Reform

[icowden]

Labour have been recently as low as 200,000, currently around 310k.

Labour aren't really comparable. Their membership used to include all union members. A lot quit during the Blair years seeing him as too right wing. More left in 2021 same reason but this time dissatisfaction with Keir Starmer.

People don't join political parties like they used to because the parties have forgotten about people.

 

[tarric]

Reform UK is a registered political party, Reform isn't.

https://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/Registrations/PP7931

Sorry, but NO, Reform UK is a limited company. Like all Farage's promises, it's just more lies to pad his personal finances.

 

[CXRAndy]

Labour aren't really comparable. Their membership used to include all union members. A lot quit during the Blair years seeing him as too right wing. More left in 2021 same reason but this time dissatisfaction with Keir Starmer.

People don't join political parties like they used to because the parties have forgotten about people.

Isn't that the whole idea, folk join as members because they align with the leader and policies they are promoting.

 

[icowden]

Sorry, but NO, Reform UK is a limited company. Like all Farage's promises, it's just more lies to pad his personal finances.

I think the correct answer is that we are all correct.

Reform UK is registered with the Electoral Commission as a political party in order to field candidates.
Reform UK is also a registered company.

 

[Mr Celine]

I also suspect that despite his public persona, our Andy is clever enough not to pay into Farage's con trick.

I suspect he can't afford the subs, PIP is not as generous as Liz Kendall would have you believe.

 

[Psamathe]

I think the correct answer is that we are all correct.

Reform UK is registered with the Electoral Commission as a political party in order to field candidates.
Reform UK is also a registered company.

And in our capitalist system a company is obliged to act in the interests of its shareholders. So Reform UK and its MPs, etc. are solely working for the interests of its shareholders rather than the best interests of their constituents or the electorate.

Ian

 

[Ian H]

Isn't that the whole idea, folk join as members because they align with the leader and policies they are promoting.

Sounds pretty Nazi to me.

 

[C R]

Sounds pretty Nazi to me.

Useless bit of trivia, in Farsi nazi means nice.

 

[CXRAndy]

Sounds pretty Nazi to me.

One man's Nazi is another man's Marxist, is anothers liberal

 

[C R]

One man's Nazi is another man's Marxist, is anothers liberal

I suppose that may be true in a world where people say that the democrats and Labour are Marxists. In the real world, however, things may be different.

Also funny how postmodernism is now very popular among the fascists that used to fulminate about it.

 

[Psamathe]

Reform UK is registered with the Electoral Commission as a political party in order to field candidates.

Which many might not appreciate gives them access to a lot of detail about everybody in the country. As a "political party" they can request copies of the full complete electoral register ie including contact details it holds (ie the "full register" not the "open register") plus they also can get your voting history detailing which elections (including local Council elections) you voted in NOT who you voted for.

Last year I got a list of which parties my Electoral Services has provided these details to and one such party was a party called "The Common People" (previously names "The Vulgar Party", a party who have only ever stood 2 candidates, only 1 in 2024 for a constituency in Cornwall (I'm in Norfolk). Why are they getting my details?

And so last year I put in subject Access Requests on all parties who got the full electoral register and the results were staggering. Noting I don't use Social Media, no Facebook/Instagram/X/Twitter/etc. accounts (not even registered but inactive) and eg I got 13 A4 pages of printed details about me from the Conservative Party, including a load of complete rubbish they had purchased in from 3rd parties and merged in eg they had me as a printed version Telegraph reader (I've never purchased a printed newspaper and don't read the Telegraph); they had me leaving education before the age of 16 (despite my having done a couple of full time University degrees incl. post-graduate); basically a load of complete twaddle.

Ian

 

[Xipe Totec]

One man's Nazi is another man's Marxist, is anothers liberal

I never discuss politics 😜

QED.

 

[BoldonLad]

Which many might not appreciate gives them access to a lot of detail about everybody in the country. As a "political party" they can request copies of the full complete electoral register ie including contact details it holds (ie the "full register" not the "open register") plus they also can get your voting history detailing which elections (including local Council elections) you voted in NOT who you voted for.

Last year I got a list of which parties my Electoral Services has provided these details to and one such party was a party called "The Common People" (previously names "The Vulgar Party", a party who have only ever stood 2 candidates, only 1 in 2024 for a constituency in Cornwall (I'm in Norfolk). Why are they getting my details?

And so last year I put in subject Access Requests on all parties who got the full electoral register and the results were staggering. Noting I don't use Social Media, no Facebook/Instagram/X/Twitter/etc. accounts (not even registered but inactive) and eg I got 13 A4 pages of printed details about me from the Conservative Party, including a load of complete rubbish they had purchased in from 3rd parties and merged in eg they had me as a printed version Telegraph reader (I've never purchased a printed newspaper and don't read the Telegraph); they had me leaving education before the age of 16 (despite my having done a couple of full time University degrees incl. post-graduate); basically a load of complete twaddle.

Ian

Good to know that even if these “Parties” are getting such information, it is delightfully useless. 😊

 

[Rusty Nails]

Isn't that the whole idea, folk join as members because they align with the leader and policies they are promoting.

Sounds pretty Nazi to me.

I knew there was something a bit unsavoury about the record number of people who joined Labour when Corbyn was the leader.

 

[Rusty Nails]

I am pretty cynical about the direction of politics, not just in this country, but around the world.

The growth of Internet communications and and the immediacy of widespread access to "News", whether accurate or biased, has increased the importance of populism to electoral success.

Trump knows this, as does Farage and the pro-Brexit team. Farage uses it to his advantage, particularly wrt to immigration and "wokeness", and sadly it is working. Meanwhile the traditional parties take the moral high ground try to stay above the use of such an approach...and are paying the price.

Timetables are shortened these days and Starmer has four years to show people the real and postive achievements of his tenure to their lives or the next election will be dominated by the Tories/Reform.