Reform UK backs candidates who promoted online conspiracy theories
Party stands by members set to contest key seats who have claimed climate crisis does not exist and Islamophobia is ‘made up’
Hmm.
Reform UK has chosen to stand by candidates who have promoted conspiracy theories online, called the climate emergency “make-believe” and expressed vaccine-sceptic views.
Those fringe views, and more, were put forward by a group of seven candidates selected to stand for the rightwing populist party at the next general election – including several who will contest seats that some analyses consider to be their top targets.
Indicating the types of belief that Reform is willing to give a platform to, it said it was “proud” to field them as prospective parliamentary candidates (PPCs) on Thursday.
Among the views the party has publicly backed are Chris Farmer’s claim the climate emergency was invented as cover for a plan to install dictators in positions of power. The PPC for Gloucester also said a group of mayors representing the world’s leading cities was trying to use the climate emergency to justify banning people from travelling by private car.
Well, you don’t have to go very far into the watermelon left to find people who argue the private car was all a mistake and should be – well, if not banned, certainly strongly dissuaded off the roads – removed in favour of public transport.
Reform has also backed Trevor Lloyd-Jones’s promotion of content online relating to the 15-minute city conspiracy theory.
Again, whether that’s a conspiracy theory depends upon how far you take it. There really are those insisting upon curbing “hypermobility” after all.
The party has also backed Lynn Murphy – their candidate in Easington, another key seat – who referred to a “make-believe climate crisis” and said: “You are deluded if you think the world is going to end due to climate change.”
That’s not a theory, that’s a basic truth. It’s entirely true that we might not like the world after substantial climate change but it’s not going to end.
Also deemed acceptable behaviour by Reform was Hamish Haddow’s claim the RNLI, which is often called upon to rescue people who have attempted the perilous Channel crossing to reach the UK, has been “working as a taxi service for illegal immigrants”.
Maybe not very nice as a claim but “conspiracy theory”?
The spokesperson confirmed that the party supported opposing “net zero and the climate-change agenda” and believed Covid lockdowns were “damaging to the country, its economy and the wellbeing of its people”.
Well, OK.
a party some polls have in third place.
Perhaps the reason for the performance is that some substantial part of the electorate shares the views? And as this is a democracy they deserve to be represented…..
The PPC for Gloucester also said a group of mayors representing the world’s leading cities was trying to use the climate emergency to justify banning people from travelling by private car.
100% true. Saddick Khan is chair of something called C40 cities who say things like “The cities with the most successful transport strategies prioritise people-friendly streets over space for cars. “
They don’t even try to hide it.
I have no objection to any of these claims being discussed in public and many of them are indeed Reform Party policy. Most of them however are not conspiracies, they are observations of left-wing globalist declared intentions.
It’s surprising that the guardian should choose to print a puff piece for Reform UK but more power to their progressive little elbow, say I.
This is from people who think men can become women. Anyway:
The climate emergency is made up, even the IPCC doesn’t claim there is one.
Vaccine scepticism, indeed all scepticism, is healthy and keeps us alive.
There are plenty of very sane people making the argument that net zero is going to make it harder to respond to climate change, which is real although the causes can be debated.
This is the chattering classes and political chattering among themselves while the rest of the country is going in to open populist revolt, as we discussed the other day.
Probably most conspiracy theories are devised by the government agencies who want to distract us from the things they are really covering up on behalf of their overlords who run the planet.
It’s come to a sorry pass when the best thing you can mobilise against your political opponents is to point and say ‘They’re noticing what we believe in!’
There may well be Reform candidates with nutty views but those above ain’t them.
The latest IPCC report does not use the word ’emergency’ nor the word ‘crisis’, although ‘crises’ appears twice.
And never mind mayors around the world, the UK’s net zero plan explicitly envisages a reduction in private car ownership and usage.
The belief that lockdowns were “damaging to the country, its economy and the wellbeing of its people” is held by the majority of people, with the exception of those bedwetters still masking up in Tesco.
Who needs party political broadcasts when the Guardian does the work for you. They will be getting my vote.
The (current) Mayor of London can’t exactly hide ULEZ, which has cameras on every corner (save the one’s not downed by the Blade Runners), but he is certainly trying to lie about the reality of price-per-mile road charges which will get put on afterburners if London re-elects him.
Marius said:
“There may well be Reform candidates with nutty views but those above ain’t them.”
I’m amazed that was the best the Guardian could come up with. Reform must have really improved their vetting.
Who needs party political broadcasts when the Guardian does the work for you. They will be getting my vote.
Does anyone believe a Guardian reader is going to change their mind and vote Reform, Tory or anything but Labour, LibDem or more likely Greens no matter what is written?
I find it curious that sometime in the recent past it’s become a slur to say someone believes in “conspiracy theories”. So those on the Left now believe that there are no conspiracies anywhere in the whole world, nobody is secretly working hand-in-glove with the press or an NGO or gov’t agency? Not anywhere? They’ll never again print anything suggesting that those on the political Right are being sneaky or have an ulterior motive?
Stuck that lot in a manifesto and not only would I vote for it, I’d dig fairly deep to support the party with sufficient balls to say it.
@Esteban: there’s a theory that the expression “conspiracy theory” was concocted by the CIA to let the media use it to dismiss all sceptical thinking about the assassination of JFK.
Personally I think JFK was a nasty piece of work and have no objection to someone shooting him. Except that his replacement was LBJ who was an even nastier piece of work.
What needs explanation isn’t the assassination of JFK it’s the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald.
This is entertaining:
‘the climate emergency was invented as cover for a plan to install dictators in positions of power. The PPC for Gloucester also said a group of mayors representing the world’s leading cities was trying to use the climate emergency to justify banning people from travelling by private car.’
Severe restrictions on private car use have been implemented in Oxford, Canterbury and are coming in other cities. All 3 countries in the mainland UK are led by people who were not elected.
The RNLI, which is often called upon to rescue people who have attempted the perilous Channel crossing to reach the UK, has been “working as a taxi service for illegal immigrants”.
Exactly what Tim says on that one – crude but arguably a fair description of what happened
the prospective candidate for the key Amber Valley seat promoted some of the conspiracy theories pushed by the former Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen, who lost the whip in January after comparing the use of Covid vaccines to the Holocaust
There’s certainly sufficient question over the vaccine’s efficacy (At least those for COVID) that a number of countries have stopped their rollout. Are they (denmark for example) in thrall to conspiracy theorists?
was reselected for the next general election in the knowledge he had reportedly defended the convicted fraudster and far-right agitator Tommy Robinson online, as well as saying Islamophobia was “made up”.
Any number of Labour supporters defend numerous Left wing criminals – does this debar them from standing for office? Islamophobia is a justified fear that people who would blow up children at a pop concert may not always have the purest of motives.
The spokesperson confirmed that the party supported opposing “net zero and the climate-change agenda” and believed Covid lockdowns were “damaging to the country, its economy and the wellbeing of its people”.
Anyone defending lockdowns is a criminal of unparalleled evil – they were the single greatest criminal act in UK history and have no possible justification – even less so with four years hindsight.
As RichardT points out they’re scraping the barrel here – Reform must have learned some lessons.
VP – Anyone defending lockdowns is a criminal of unparalleled evil – they were the single greatest criminal act in UK history and have no possible justification – even less so with four years hindsight
Amen.
You have all convinced me. I’ll just nip out and cast my vote. Local elections today.
Bloke In North Dorset,
“climate emergency” has the same vibes as a salesman who won’t leave you alone. Like they’re offering you a car that’s a total piece of crap, that they want to unload, and at a certain point, the desperation comes through. They start talking utter nonsense, calling you every day.
I don’t really believe that most green people have a deliberate conspiracy, though. Because I know quite a few greenies. It’s mostly just that they’re rather self-centred in their perspective. They live in a city, they particularly like riding a bike, they go to the same office every day, the office provides somewhere to safely park a bike and change. So, everyone can do that, right? It’s like most of these pro-rail people.
I’m not against some of the things about reducing traffic in certain places, because some places suit public transport better. You can’t go knocking down those old bits of Oxford to redesign the road system, and build some car parks. Plus, it’s more concentrated population because of all the students who use the buses and bikes a lot. But did it need to cover the bits of Oxford that the tourists don’t go like Headington, Summertown and Cowley? No.
Does anyone believe a Guardian reader is going to change their mind and vote Reform, Tory or anything but Labour, LibDem or more likely Greens no matter what is written?
Indeed. But Reform asking the Graun for permission to use the entire article for their election publicity would be a master stroke
@Western Bloke
Yep. The techniques being used to sell us “climate emergency” fit very closely with advice on how to spot a Boiler Room Scam.
How did the Graun report on the “Russian collusion” conspiracy theory? People in glass houses…
I’m more with BiS on this one. OK, it’s the wrong paper and all that, but if wavering right-of-center voters read this sort of provocative crap (obviously the points made are largely true), then reactions more likely follow that of Bloke in the Wash’s quip above. Which takes more votes away from Labour’s direct competitor…
All the way up to the election, it’ll be in the left’s interests to promote Reform at every stage – by provoking those on the right, it’s not going to affect the left’s vote by anything like as much.
“They deserve to be represented…..”
But not if their views go against ours…
I believe that the current meme on the subject goes thus…
Q. What’s the difference between a “Conspiracy Theory” and “empirical proof”?
A. About six months.
dearieme,
“Personally I think JFK was a nasty piece of work and have no objection to someone shooting him. Except that his replacement was LBJ who was an even nastier piece of work.”
JFK was a bad president whose reputation was saved by good looks and dying before it all came to fruition. If he’d lived, he’d have been forever associated with the escalation of US involvement in Vietnam, the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. I think he was probably worse than Bush Jr.
The biggest problem with JFK was that people liked him and would go to war at his request. WW3 became far less imminent when he was shot. Having a popular president is a bad bad thing if you are hoping to die of old age.
A conspiracy theory is an explanation that asserts the existence of a political conspiracy by powerful and often sinister groups when other explanations are initially more (or less)) probable. Conspiracy theories are generally designed to resist falsification either by evidence against them or a lack of evidence for them…
So there is no Great Re-set – rather group-think…
I don’t understand the fuss about 15 minute cities. I got shot of my car before going to Tokyo almost a decade ago and we didn’t replace it when returning in 2019, it’s saved me a fortune in cash and several inches from around my waistline.
True, we hire a car for weekends away but for day to day stuff walk or cycle. Why give the govt even more money in road tax and petrol duty than you have to? Starve the beast instead.
I too have lived in places where a car is a hindrance rather than a benefit. Central Moscow, central Bath, Lisbon as examples. And I’m fine with that too.
The bugbear of the 15 minute cities is planners thinking that everyone wants to live like that. Thereby not just designing for that, but also starting to insist upon that. You live in a zone (ie. a part of Oxford), you’re allowed so many free trips a month out of your zone and then you’ve got to pay to cross your boundary again.
What’s being missed is that sure some of us like living orban – I do myself. But it’s also true that some to many like livin subirban. Historically, those with kids for example. And the point of 15 minute cities is to take that choice away, to try to insist on the one mode of living.
It’s not the existence of 15 minute cities that’s a problem in the slightest, it’s the insistence upon them.
The typical suburban community houses about 2,500 to 3,000 people per square mile but transit’s share of commute trips is insignificant for tracts with fewer than 4,000 people per square mile . . .Generally speaking transit’s market share doesn’t exceed 20% on average until densities reach five and six times the density of a typical suburban community (Balaker/Staley – ‘The Road More Traveled’)
And to paraphrase Tom Sowell, ‘most places are not like Manhattan’ but people who want to direct our lives think it can be so, at the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen.
Tim,
“What’s being missed is that sure some of us like living orban – I do myself. But it’s also true that some to many like livin subirban. Historically, those with kids for example. And the point of 15 minute cities is to take that choice away, to try to insist on the one mode of living.”
We used to live in “15 minute cities” back in the suburbs in the 1970s and they sucked. 15 minute cities being that a woman could walk to a row of shops comprising a general store, butcher, hairdresser. The butcher is useless? Tough, that’s the butcher you get.
And it’s the car that liberated women. Because women could go to Tesco after work in her car. She could buy a week’s shop doing that. And Tesco was open late to accommodate them, like the small shops weren’t. Take away cars, and women have to use smaller shops with a much smaller range of goods, and can’t carry as much stuff home.
17% Reform in the results declared so far for yesterdays local elections. No seats won though.
The truly astonishing aspect is that so many people still voted conservative.
So there is no Great Re-set – rather group-think…
One can refine that Theo.
Individuals tend to seek to maximise what they perceive as being to their own personal advantage. The powerful tend to be those who perceive their personal advantage correctly. It’s how they gain power. And power is competitive. So a conspiracy of the powerful is a contradiction in terms. The powerful do not conspire against their own personal interests. So the “group think” is an alignment of those personal interests.
However there is a caveat. It’s not always obvious what individuals perceive as being in their personal interest. Individuals are individuals. It may not be simply monetary gain. It can be power itself. Or self regard.
Curiously enough there’s a slightly off topic example of this in the Torygraph this morning.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/hotel-covent-garden-voted-best-in-britain-tripadvisor/
The dull London hotel that’s been voted the ‘best in Britain’
The Resident in Covent Garden has come out top in Tripadvisor’s recent awards – but does our hotel expert agree?
She doesn’t.
But to understand the hotel’s success one needs to remember that Tripadvisor is essentially a forum. So the input is by that subset of hotel guests participate in forums. Or this one at least. So the result is the aligning of a lot of individual’s motivations. One of which is participating on the forum. And all for their own individual reasons.
“So the result is the aligning of a lot of individual’s motivations. One of which is participating on the forum. And all for their own individual reasons.”
I recall a BBC phone-in poll to determine the greatest ever singer. Result: Robbie Williams.
bloke in spain,
The other thing is that “hotel experts” may have a different idea of what makes a good hotel to the guests.
“The same goes for facilities: this is a hotel with no restaurant, no breakfast room, no gym, no lounge, just 57 bedrooms ranging from not large to very small in size.”
See, I just don’t care about most of this. I never eat in hotel restaurants if I can avoid it, as the food is bland and overpriced. Breakfast room I like, but no breakfast room? I’ll find a cafe. No gym? You can always book a pass, but personally, I don’t care. I’ll go to my local gym the day before. No lounge? Again, plenty of pubs and cafes everywhere.
“Can this really be the best hotel in the whole of the United Kingdom? Does charm, character, history, a beautiful location count for nothing?”
Well, it rather depends on what you’re doing. Taking a lady away for a weekend, she might like having breakfast at the Palm Court. On business, no, it doesn’t matter one bit. I mostly stay in Premier Inn and Travelodge hotels because they do all that I need. I want a secure room, clean, comfortable bed, quiet room, good shower. I spend so little time in a hotel I don’t care about how it looks, and I don’t care to pay big money for all the facilities to hand that I don’t even use.
@WB
That’s basically my point. Individuals have different preferences . All seek to maximise their own advantage but in different ways.
I strongly suspect that a travel writer for the Torygraph has different preferences to both you & the subset of Tripadvisor contributors recommended the hotel. For a start, it doesn’t give her much to write about. Always worth remembering about travel writers. They choose places will produce saleable column inches, not necessarily because they’re worth visiting.
@John
Don’t confuse local elections with the general. I voted tory in the locals because I know that my councillors are good. It’s not their fault that the national party has been taken over by knob ends.
At the GE? No way. Reform if they’re standing, otherwise the least-bad independent.
In this Times article they sow the seeds by starting with crystal woo
They then go on to dismiss as “conspiracy theories” more topics, almost all actually being True and are set out in great detail by UK Govt, Bill Gates, UN and especially WEF and their Great Reset, Build Back Better websites. Bug eating is promoted by BBC as is artificial meat and supermarkers selling both, although not in all stores
The jab does kill, injury and Govt have relectantly admitted so as have CDC, EU…, but cling to ‘extremely rare’ lie
Has the author been asleep for last five years?
Times is pushing establishment “Nothing to see here, move along” message
Times article