]

@@grai Agreed! It's ultimately a pyramid scheme isn't it? Hence my point about funding social services, strengthening the NHS and actually enacting family friendly policies to turn our birth rate problem around. People just aren't going to have children if the economics are so stacked against you that you don't have a stable, long term job, can't get access to reasonable housing, and fear for your health should you get ill. Pretty simple!

[@mycatspethooman5590]

Given that around 500,000 people leave the uk each year net zero migration is very achievable

[@laurenceseale]

yes but what are we getting in the half million?.Over ten years thats 5millions non British

[@mycatspethooman5590]

@@laurenceseale we need to replace those who leave whether we like it or not

[@paulshanesmith]

59 year old bot here who's always voted Conservative and after being lied to and betrayed never will again. I'll let you guess where my vote is going.

[@michaelblackmore4332]

Tories gave up on Conservatism....Let Reform give it a go.

[@JulieMalone-oy1ll]

Reform all the way

[@True_Heretic]

.... down.

[@peterpan1435]

@@True_HereticBrother we need you to help us and to help yourself, along with those you love. Do you want Democracy? Or are you content to be subject to governments who pull the wool over our eyes?

[@True_Heretic]

@@peterpan1435 This government never pulled the wool over my eyes. I've understood exactly who the Tories always were. Most people on the Left have done. And now, just because many on the Right aren't getting everything they want from them anymore, they feel that they have some new insight. Right wing politics are selfish and retrograde. Be they from moderates or extremists on the Right. All Reform offers is convenient answers and distorted truths. Though Farage is a clever man, for sure. But he's in it for himself and nobody else. Which is why he made a mint out of Brexit whilst the country still loses billions every year. Yes I want democracy. And I also want to see politicians and journalists, AND online influencers, who deliberately lie to our people to be classed as traitors and face punitive measures. We need to put truth and integrity at the heart of all future debates about British politics.

[@anonnemo2504]

Utter twaddle from Mr. Nelson when he attempts to draw similarities (based upon his interpretation of intent behind the words) between the Reform UK contract and the Tory manifesto. Re illegal immigration, Sunak actually said that, given a choice between national security and the jurisdiction of a foreign court, he would choose national security. That is hardly the same as a commitment to leave the ECHR. When the situation arose, regarding any individual, that individual would probably be deemed not to be a threat to national security, thereby eliminating the need to make the choice. I had to laugh at Mr. Nelson's claim that Reform UK are a party of protest and that nobody should take their contract seriously. My advice to Mr. Nelson would be to ask himself whether people are likely to continue to take him seriously as a journalist, that is, of course if they ever did.

[@GodsOwnPrototype]

No country can have Net Zero immigration lies Fraser.

[@mikefish8226]

Yes, it's amazing that nothing existed before 1997 and mass immigration.

[@Elizabeth-jd3mn]

Sunak and the Tories will not abandon net zero or leave the ECHR. They've made it clear the party will not allow it so nobody believes anything they say. I'll go Reform no matter what the Tories say. Reform UK.

[@vincentblack7467]

Vote Reform.. You know it makes sense..

[@LettyK]

Give Reform a go, they need the seats.

[@Bertrum123]

Why vote for more tories lol there all ex failed tories ..but good for labour .

[@helenrushful]

….it really doesn’t. You seriously want to vote for the man who lied to you (and continues to lie to you) about Brexit……and supports Trump, the biggest liability to stable global democracy in history ? A man who worked on Russia Today (a Kremlin-controlled media outlet) parroting Putins propaganda….? Really

[@monkeyboy8424]

On page 2 of Braverman's letter to Sunak dated 15/11/23 she states; "You never had any intention of keeping your promises" - Was Ritchie lying all along....

[@JD83000]

What is Fraser Nelson? Is he even on the right anymore? Him and Kate Andrews pratically endorse open borders.

[@tomk8729]

At the start of the interview he is spot on There are two conservative parties, one properly right, the other not really conservative at all. But I think he's wrong that Reform are taking away from the Tories, the Tories are not worth saving and I suspect he'll do far better than the pollsters are predicting.

[@JANICEJANILLY]

The tories have destroyed themselves

[@goharikjones7387]

Reform is THE Conservative that we haven't had for 14 years, They call themselves Conservative by name only !! Reform is THE Right party to Vote for !

[@denisebrown4735]

@@goharikjones7387 The failed wing of the Tory party. Good luck with that one .

[@laurenceede6881]

I think Reform will take significant votes from both Tories and Labour, but not enough to gain (m)any seats.

[@Bertrum123]

If farages voting record to become mp is anything to go by then hes toast lol

[@michaelellis7326]

Big surprised inevitable !

[@kevinadamson5768]

You might be in for a shock. 😢

[@vincentlauria7857]

Reform 🇬🇧

[@SamG-py7ej]

They will get seats, not many, but this is only the beginning

[@Opel314]

7:45 By voting Reform, the labour party may win a big majority but will then spend 5 years destroying itself. The Tories have only themselves to blame.

[@the1beard]

Fraser is out of touch .. and way off the mark .. we will see .. and he will be surprised at how very wrong he was.

[@AnnDale-ie3jn]

Fraser open borders nelson is so out of touch with social realty immigration and the diversity it induses has totally distablsed Britain it has so distorted our demographics that native British people are a minority in London Birmingham Manchester soon to be in Leeds this has lead to many in the native population feeling disfenchised in there own country which is odd thing to happen in a democracy during the COVID 19 pandemic there was a lot of concern about migrant derived communities being affected disproportionate indeed the country was accused of being racist and discriminating against these communities which is a bizarre charge to make when discrimination is outlawed in this country are we to believe that there people in important jobs are breaking the law and discriminating against non white people in this country ? I don't think so where there was real intuition failure is places like Rotherham and Rochdale where the police and social services aided and betted Pakistani rape gangs these rapes also these sex crimes where racial and religiously motivated yet not one of these crimes carried a hate crime tariff

[@barriewilliams4526]

With any luck at all he will! We need reform, vote Reform👍

[@BattleDrunk]

Vote Reform WAKE UP BRITAIN!!!!

[@andybrice2711]

Regarding the "immigration tax" I've was thinking recently: If we have immigration numbers which our infrastructure can't sustain, why don't we just increase visa fees?! Then we'd have fewer people and more money. If you had a business with too many customers but no profits, you'd obviously raise your prices.

[@wanderingsoul7935]

It is not a protest party, it is an alternative to the main two and people see them as the common sense party, not protest.

[@yoof01]

I think it’s not meant to be a credible manifesto, simply a document to show us all, the kinds of things they believe in… I can sign up to a vision without accurate numbers, there’s no vision anywhere else, and we all love to believe in something. They have a good few years to sharpen their pencils, and the next contract has to be credible, i’m sure it will be.

[@turquoiseowl]

Looks like the Tories are splitting the Reform vote now.

[@pennymcneela7095]

No, I can't see that happening. Reform UK are taking away their votes.

[@bishvegas4834]

VOTE REFORM UK !!!!

[@oscarvi3232]

I am increasingly of the opinion that the Tories are done and Reform will become the main opposition. I cannot imagine that any self respecting conservative would vote for anyone other than Reform.

[@joeyclarkejoey6212]

Vote Reform!!

[@JamesA4]

I wish the Spectator took a longer term view of the situation. The Conservative Party doesn't have a divine right to rule; everything eventually comes to an end. The Conservative Party is in it's final moments, we must salvage something from the ashes - to me that is Reform and Nigel Farage.

[@thomridgeway1438]

The Conservatives have had 14 years in power! Fourteen years! Other than Brexit (which is still a Dog's dinner, even now) what did they actually achieve in those 14 years? Answers on the back of a matchbox please!

[@jamesanderton903]

They're missing the point, Reform is not a protest party. I will never vote Conservative or Labour ever again.

[@jimeaston3325]

Fraser talks rubbish! We are in do da and FN gives us the higher intellect rubbish. This is survival not the same old sane old. Grow up Spectator.

[@Psych911]

You lot fail to comprehend the absolutely incandescent rage of the Tory membership. Zero seats please.

[@Dr-T]

I'm voting REFORM. Anybody else?

[@sophie.sienna]

100% voting Reform

[@frankbirch3877]

This intensely soporific wordfest reminds me of one of the skits in Harry Enfield's doco on the history of the BBC2 and even Monty Python. Is the fella in the grey shirt

[@mfecanegukurahundi24]

It is really stupid to say no Government can achieve net zero immigration; sure it may be be beneficial to have a few thousand people to come and work in the UK for a few years, but they can come on 5 year working visas and then they must go back.

[@andyxox4168]

Seriously … how do you get such bruises on your knees 😂😂😂

[@CaptainGrimes1]

Why can't we get net migration to zero? We're told we can't but why?

[@mary.e645]

Nigel Farage everytime I'm voting REFORM

[@ezioauditore3128]

"No way this can be done....no way that can be done" ...... boils my piss.

[@josephyoung7592]

Fraser Nelson still doesn't seem to understand that nothing the conservative party have done is conservative. People have figured that out now and won't be voting for them in the future. The truer conservatives parties are Reform UK and SDP, however its only Reform UK that are having the necessary cut through now.

[@530jazzercise]

the great replacement is supraparliamentary policy..it cannot be stopped in westminster

[@LettyK]

Ah, the Kalergi Plan. It's certainly now in operation.

[@GodsOwnPrototype]

Yes it could. Whether it will ever be or have to come from another source time will tell.

[@LettyK]

My comment is hidden. One more try. You are talking about the K a l e r g I P l a n. which is certainly now in operation.

[@ibana8449]

I forgot to mention, Vote Reform !

[@paulharvey439]

The markets will try to destroy any party that isn't globalist.

[@vincentlauria7857]

Vote REFORM 🇬🇧

[@brigittapayne6203]

Reform have the right ideas , look at Argentina , what has been achieved in a very short time , very simple logical steps were taken. 😊

[@WilliamCoward-vo1xg]

The critical difference that the wet Fraser Nelson either can't or won't accept is that the Conservative party say that they are in favour of certain policies but given the opportunity never do it

[@pearl1606]

The Tories are so fragmented they don't even possess the unity of the shattered. The only choice now is the Maoist Starmer versus the Reform Renaissance.

[@JaredJohnston]

We haven’t had a right wing government since 1997

[@richardellis74]

This argument is based on the tenant that the Tories have conservative / free market / traditional values. This isn’t believed by the public anymore - the tories and Liberal Democrat’s by another name and now it’s time for a new right of centre party.

[@clivewalford3148]

They have destroyed themselves!

[@DaboooogA]

Katy Balls is a formidable unit

[@dereks1264]

"Patriotic Education"? Where have we heard that before?

[@Bill-uf6os]

A contract sounds more than a manifesto, Fraser. What is your agenda as the status quo is not working?

[@dutchbobson3183]

The tories have destroyed themselves

[@josezerpa8177]

I wish we had a true nationalist outsider here in Canada as well.

[@iancallard3561]

Oh dear. What a load of reactionary waffle. Spectator, I'm disappointed in you.

[@paulharvey439]

He's not trying to destroy the Tories but restore them.

[@hosephanerothe1440]

Reform

[@joselynefletcher6150]

Boris Johnson did not have a coalition that was David Cameron, we had Teresa May after the coalition

[@DrGreenGiant]

If Reform get a huge number of votes but few MPs this adds more weight to the 2029 campaign "for change." A lot of people are unhappy with FPTP for national leadership as it unfairly favours the establishment, the house always wins. I'd like to see a lot more discussion about this. My vote is already cast, went into the post box yesterday!

[@jamesanthonyclarke9418]

The Spectator needs to start understanding this quickly or it will go the same way the tories are.

[@watgaz518]

Out with the old and in with the new. We have tolerated the tosh, both Con and Lab have served us over the decades and we now had a belly full. Let’s see if Reform UK can serve up something more appetising and appealing to our palate. It cannot be any worse than the awful ConLab stew we’ve stomached for years.

[@castlerock58]

The Tories are a second Labour Party continuing Blair's suicidal polices.

[@TheMushroom74]

As soon as he said ‘lots of red meat’ he lost me

[@sunizzo]

answering the question… with some luck, yes.

[@aa-im8qo]

That Fraser always gets the wrong end of the stick. Reform is NOT another Conservative party. That is the whole point of Reform.

[@AnnDale-ie3jn]

Fraser open borders nelson thinks being concerned about immigration both legal and illegal is seen as low status

[@trickyg3693]

Frasers voice is beyond typecast.

[@JohnTruscott-gz9ly]

*who is that with the plum in his mouth who talks crap?!

[@hogganknowsbest]

Tories destroyed themselves. Had it all, and threw it away instead of doing what the people elected them to do. In fact, they did the opposite. Who is the guy on the right? he has no clue what is happening on the ground. Also, abolish all the foreign aid budget...gees, that is 12billion right there. Need to look after your own before looking after others. If a country has their own space agency they do not need foreign aid.

[@jpj77263]

Observer from the continent here. For centuties, people have been pointiing out the imadequacy of the UK's First Past the Post voting system in representing the people's will. Neither Labour nor Tories however saw reason to yield to the people the power to elect third parties. The rise of the Lib Dems in the 1990ies showed that in the long run, First Past the Post does not protect their duopoly. With SNP and now Reform, the plurality of voters that elect a candidate could be so small as to be absurd - and glaringly unrepresentative. Now would be the time for the political class to allow voters to express their preference in a true majority voting system, e.g. Single Transferrable Vote.

[@GayorgVonTrapp]

Nigel Farage is far better at seeing the future than ANY of the other candidates. 17m voted to leave. 14m voted the Tories in in 2019. Smash it Clacton, bring him home. We'll do the rest. ®

[@gunnergav]

Nice rug burns Katie 😂

[@peterdockerty8077]

If only your old mate James Forsyth had the balls to write this for his mate Sunak, the tories would be looking good

[@JD83000]

It's is hilarious how their buddy James, ex political editor of The Spectator, is one of the masterminds of the demise of the tories 😂

[@markbaker5080]

@@JD83000 Absolutely spot on, I should imagine shares in Forsyth are dropping through the floor.

[@peterdockerty8077]

@@markbaker5080 let’s also remember it was Forsyths wife as comms director for Boris who released the video of her laughing at trying to explain partygate. She was Gove’s man on the inside and before her promotion worked for Sunak. The Spectator brought down Boris as they were in cahoots with Gove and Sunak

[@markbaker5080]

I remember it well. I used to wake up to the Today programme, go to bed after Newsnight and subscribe to the Spectator magazine ( I realised I was only reading Liddle, Low Life and Melissa Kite’s Real Life). I haven’t done any of those things for 10 years. Nelson always maintained that the magazine should include all sides and I get that, but it’s line was centre right back in the day and it certainly isn’t now.

[@peterdockerty8077]

@@markbaker5080 spitoons Mark. It now turns out they are New Labour, they were great on lockdown but then wanted to give all asylum seekers a free pass and give them all citizenship. Lets face it besides the Forsyth debacle you have one editor who worked for MIT Romney in the States so that tells us her politics, there’s another who married a Labour MP another who married into a family of lefty Marxists and activists. Mr Nelson is now so great and beige he’s just a weak woke wet

[@davesandall4530]

No just the country

[@SandraMorrison-eb7tq]

Yet more negativity from the Spectator...

[@gandydancerfilms6272]

The question should be: Will Reform, with Farage, save the bloody country?

[@jandavies4400]

Labour are far left conservatives are left reform is centre right?

[@josephprice6617]

Some great points and the Edinburgh guy referencing Belinda Carlisle was truly cutting insight.

[@barkebaat]

What a knees-up!

[@edgar-valentine]

🥳