At the start of this year Reform’s trajectory appeared clear: to the left, to the left. Nigel Farage led calls for the nationalisation of British Steel and Thames Water, vowed to forge “a good partnership with the unions” and even praised that old Marxist, Arthur Scargill.
Some began to describe Reform as a left-wing party or contended that it had abandoned Thatcherism. But this week has marked a return to the party’s ideological roots. In his speech in the City of London, Farage lamented that the right had failed to exploit Brexit. “We have not taken advantage of the opportunities to deregulate and become more competitive,” he declared, in rhetoric reminiscent of Britannia Unchained. “The harsh truth is that regulations and regulators, in many areas, are worse than they were back in 2016.”
As for the charge that he had become “nationalisation Nigel”, Farage riposted that he only favoured “short-term, partial nationalisation” for “certain failing industries”. In other words, as a last resort rather than a matter of principle.
Then at Bloomberg last night it was Richard Tice’s turn. The former Reform leader was heralded by the party’s treasurer, Nick Candy, as a chancellor-in-waiting and as the man who kept them “afloat” while “our current leader was enjoying his retirement”.
During his appearance, Tice, who splits his time between the UK and Dubai, invoked the deregulatory “Big Bang” as a model for today, extolled fiscal conservatism (“basic housekeeping”) and spoke of the appeal of a “flatter tax system”. Thatcher may not have been mentioned by name but she was the spectral presence throughout. On multiple fronts, Reform is moving closer towards her true spirit.
The party’s decision to abandon its £90bn tax cut pledge – Trussism on steroids – in favour of fiscal restraint was impeccably Thatcherite. Though remembered by her libertarian disciples for cutting taxes above all, Thatcher used her early budgets to raise them as she prioritised the fight against inflation and debt (Reform would rely on spending cuts).
Reform’s vow to abolish the two-child benefit cap back in May was cast as another example of its leftwards shift. But that policy has been revised too: Farage this week stated that it would only apply to couples who both work. This new emphasis on industriousness – “alarm-clock Britain”, Farage called it – again has a distinctly Thatcherite feel.
The political philosopher Shirley Letwin (mother of Oliver) described Thatcher’s people as those who possessed the “vigorous virtues”: “upright, self-sufficient, energetic, adventurous, independent-minded, loyal to friends and robust against foes”. It’s a creed that Farage, his eyes trained on a shopkeeper class too often forgotten by the left, echoes today.
For Labour, whose strategists always believed that rumours of Farage’s left turn had been exaggerated, Reform’s new direction offers a chance to reprise attack lines of old. For the Conservatives, themselves striving to reclaim Thatcher’s mantle, it confirms why Farage represents an existential threat.
This piece first appeared in the Morning Call newsletter; receive it every morning by subscribing on Substack here
[Further reading: Othello is missing the tragedy]
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