Why an ex-Spectator editor told me to back Reform

00:00 04:50

Toby Young has narrated this article for you to listen to.

When I told an ex-editor of this magazine that I was planning to write about why I’m voting for Reform he didn’t react as I expected. ‘For God’s sake, don’t write another of those more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger pieces,’ he said. ‘Make it a furious, tub-thumping endorsement of Nigel and his gang.’

I should say at once that this wasn’t Boris Johnson – although he does want Nigel Farage to win in Clacton, apparently. Why? Because if Nigel becomes an MP it will make his takeover of the Tories a more realistic prospect. That way, Boris can re-enter the House of Commons at the earliest opportunity and say to what remains of the parliamentary party: ‘The only way to stop Nigel is to back me. If anyone else is up against him when the final two are put before the membership, he’ll win.’

That isn’t my rationale for voting Reform – I live in Acton, not Clacton – but it’s equally calculating. In my constituency, the sitting Labour MP has a majority of 13,000 and it’s likely to go up, not down. So putting an X against the Tory candidate is a wasted vote. The Reform candidate has even less chance of winning, obviously, but the more votes Reform gets across the country, the stronger will be the case to replace Rishi Sunak with a right-wing firebrand.

Like many Conservatives, I’ve abandoned all hope of winning this election and turned my mind to who’s going to be the next leader. The wets – the people responsible for the coming debacle, in my view – will point to the 2019 Tory voters who’ve abandoned the party for Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens (God help us), and argue that the only way back is to elect a centrist dad like Tom Tugendhat.