Let's stop pretending that Rupert Lowe's Restore Britain Party and Nigel Farage's Reform UK are running different agendas. It is already clear that they co-exist to simultaneously fuel the rightward shift towards fascism in the UK.
A week after Lowe's promise to deport hundreds of thousands of people a year, Reform is now promising to deport 288,000 a year (a curiously precise number) with five flights a day planned to deport people from this country to destinations unnamed and with no certainty that they would be granted the right to land.
As The Guardian notes this morning:
Reform UK would create an ICE-style agency dedicated to deporting hundreds of thousands of people, as well as terminating the status of those with indefinite leave to remain (ILR), the party will say.
It would also ban the conversion of churches into mosques and fund a radical expansion of stop and search, the party's new home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, will also say in a speech on Monday. The deradicalisation programme Prevent would also have its mandate redrawn to focus on Islamist extremism.
So:
- We would get our own Gestapo, because ICE behaves in that fashion in the USA.
- We will have a "hostile environment" for all migrants, including those legally settled here, and so of their children who were born here and are automatically British citizens.
- We will have legalised violence imposed on anyone the state presumes to be an enemy, because we can be quite sure that this will not only be migrants or people from ethnic minorities: this will be rule by terror. Anyone else that Farage's state might decide to target will also be in their sightlines. Think the LGBTQ+ community, trade unionists, awkward academics, bloggers they do not like, anyone whose face "does not fit", those with disabilities and those who are neurodivergent, and more.
- We will get Christianity imposed by law.
- We will have full-blown fascism.
- And, of course, we will have an economic meltdown, as none of this is possible without that meltdown happening.
So what are the mainstream parties saying in response? According to The Guardian:
Labour said the plans were divisive and showed that Reform was planning “to deport people who have followed the rules, worked hard and built their lives here – our friends, neighbours and colleagues”.
The Labour party's chair, Anna Turley, said the policies were “a direct attack on settled families and fundamentally un-British”. She added: “Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse nation, which stands in opposition to the kind of divisive politics stoked by Reform.”
This makes me very angry.
These plans aren't best described as "divisive". Nor are they about "following the rules". And neither do we just need to say we "stand in opposition to divisive policies". This is all just pathetically "nice". It's almost as if a Labour Party that appointed Shabana Mahmood as Home Secretary is, in reality, happy for this to happen. That's because if it were serious in its opposition to Refor,m it would be saying that Reform is planning state terrorism against large parts of the UK population, and it is planning authoritarianism, and it is doing so in a way that will cost lives and livelihoods whilst the well-being of millions will be destroyed by the politics of hate that Farage is proposing.
This is not the time for pussy-footing as if Farage is a Tory.
This is the time for calling out fascism and the stark ugliness of what is being proposed here when what is planned is the destruction of well-being of people, communities, ways of life and, quite candidly, this country as it has always been - which is a small island state that has always offered a welcome to people coming and going, adding value when they decide to stay and make this their home, in all the rich diversity that we have to offer. Literally, what Farage is planning is to tear us apart. When will Labour, as the government, say that?
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Not all UK citizens are taken in by Deform or Destore:
https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2026/02/22/reform-door-knocker/
Go on missus – tell us what you really think. Continuing on a positive note: Manchester by-election looks like going to the Greens.
May will be interesting. Of course, there could be “evetns” between now & then.
I look forward to Friday morning when I hope to see Hannah Spencer show that Hope not Hate is the way to deal with inequality not demonising migrants. Zia Yusuf is an extremely unpleasant individual who like Farage needs calling out. Many current Reform voters would be horrified by what Lowe is suggesting. They just want a reverse of the decline they see and feel they are missing out. Trump is showing how awful the implementation of such policies is, with innocent people being locked up and those defending them murdered by poorly trained forces. I don’t believe the average Brit wants this on our streets. Most voters don’t read manifestos; look at how many voted for Labour with a very thin manifesto that promised very little. I remain hopeful that Farage will soon be seen for the total charlatan he is.
It is quite puzzling that Zia Yusuf considers Reform his political home, despite being (from his Wikipedia page) a first generation immigrant and from a muslim background – precisely the sort of people that Reform want to send “home”.
The explanation for Yusuf is really simple.
When you have loads of money and join other people who have loads of money, all that matters is the money, not your background, skin colour, religion, disability or anything. You have joined an elite club (Goldman Sachs alumni in this case) where wealth is the equaliser (whereas insufficiency is the general rule for the rest of us).
Then you can use your money to play rich games like polo or even better – politics – and indulge your fantasies there and make your reality in the good old fashioned Neo-liberal way – by force and leverage (who needs democracy?).
What I note these days – rather depressingly – is how the words ‘politician and businessman/woman’ follows on in these descriptions of these characters?
These people are not politicians – that requires too much compromise for the individual financial power that they hold and exercise.
These people are in the business of making money. That is what the Reform/Restore voters need to know. But if that is the case, how different are they to the Tories or cowered Labour party?
In reality, not much I’m afraid.
I wonder if the LINO response is due to their obsession with focus groups and we must not upset the red wall.
Don’t expect no steer or any of the others to produce something like a principle to counter garbage.
Might it be that the “orthodox” opposition parties, not least Labour, do not speak, let alone act, clearly and with decisiveness against main stream media accommodating rising fascism because doing so would admit/present the whole-society failing nature and consequences of their past and present Neoliberal policies and practices?
They need to start with an apology
People with cluster B personality disorders (PDs), such as narcissistic or anti-social PDs (as well as the empathy-challenged so-called political business people) cannot apologise AND mean it. It’s a feature of their mental disorder. We really shouldn’t have a political economic system which rewards and promotes people with severe mental disorders. A system that financially rewards behaviours that are considered sins. Greed, lust, jealousy, all of it. The system selectively rewards ar*eholes and their sh1tty behaviour. It’s a very dangerous system.
I wouldn’t trust what Labour has been saying on this. They don’t have strong form on understanding the difference between what is legal and illegal. The Prime Minister is not nick-named two tier for nothing.
Labour are not fit to kiss Tony Benn’s gravestone. They have gutted the party. Even old style Tories would do a Ted Heath on this, but local Labour (what’s left of them) do not even dare turn up at anti-Nazi demonstrations or voice any opinions at all. And who do they attack, if not Reform/Advance/Restore? The Greens of course.
Your conclusion is correct, and highlights the absurdity
All these ravings about immigration from a man who planned to take a boat to Chagos without the correct documentation. The irony is inescapable.
If there are any tabloid journalists reading this blog, such as the Daily Mirror, Star or Metro, please run with the headline “REFORM UK PLANNING BRITISH GESTAPO”. It might make Reform voters rethink their allegiance to this totalitarian fascist party.
Labour isn’t decrying fascism as they themselves are planning Fascism Lite, or, I can’t Believe it’s Not Fascism, if you will. It’s why they are in bed with big tech and Palantir. The beige, centre-right, neoliberal consensus has collapsed, and its only means of survival in the face of the rising Left and Right is to lock the population down in a tightly controlled state of perpetual surveillance. Or am I being paranoid?
You are not being paranoid. Our eyes are now wide open.
These Reform/Restore/Repulsive people who claim they’ll detain 24,000 migrants at a time and deport up to 288,000 people a year : I trust that among the first to be expelled will be the foreign millionaires who swan in and buy up property in London and elsewhere, denying housing to decent hard-working tax-payers, the ones whose labour actually keeps this country running. Britain should be for the people who contribute, not for rich parasites! We don’t want wealthy Californians owning country houses in the Cotswolds, or bloated oil barons buying up luxury flats in Bayswater, and the sooner they’re all forcibly repatriated (and their property sequestrated) the better. Reclaim our culture, too! For far too long we’ve had our uniquely British culture infiltrated by the creeping evil of Americanisation – why, even our schools are shamefully forcing our innocent children to read books by American writers, teaching them an alien way of life and incorrect spelling. Enough is enough!
Sequestration? Too far.
But selling England by the pound? Also, too far.
Katy J
Do you think your proposals are not racist and fascist?
I’m sorry the tongue-in-cheek emoji was invisible.
But there’s a serious point about exactly which migrants are deemed unacceptable.
Above, you have written ‘We will get Christianity imposed by law.’
Could we agree that ‘Christianity’ is about ‘love of neighbours’ and ‘the forgiveness of sins’ – for starters at least?
Obviously there are abundant failings manifest in the institutionalisation of the religion.
Can we find a better way of referring to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth? He didn’t want to change the commandments of Moses; ‘Thou shalt not kill’ can be ‘imposed by law’, but perhaps not that much more in a literal sense.
Thsoe were the teachings of Jesus.
It seems few Christians remember them.
`I like your Christ but not your Christians`, attributed to Ghandi.
The term ‘Christian’ (and even more so, ‘evangelical’) has been hijacked, distorted, misapplied and abused over the last few years, more than any other word I know. Of course it has, for a long time, been used in some places to refer to ethnic or cultural groups (Orthodox ‘Christians’ vs Catholic ‘Christians’ vs Muslims in ex-Yugoslavia; ‘Christians’ vs Muslims in Lebanon…) but it seems now to have become common even in the ‘liberal’ west (of Europe) and even more so in the US (where ‘fundamentalist’ or ‘Christian’ Right seem better terms: I know many in the US who seek to follow Jesus and have nothing to do with those factions; and try to oppose them and counter their narratives wherever possible).
The origin of the word when believers were persecuted was ‘little Christs’ – a term of abuse, from the elites and their henchmen towards these ‘weak people’ (who yet seemed to have a strange inner strength, manifested in care for others: in the early centuries of Christianity, it was notable as a ‘faith of care’ – remaining to care for the sick and dying in pandemics, for example, when others who could ran away).
Now the claim seems to be that ‘we [the Right] are persecuted – so we must ‘take back control’…’ hence ‘imposing Christianity by law’: a complete fallacy, fantasy, ‘category error’… I’m at a loss for words to describe such perversion of truth.
I despair of sharing the true message of Christ, but cling to the hope that ‘redemption is possible’ because individuals and communities ‘on the ground’ can model a different way, which has nothing to do with banners, carrying symbols of a fascist execution in front of marches spouting hatred and division, or other shows of supposed strength.
Much to agree with
You believe in open borders and unfettered immigration, the majority of the population don’t and want something done about it… it’s that simple
You are wrong.
I have never said I believe in open borders and unfettered immigration.
Only a few people do.
But the vast majoroty hate the fascism embodied in Reform and Restore.
So, the real question is why are you lying?
I don’t believe Reform to be racist, i don’t know about Restore. You believe all tory and reform voters , and probably most labour voters too to be racist or fascist. This is why any supporting dialogue is heavily localised within your echo chamber. You are considered a crank further afield, just look at twitter comments.
Why do I believe that a great many Reform, Restore and Tory voters might be racist? That is because however many times they say “I’m not a racist” their actions betray them.
Then why, too, do I think those who vote for Reform and Restore are fascist? Because when it is clear what these parties stand for, and what the politics of hate that they propose really is about, of course you have to be a fascist. Please don’t protect otherwise.
And how big is my echo chamber? It is around 75% of the UK public, who hate fascists. In other, about three times bigger than yours.
And some pople think I am a crank? I remember when tax havens told the world that I was, and then I shattered a lot of their secrecy and changed them forever. I can live with being called a crank, because at least I know I am right.
On the most recent opinion poll
Reform UK: ~28.6%
Conservatives: ~18.9%
Combined: ~47.5%
So no, 75% pf the electorate do not support what you so, I would think a fair proportion of Labour voters disagree with you also. Rest assured the Greens are right behind you., so thats 14% not 75%!!!!!!!
Very politely, the Tories are not Reform. The Tories are not fascist, and have got rid of their most repugnant elements , and your welcome here is over because you peddle falsehoods and hate.
The old strawman pops up, courtesy no doubt of a troll stating a position nobody has voiced. Please note that immigration has always been controlled, but often mal-directed, administratively or greographically. The UK has needed immigration since WW2, and is indeed a country with diverse immigrant heritage going back many thousands of years. Asylum seeking is an international obligation.
Nothing about it is simple, and the fact that you think it is is part of the problem. Do you want tighter border and immigration control? There are better ways to go about it than the demonisation of immigrants encoded into Reforms’ policies, and dogwhistled into their communications. If you don’t see it, then perhaps that is what is appealing to you? I know from experience that not all Reform voters are racist. I know some who are thoroughly decent people, as demonstrated in their actions every day working in a demanding sector of specialist care, a job for which they aren’t rewarded nearly enough. The fact that Reform lies to them and says the solution is simple, a lie you seem to believe, is what makes them thoroughly disingenuous. They are about pulling power to themselves, and people like you are their willing pawns. As for heavily localised echo chambers, if you think Twitter is letting you know what the country is really thinking, and not just echoing back your own feelings, then good luck to you. You are going to need it.
https://dangoyal.substack.com/p/a-new-study-raises-serious-questions
Fa***e is my model.
He is praised for “saying it how it is”.
So do I.
THIS is “how it is” – Fa***e is peddling fascism. Have no hesitation in calling it out, every time, every place, no matter how embarrassing that might be, whether it is wrapped in a Union or St. George’s flag, or decorated with red poppies or Christian crosses or even the Star of David.
It’s especially important for this truth-telling to happen amongst MY tribe, in church circles, where history tells us that we have to start using the F word and the N word, openly and bluntly, or make the terrible mistake the polite restrained DeutscheKristen made in Germany nearly a century ago because of their fear of communism and socialism.
Fa***e and Lowe aren’t defending us against anything. They are being paid handsomely to betray us to overseas-financed brutal Nazi Fascists.
Starmer and Starmer’s Labour have no intention of saving us from fascism either – and they couldn’t if they tried, they are morally, politically and electorally bankrupt.
I believe some people in the churches are beginning to wake up and speak out – but not loudly enough, not bluntly enough and not often enough.
Agreed
@Robert – if you’re at Saturday’s event in Cambridge, I hope to meet and ‘say hello’!
Sorry, would love to but circumstances stop me travelling away from home at present.
Sorry to hear that – but we can ‘keep in touch’ via here, anyway 😉
Fight the good fight!
Wisdom and Peace…
Looking for your video, this one by The Marsh Family popped up – never seen them before but it isn’t their first song it seems. Melodious anger, if you can stomach the name M*****son
https://youtu.be/h870VJsLk_c?si=B9gWB29yjZSqWF24
I remember in the early 80s a bit of comedy and satire was needed to cope. I received a red hat in the post from a family member a few days ago, so I’m sartorially equipped for what I pray will not happen.
They are good…
Politics daily gets me claiming “why’, and then remember these words from Stafford Beer, ”the purpose of a system is what it does”. The British management consultant went on to say “there is after all, no point in claiming that the purpose of a system is to do what it constantly fails to do”
We need to prepare.
BE READY:
To participate in solidarity rallies, vigils and public shows of support for people in immigration detention and facing deportation, highlighting their humanity and rights
To join in community outreach and everyday demonstrations of solidarity, showing detained or at-risk migrants they aren’t isolated or forgotten through banners, art, music and shared events.
To share and volunteer in Know Your Rights campaigns so migrants understand their legal protections, asylum rights, appeal deadlines and court processes.
To support charities that offer legal assistance, representation and bail funding to detained individuals, improving their chances of remaining in the UK.
To collect, document and publicise human rights concerns around detention and deportation, including health or vulnerability issues.
To write to MPs, councillors and ministers to articulate concerns about mass deportation plans, emphasising legal obligations under UK and international law.
To sign and share petitions and campaigns that call on airlines, government bodies or the courts to uphold protections and halt unlawful removals.
To engage in peaceful demonstrations and marches when legislation is debated in Parliament, to show broad public concern.
To participate in or support monitoring groups that observe Border Force and enforcement activity to hold authorities publicly accountable.
To use freedom of information requests and public reporting to expose practices that may breach legal or human rights standards.
To amplify stories of individual migrants and families, through media, social platforms, local news and public talks, to counter fear-based rhetoric and shift the public narrative.
To join or support coalitions that bring together human rights, faith, academic and community groups opposing harsh asylum and deportation policies.
Agreed
Thank you
This is what is happening in the USA now
Yes. It’s based on that. There are many, many people in the US with peace and love in their hearts and we mustn’t be blinded to that.
Anyone else that Farage’s state might decide to target will also be in their sightlines.
I think us ‘vile separists’ might be included.
Agreed
Indeed. Remember the Niemoller quote (or misquote?): “First they came for… and I did nothing. Then…. Finally, they came for me.”
Indeed
To use a “left wing” terminology, Reform is a crypto-Restore Britain; both claim there was a wonderful past we can get back to, if only we close our eyes and wish. Lowe is just more upfront about that false claim.
They claim it’s possible to return to an age where “there will be a pint of milk and a Hovis loaf at the end of every street” (Al Stewart) but it never existed for most people, or a great many people, they were awful times with extremely high unemployment and destitution. They are selling a lie, an illusion of a golden age that never existed, inspiring memories of a time that never was.
“All through my life I’ve been hearing
All about those good old days
……….
So as you sit back to remember
That which you cannot recall
It makes no difference
What was or what may be
The past it is gone
The future may not be at all
The present, improve the flying hour”
(Flying Hour, George Harrison)
Thanks
From my observations over the last 65 odd years, there always seems to be around 25%.to 30% +/- of any voting demographic who support anything that feeds their desires for either power over others or association with it to share it, even if it only delusional. The swing voter that can always be relied on by populace fascists to support any craven, greed, cruelty, exploitation, poverty, chaos or savagery that feeds their underlying lust for it all.
Too weak or cowardly to speak out openly themselves unless they align themselves with an even smaller sociopathic cadre. Our own FTP electoral system encourages it History confirms it again and again. Trumpism is a classic example, and that 30% of US voters still support that fascism. Farage and Lowe, in my opinion, their party members and supporters are the current psychopaths of varying degrees that make up the swinging yes swinging vote in the U.K. today, all desperate to grasp their delusions regardless of who it harms, even themselves. After all it’s not well being they truly want, it’s the chance of delighting in the pleasure of the chaos they just might, maybe get.
That actual or vicarious pleasure and the thrill of gambling for it is why fascists exist and they’ll do anything to feed the prospect of that pleasure.
Hi Richard,
Truly disheartening to watch ITV News at Ten with Tom Bradley last night and hear no mention whatsoever of the Zia Yusuf speech with its alarming and sinister proposals; nor did I find any mention yesterday or today of the proposals for an ICE type para military force and the proposed deportation of 288,000 people every year on the BBC News Website (I cannot do BBC News on the TV or radio).
If I have missed it somewhere, please someone let me know but I find the “bread and circuses” stuff that we are fed (BAFTAS, Grammys, Oscars etc. ) incredibly frustrating – do these journalists not care and/or understand what they are hearing or are they just not paying attention?
Bread and circuses it is
And a fuss over a guy with Tourette’s who inspired a film