Gareth’s wonderful latest PB header “The Problem for … Reform” instructed that working native councils may give the get together invaluable government expertise. However does this inflow of Reform Councillors really carry “outsiders” into the system? Or does it simply provide “insiders” a brand new ladder to climb?
Meet Stephen Atkinson, newly elected chief of Lancashire County Council. First time elected this 12 months as a Reform councillor, with a profession background of getting been *checks notes* Council Chief of Ribble Valley Council for the Conservative Occasion till March.
Or the brand new Council Chief for Leicestershire County Council, Dan Harrison. Elected for Reform this Could, having beforehand been *checks notes* the Conservative councillor for a similar seat till February.
The listing of former Conservative Councillors now sporting turquoise rosettes is lengthy, too lengthy to undergo on this header, however it isn’t simply ex-Tories. Cathy Mason, previously Labour’s solely Councillor in Ashfield, defected to Reform earlier this 12 months. She stood efficiently for them within the County Council elections this 12 months, one of many few Reform figures with Labour roots.
A number of long-standing “Independents” have adopted the identical path. The brand new chief of Nottinghamshire County Council, Mick Barton, had been a Mansfield District Councillor since 2003, for the Mansfield Independents.
Removed from bringing in outsiders, many of those councillors have used Reform as a automobile to step up, both into management, or from district to county stage.
Previously some had instructed that Farage and his supporters may do a ‘reverse takeover’ of the Conservative Occasion; maybe although, we’re seeing the reverse: a takeover of Reform by insider politicians sensing the chance for both self-preservation, or promotion.
If this development continues, what number of councillors from throughout the spectrum, primarily however not completely Conservatives, may see Reform as a automobile to take them to Westminster?
So reasonably than a populist overthrow of the political class, maybe Reform is as an alternative enabling a reshuffle: altering which insiders are climbing the greasy pole.
Bartholomew Roberts
