It’s panto season and while many of us will enjoy the spectacle of silliness in theatres up and down the country, Westminster politics often feel it’s a pantomime all year round. While few can match Boris Johnson for his years of pantomime politics which helped bring the UK to its knees and trashed its reputation at home and abroad, the pantomime villain lives on in the shape of Nigel Farage and, according to recent polling, if you’re Keir Starmer or Kemi Badenoch he’s behind you! “Oh no he’s not! “might be the chorus from the left and centre, dismissing the rise of Reform and its right wing rhetoric as a flash in the pan, a one man band with extraordinary media exposure, no real policies and a dubious bunch of candidates. But not anymore. Labour MPs have been warned that Reform could be their main opponent at the next election in 2029. The Tories have been pushed further right by Reform breathing down their necks and are quite likely to see more defections to Farage’s party. Reform will likely do well in the May local elections but could also make significant inroads in Wales and Scotland and with high profile donations and growing membership may well be in a position of strength come the next general election unless Starmer can deliver something more than a tepid bath of words.
Analysis from the Electoral Reform Society among others suggests the rise of Reform is not simply because people have fallen for the new(ish) kid on the electoral block but because voters are more transient, more impatient and less willing to give politicians the benefit of the doubt. 2024 saw the national vote share of parties change more than twice as much as in 2019 and with Reform and the Greens winning more than 20 percent of the vote it is clear that people are more willing to change parties and pick at a smorgasbord of policies. In effect, the electorate are using proportional representation through tactical voting and giving someone else a go. But it’s the impatience of voters that should worry the government. They will not get a second term if people can’t feel the benefits well before then so while we might intellectually recognise repairing and rebuilding Britain will take time what we really want is click and collect or next day delivery. And if we haven’t got we want within four months some bloke from a pub will start a petition demanding anther general election.
The actor Nigel Havers, usually known for playing seductive smoothies is relishing his role as a pantomime villain for the eleventh time and said in an interview: “….you can overact, misbehave and be completely disdainful of the audience. And the nastier you are, the more they love you for it.”
Apparently they always enter stage left – so the audience sees them from the right. How very appropriate.
