For more than three generations, Britain has been governed by people of declining average ability and of generally low moral character. The resulting decay of the country needs no description. Behind the political front men who govern, Britain is ruled by an oligarchy that does not regard the country as a nation to be governed in the interests of its people, but rather as a profitable enterprise—a base from which rents can be extracted while the country itself withers. This is a ruling class that presides over national decline not with regret or embarrassment, but with the complacency of those who believe that their own positions are secure no matter what happens to the people beneath them.
Every historic institution—Parliament, the judiciary, the civil service, the Church, the universities, the armed forces, the police—has been co-opted and rendered harmless. Resistance, such as it exists, is fragmented and easily contained. With each year, the window for meaningful change narrows. It may already be too late to pull back from the brink, to salvage even fragments of Britain’s ancient constitution and public spirit. And yet, there has been hope that Reform UK might be a means to that end—a last-minute turn before the country finally hits the wall. But recent events have shown that this may be impossible.
Rupert Lowe, a key figure in the party, has been suspended following allegations of threats and workplace bullying. His removal follows claims that he made menacing comments directed at the party chairman and created a “toxic” working environment. In response, Lowe has accused Nigel Farage of running the party with a “messianic” leadership style, further raising internal divisions. His suspension is not just a personal dispute but a sign of the party’s deeper instability.
The problem is simple: Reform UK has been built on the same kind of people who destroyed the Conservative Party. The initial idea was promising—an alternative that might finally break the stranglehold of the Labour-Conservative duopoly. But as the Conservative Party lurches towards collapse, Reform UK has been flooded with defectors. Andrea Jenkyns, Lee Anderson, and others have arrived, bringing with them the same defects of intellect and character that ruined the Conservatives. They are not seeking meaningful reform; they are merely switching banners to maintain their influence. Like refugees from a plague-ridden city in early modern Europe, they only spread the contagion they claim, and perhaps believe, to be escaping.
Articles like this are supposed to end with a note of optimism. Sadly, I can think of none at present. If Reform is left by this present scandal with serious damage, there will be no alternative to the duopoly of Labour and the Conservatives. In the short term, this may serve the interests of the ruling oligarchy. In the longer term, the country will be left with no hope of an orderly reconstruction—only the prospect of collapse, of dictatorship, of radical reconstruction, or of some more or less unhappy combination of these.
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