Nigel Farage - the dog who caught the car
Does Reform have a plan beyond saloon bar chuntering? It will need a programme if it really is going to govern.
This is Iain Martin’s newsletter for Reaction subscribers.
There’s an old phrase - the dog who caught the car - that is less familiar and different to the dog that didn’t bark, but better. It came to mind the other day observing Nigel Farage at a summer media party in London.
What does the phrase - the dog who caught the car - mean? As is the fashion now, in the search of information I ran it through Google which produced yet another of those AI generated overviews that is ushering in the final destruction of the news business as we know it. More of which later.
Google AI says: “The dog who chases cars has no idea how to interact with one if it were actually caught. The phrase highlights the importance of considering the implications of achieving a goal beyond just the initial desire.”
Nigel Farage, leader of the insurgent Reform party, out in front in the opinion polls with the old established parties on the run, is the dog who caught the car. Having spent many years merrily chasing and barking at the British political establishment he has overtaken them. Now he looks perplexed about what to do next.
With the opinion polls regularly putting Farage’s Reform party in the lead, and Reform marmalising the old parties in local elections, for the first time it is possible they could end up as the largest party in the House of Commons at some point. On some projections, in an election Reform would win an overall majority and Farage would enter Number 10 to form an administration.