Nigel Farage now leads the most popular party in the polls (Image: Getty Images)
Britain is “crying out” for politicians who believe in something, Nigel Farage declared as the stark challenge facing Labour and the Conservatives was laid bare. Sir Keir Starmer faces an uphill struggle to restore his authority within his party after the threat of a backbench rebellion forced him into a humiliating u-turn on welfare reform.
This followed another u-turn on the highly unpopular winter fuel payment cuts by the Prime Minister and his Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Labour will mark its first anniversary in power this week but voters have given a scathing verdict on Sir Keir Starmer’s time in Downing Street.
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A majority of Britons say they do not know what Sir Keir “stands for” – in sharp contrast with Mr Farage. Almost two out of three voters (64%) say it is “clear” what the Reform UK leader stands for, according to pollsters Ipsos.
Fewer than four out of 10 say the same thing about Sir Keir, at 37%, or the Tories’ Kemi Badenoch, at 35%.
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Mr Farage told the Sunday Express: “Starmer has no real beliefs or principles and reads his lines from a script was written by advisers. The public are crying out for politicians that actually believe in something.”
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The veteran Brexiteer has received a further boost with an endorsement from pop icon Sir Rod Stewart, who will perform the coveted Legends slot at the Glastonbury Festival at 7pm tonight (SUN).
Sir Rod, 80, who has recovered from a nasty bout of flu just in time to appear at Worthy Farm in Somerset, said: “We’re fed up with the Tories. We’ve got to give Farage a chance. He’s coming across well.”
Westminster was already reeling from bombshell YouGov polling analysis which forecast if an election was held now then Reform would be the biggest party with 271 seats; the Conservatives would be pushed into fourth place with 46 MPs, behind the Liberal Democrats (81) and Labour (178).
To stand a chance of restoring their parties fortunes, Sir Keir and Mrs Badenoch need to convince millions more Britons they – and not Mr Farage – share their values.
A leading Tory Brexiteer who wished to remain anonymous said: “What this is showing is that people recognise Farage wants to change the status quo while all the other parties are in their different ways comfortable with current situation, or at least not willing to break any china to change things.”
A former Conservative minister acknowledged voters are “very, very” annoyed with the British establishment – and said Mr Farage was a “charismatic” alternative to the Labour and Tory leaders.
He said: “I’m afraid in the case of the leaders of the two major parties they are not charismatic. I’m not saying we want clowns as politicians; what we do want is people who have empathy and understanding and a bit of charisma, and it seems to be lacking across the board.”
The Prime Minister used his Welsh Labour conference speech yesterday to attack the Reform UK leader, calling him a “wolf in Wall Street clothing”.
Sir Keir told the gathering in Llandudno: “We already know what happens when you make billions of pounds of unfunded tax commitments, conference. It’s Liz Truss all over again.”
Polling by Opinium found 54% of voters think Labour has done a worse job than expected. Just 18% say Labour has exceeded expectations, and 56% disapproved of how Sir Keir was handling his job as PM.
Nearly two-thirds thought Labour had made “little to no progress” on its self-described “missions” of “kick-starting” the economy or building an NHS “fit for the future”.
Confusion about what the Prime Minister believes in has worsened since he entered Number 10. The Ipsos polling found the share of Britons who think it is clear what Sir Keir stands for has fallen from 46% in 2023 to the present 37%.
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There was concern the party must avoid the mistakes the Democrats made in last year’s US election in which Donald Trump won the popular vote.
A centrist Labour MP said: “Farage is a challenge but he always flares up at this point in the electoral cycle so the challenge is to deflate his poll numbers without making him the centre of the political debate.”
The challenge of how to deal with the rise of Reform UK has also gripped the Conservatives.
David Campbell-Bannerman, chairman of the Conservative Democratic Organisation, urged Mrs Badenoch to communicate with the gusto and clarity of Mr Farage.
He said: “It is clear from this poll that the established parties are not clearly communicating what they stand for. Kemi Badenoch as Leader of Opposition needs to set out values and policy frameworks at least to counter this huge public mystery – and they must be as punchy and clear as Farage is.”
Conservative MP Peter Bedford looks forward to attacking Reform’s economic plans.
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He said: “The Conservatives should deal with the Farage challenge by highlighting the left-wing unfunded economics being espoused by Reform as they seek to hoover votes from traditional labour heartlands.
“Reform are calling for massive state interventions and spending – which perversely would seek an expansion of the state; whereas conservative-minded voters want to see more power in the hands of individuals.
“Over the coming months we need to do better at highlighting these risks with what is now a volatile electorate.”