I was going to post about the first GB-wide poll of 2025 being yet another to show Reform UK hitting a new high watermark with a specific firm (this time Deltapoll), but that news has been well and truly overtaken by Elon Musk dramatically dumping his former darling Nigel Farage and announcing that Reform UK needs a new leader.
It's easy to snigger at Musk's extreme fickleness and naivety about British politics - after all, whatever his reason for ditching Farage (most likely Farage's refusal to embrace Tommy Robinson), it's likely to have been something he could easily have found out months ago if he'd asked the right questions or entered the right Google search terms. And in any case there really is nobody other than Farage capable of leading Reform to electoral success. But this latest change of heart may matter a great deal, because a lot of the momentum behind Reform was based on the assumption that Musk was about to make it the best-funded party in the UK and would be indefinitely churning out propaganda on its behalf on Twitter. OK, Musk is unlikely to start backing the Tories, but if Reform is replaced in his affections by a much less voter-friendly far-right option such as the BNP or UKIP, in practice that can only work in the Tories' favour.
Incidentally, there's surely a lesson here for the leading figures in the Alba Party who have been paying homage to Musk and practically begging for his attention and even his funding. If Farage isn't far-right enough for Musk, it's highly unlikely that Neale Hanvey, Ash Regan or even Chris McEleny will ever be deemed up to scratch. Isn't it slightly degrading to so publicly thirst after affections that will never be granted?
I'm watching Sky News and it says Musk thinks Farage should be replaced. Get the popcorn oot ! 🤣
ReplyDeleteWhit a turn aroon' ! Saw Farage this morning on Brit bias 1 crowing that he'll be getting money fae Musk. The chinless wonder has egg on him phisog.
ReplyDeleteFight SGP censorship!
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain. The Scottish Green Party are right old brutes.
DeleteBut it would be a mistake not to give them your second vote.
DeleteI can exclusively reveal, Alec, that I will not be giving the Greens my second vote. If my expulsion is reversed, I will vote Alba on the list. If my expulsion is not reversed, I suspect I'll be voting either for the SNP or for an independent.
DeleteHere is Lomax expanding on his thoughts on WGD.
Delete" Vote 1 SNP . Vote 2 Well as you said voting for the same party in the second vote will give that party less chance of winning a list seat. But who? ............"
That's right Lomax thinks if you vote for the same party on the regional list as you voted for on the constituency then that same party will have less chance of winning a list seat. That would mean that Both Votes SNP policy would actually reduce the SNP regional list MSPs if Lomax was correct. What a numpty Lomax is.
No wonder Lomax normally sticks to one line snidey remarks he disnae have a clue how the Holyrood voting system works and probably disnae have much of a clue about anything.
Bathist Resistance:
DeleteDeport Pinochet NOW!
How about posting the link to twitter to help the millions of us not on twitter to see the post that is the subject of this story?
ReplyDeleteFirst thoughts.
ReplyDeleteMusk is an unstable oddball. Whatever he says now he will probably contradict in time.
He's wrong. Farage is exactly who Reform need in charge. I don't agree with the man about anything but there is nobody in UK politics better at connecting with the electorate.
This might actually be a good thing for Reform in the long term. Musk is a turn off for a lot of people. If he were funding Reform while dictating terms and clashing with Farage it would get ugly. Better to get that problem sorted now.
Connecting with suckers you mean. Reform are an English nationalist company, they have nothing to offer Scotland.
DeleteThis is the problem for nasty right wing types. They are not nice people. It means they are not nice to each other as much as they not nice to everyone else. Any niceness towards anyone is fake, and purely in the pursuit of personal benefit.
ReplyDeleteNo honour among thieves as they say, which is why Trump’s rule will be even more calamitous than last time. It will be one big internal dog eat dog fight from the start; it already is with MAGA turning on Musk, Musk now turning on Farage etc. Trump’s not even in the oval office yet and they’re at each other’s throats.
I agree with John McBarry. Musk will probably have to walk this back. Farage ain’t shifting and there’s no viable alternative Musk & Pals vehicle in the UK other than Reform.
ReplyDeleteMAGA is full of people who have previously said things they’ve had tons of go back on in order to keep their place at the banquet. I won’t name names, they’re not hard to identify. My guess is that branch office UK Trumpy politics will follow suit.
Why will you not name names?
DeleteShould be: to go back on
ReplyDeleteNotable that that Fascist-Party-Supporting, Trade Union Bashing Cretin Musk does NOT seem to get as hyperbolic on X about the 500,000 Americans going bankrupt each year due to massive medical bills, or their yearly 50,000 gun deaths, or their yearly 500 mass-shootings, or their almost 50 armed attacks on schools annually.
ReplyDeleteNot to even mention their gigantic problem of inherent Racism, particularly against black people, which seems to be on the rise again.
America is a seething, festering mess of a place - and that Right Wing Bag of X- Wind piece of human trash is playing his full part in making things even worse over there - and is looking to spread his putrid stench here and in Europe, as well.
ANY Scottish Politician sooking-up to that Warped Wankstain, is made of the same garbage as he is.
James says: - " Isn't it slightly degrading to so publicly thirst after affections that will never be granted."
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is and the SNP have been doing it for years with their subservient requests for a sec 30 from Westminster. Incredibly some still want to keep doing it. Maybe they need to get down on their knees next time.
Ach, there's always Alba......oh wait.
DeleteYawn
DeleteAnon at 10.17pm - well past your bedtime is it.
DeleteYou come across as an Idiot. Away join Alba and give us peace.
DeleteAnon at 4.23am says:- " give us peace" who exactly are "us" - are you speaking for insomiacs united or just clowns United.
DeleteElon Musk is a Poundland Bond Villain. An odd paradox is that all the Guardian reading liberals who buy his cars are funding his support of right wing politics. Generally speaking reactionary right wingers are mistrustful of EVs and still but ICE vehicles.
ReplyDeleteDon't know if your description of Tesla buyers rings true.
DeleteAccording to some reasearch, about half of their cars are bought by companies and their private buyers are predominantly upper-middle-class-white-males on or above a six figure salary.
Will definitely be more than a few Right Wingers in there......
It’s probably not generally true, but it is funny. And it’s true for some Tesla buyers.
DeleteWhat happened to all the sexy burds that were appearing in your feed?
ReplyDeleteSaying "I could murder a few Tennents" possibly doesn't go down too well in some parts of the world.
ReplyDeleteGreyhounds call for ban on 'cruel' Scottish Greens racing this year.
DeleteHumza has been quite. I think he should give Musk full pelters and call him out properly. The laddy has big cajones!
DeleteOr Musk could just join the Libdems and rape children like White Anglo Saxon Cyril Smith did.
ReplyDeleteWhite Anglo Saxon? WTF is your agenda? Or are you still celebrating the New Year?
Delete"White Anglo Saxon". You forgot to add "middle-aged middle-class" and "man". Given that Cyril Smith was English, it's hardly surprising his heritage us (partially at least) Anglo Saxon, given that the vast majority of English men are white, "white" is hardly a devastating revelation either.
DeleteLet's have some thought rather than silly clichéd slogans.
David Francis at 11:13 pm .... Cyril Smith died fifteen years ago. Sometimes you come across as a bit weird.
ReplyDeleteDavid..do you make habit of defending the indefensible? There is a time for politics and a time for humanity. You are on the wrong side of the arguement. A disgrace to yourself.
ReplyDeleteWhat, exactly, am I 'defending'?
DeleteVacuousness.
DeletePoor Elon Musk must have a very fragile ego if he couldn't get over Farage's failure to embrace Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. (Or whatever his stage name is these days.)
ReplyDeleteJM
ReplyDeleteThe anon tit at 11:01 referenced 'the prophet'.
How long ago did he die and why didn't you call that comment 'weird'?
A new year and what do I find on WGD. Scottish Skier still peddling his lies.
ReplyDeleteSkier says:- " After all, the mainly female jury unaminously conclude all the accusations against Salmond were all made up by British civil servants. "
The jury never defined the complainants as British civil servants. This is just Skier trying to hide the SNP involvement. Although in reality they were helping the British state.
Skier says:- " Sturgeon was the one they needed to jail. If she walks the cloud is lifted from her and the SNP."
Conveniently, Skier forgets all about Murrell, the ex SNP Chief Exec and husband of Sturgeon. He, like many, when referring to a KC expressing his opinion that Sturgeon and Beattie are unlikely to face prosecution conveniently ignore that the KC does not say the same about Murrell.
poor wee ifs. Nothing to say but start 2025 with his hatred of of the former First Minister. Has no policies for independence -always a strange choice of name IFS and contributes nothing to this end. Maybe living in East Renfrewshire IFS feels comfortable from the wee flat in baurheid?
DeleteIFS can we agree on the fact that the Crown Office and Police should make a decision on the respective issues in the next few weeks / months or should continue onto the next election?
WEE Anon at 9.46am - obviously you have been asleep in your WEE bed in your WEE room since 2020 when I have stated that a real party of Scottish independence would have declared a de facto referendum at Holyrood. Nope, the truth is you know that I have stated that for many years but you choose to lie because you have nothing but lies and personal abuse.
DeleteI don't live in Barrhead nor a flat but the fact that you personalise your comments means you have no counter argument. You support Sturgeon's gang you support devolutionists never mind their crooked endeavours.
WEE Anon your choice of name is appropriate - an anonymous WEE poster with nothing but abuse.
What Skier conveniently ignores is where is the missing £600k. Why was a luxury motorhome secretly purchased and hid away at Murrell's mother's home? Why did the SNP purchase this vehicle when they were so hard up Murrell had to give them a loan? Why did Murrell keep the loan a secret?
The comments by the KC do not addresss these points.
It should also be noted that people working for the British state can be immune from breaking the law. In the UK an agent of the state can kill and be immune from prosecution never mind theft or perjury.
Happy New Year IFS!
DeleteBack again spouting your “de facto referendum “ nonsense eh.
Dear oh dear.
Poor pretendy Ifs - you didn’t respond to my question re the “branchform” issue. Do you wish it to conclude now or continue to the next election. I know you have declared yourself judge already. As for NS she is no longer FM so grow up and move on! Declare UDI now!
DeleteWEE anon at 11.16am says:- " Declare UDI now! " - what a WEE clown. Is that now official SNP policy 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. This WEE confused clown supports the devolutionist SNP but wants a declaration of UDI. John the Redactor probably asks for Westminster approval to fart so the thought of him doing a UDI needs to win the Joke of the Year award.
DeleteAch, there's always the ISP !
DeleteUDI - you are Peter A Bell and I claim my fiver !
DeleteIfs- udi - not in my name says ifs? Have you changed your mind?
DeleteAnon at 1.30pm - complete gibberish. A chimpanzee could do better.
DeleteYou are mr angry.
DeleteHe's so livid he could punch the lights out of a marshmallow. A pink one.
DeleteMurrell has been charged and it’s therefore inappropriate for a K C to comment on an active case. You are not the brightest are you? Stick to collecting benefits.
DeleteFrom the National: "Swinney: MSPs will feed 'forces of anti-politics and populism' if block budget"
ReplyDeleteSteady on laddie; next you'll be saying xyz is the antichrist!
It's getting to the stage with Scottish / UK / European / world politics, that if the aliens ever land I'll go find one and say "Take me to your leader".
Hmmm.
That would be good for the rest of us . Go for it.
DeleteMisquoting the National:
Delete"Donald Trump: Scottish Government must not welcome Patrick Harvie"
Well, who would disagree with that?
The FM is asking the parties to support the budget and pass it. Not unreasonable.
DeleteNor unreasonable at all, in fact all they have to do is abstain. They would be just obstructing for the sake of it if they vote against, even business mostly likes it.
DeleteBut less of the hyperbole. It's over the top. Leave that to the other parties, like Sarwar.
Leave the hyperbole to Wings.
DeleteWell, as expected, a reaction from Labour and the Greens:
Deletehttps://archive.is/REVFD
"John Swinney sparks anger at Holyrood with 'populist' Budget warning"
The question is - was this a troll by Swinney to get an over the top reaction from the Greens? Greer is pretty wet behind the ears. Does Swinney knowingly or instinctively, use General Semantics and / or Transactional Analysis to get the reactions he wants from others? And in any case, were the reactions actually good for the SNP?
Time will tell.
Farage just got some free publicity. Engage your brain. England is going down the NAZI route and the Woke SNP will do nothing to save us from them. have Happy New Year folks. I think it is going to be long nasty one.
ReplyDeleteIt is with people like you posting nonsense. Woke? You’d be better off over at the Daily Mail.
DeleteWoke - spot the right wing cliché
DeleteIs this Musk or effectively switching his support to the Tories? That would make sense.
ReplyDeleteAnd one more - Happy Women's Little Christmas!
ReplyDeleteOne leading SNP figure said that following Salmond's death, the Swinney leadership was already more relaxed to any threat from Alba and expected former members to return to the SNP fold.
ReplyDeleteHe said: "For a while too many people in the SNP were obsessed with Alex Salmond - he lived in the heads of many within the leadership when frankly he and his party were irrelevant.
"Some decent folk have been caught up in this whole Alba misadventure and the SNP should, in time, welcome them back."
What leading figure said that?
DeleteThreat from Alba Lol.
DeleteThe Musk/Farage spat will be interesting to watch develop.
ReplyDeleteBehind the scenes, it will be fascinating to see who Trump thinks is more important to him - the billionaire funder or the stooge he is grooming to be next UK PM.
I reckon Farage will be told to move even further to the Right on various issues to placate Musk and will do so.
Musk will then fund Reform either directly or through some other mechanism.
I don't see Musk/Trump 'defecting' to the Tories..........at least not yet.
And with Labour/Starmer now as popular as a wet fart, the scene is well and truly set for the Yookay to become just another Red-Neck State of Greater America-Shire in 2029, or even sooner.
As a side issue - Wonder if Trump/Musk are already drawing up a trade deal with the ETs???
Hi David
DeleteThanks for your considered and interesting reply.
I’d query your analysis on two fronts:
1. Tories offer far, far better electoral track record of success than Reform, whose vote has always been extremely inefficiently distributed. Wouldn’t Tories be a more rational vehicle for Trump and Musk in unison, on that basis?
2. Parties like Reform can go down as fast as they go up. Tories are a different kettle of fish, with a firmer & higher floor of support. If you want to consolidate Right voters to optimise under FPTP then Tories a better choice.
3. I don’t think Farage can or will give into Musk on the Tommy question, to do so would go dead against his electoral strategy. At the last GE, Reform lost votes and momentum due to some of its (word deleted) candidate selections, Farage said that that could not happen again. I think he is sincere in that strategy of partial moderation if only out of self-interest in building the vote.
Thoughts?
Three fronts… lol
DeleteThe Tories can hardly give in to Musk on the Tommy Robinson question either, and if that's a dealbreaker for Musk...?
DeleteAnon at 10:33
Delete1. No they are not, not any longer. The Tories are now a Party waiting to fragment.
Reform will soon reach tipping point for many Tories to jump ship.
2.Wrong, for reasons already mentioned.
3. I was not specifically talking about Robinson.
It will be a dealbreaker for Musk only unless and until he thinks it more advantageous not to make it a deal breaker. You cannot second guess Musk. He is as erratic as Trump. He could as easily make up with Farage later today. He will do what suits him best. Farage will continue to do what he sees as in his best interests. Trump has early stage dementia and may not last the presidential term. None of the three have any principles, morality or integrity.
Deleteexactly
DeleteTrump has early stage dementia.
DeleteWhat's Musk's excuse ?
O/T but Campbell is getting desperate to fill his blog. The current effort
ReplyDeleteis asking about SNP Independence strategy, which is weird considering he consistently says they have no interest in pursuing independence. If he is right, why would they need a strategy? But the mouth frothers love it. And the more hits the more cash for the fake rev.
But it's not about Campbell - surely it's about an independence strategy? Do the SNP have one? They never state what it is and that's worrying. At least ALBA state theirs even if you don't agree with it. The problem with the SNP is they don't know what to do or don't care enough.
DeleteAnything Campbell blogs is about Campbell. And the SNP strategy is actually set out in his blog. Did you not read it? It’s steeped in reality. Not popular with some. He is another part of the anti SNP brigade.
DeleteI don't read Wings, but I visited to read the article you mention. I can see his point - it seems the SNP strategy is zero - look at the wording. If ever there was an example of waffle their strategy is it. There is no strategy. If I'm wrong please correct me, but if you are in favour of independence are you really happy with the strategy on offer?
DeleteWhat do ye mean ye dinnae read Wings?
DeleteWT. You cannot understand. Fair enough that’s your problem. Pretty clear if you read it. But it’s based in reality and not bravadoalba land.
DeleteWt - what’s your strategy? Follow UDI, Bell and co?
ReplyDeleteDon't ask WT awkward questions !
DeleteMy strategy? What has that got to do with the SNP? You display the same deflection we see all the time, answer my question first and I'll answer yours - are you content with the SNPs non-strategy?
DeleteWho needs the SNP when we can have the NPS !
DeleteGrow up muppet.
DeleteWT. Do you have STML? You have been talking about SNP Indy strategy, or lack thereof. Or have you forgotten?
DeleteAnon - what's your strategy? Disruption and meaningless stupidity?
ReplyDeleteAye, and Anon talks to itself. Talks to itself.
DeleteAnon at 3.09. Do you realise how stupid your post is?
ReplyDeleteI agree. All Anons are stupid.
DeleteWho are you agreeing with?
DeleteI agree with Anon
Delete