It is fair to say that for much of his first year as premier, Sir Keir Starmer, perhaps out of force of habit, or with an element of wishful thinking, tended to downplay the threat posed by Nigel Farage and Reform UK.
Instead, he concentrated his attacks on the recently defeated Conservatives, then still the official opposition. No longer. In the uncertain hands of Kemi Badenoch, the party that is traditionally the principal rival to Labour now lies third in the opinion polls, registers about the same support as the Liberal Democrats, and is hardly more relevant. It is Nigel Farage, and not for the first time, who is mobilising grievance for political gain, stirring the hatred, and hawking yet another false manifesto.
