Why Reform Has No Choice - Konstantin Kisin

0:00Konstantin Kisin:I've bought two mattresses in my entire life. Both times I walked into a shop, lay on it for about four seconds and thought, yeah, that'll do. Genuinely world-class decision making, which is crazy because you spend a third of your life on the thing and most of us buy one the way you'd buy a toaster. Today's sponsor is Avocado Green Mattress. Certified organic mattresses. No polyurethane foam anywhere near them, just natural materials and they're handmade. The bit that actually got me is you don't have to buy it blind. Avocado has real showrooms plus retail partners across the US. So you can go in, lie down properly, not for four seconds, and work out if it actually suits you before you pay for it.

0:39Konstantin Kisin:They're not everywhere yet, so check the store locator for what's actually near you. Avocado products are made, not manufactured, and thoughtfully crafted with real materials to deliver lasting comfort and support. You can experience them in person at an avocado showroom or a premier retailer near you. Or shop online at avocadogreenmattress.com slash trigger to check out their mattresses and furniture sale. That's avocadogreenmattress.com slash trigger. avocadogreenmattress.com slash trigger. Right, I'm going to level with you. I'm not a gamer, even though I look like one. I'm not going to pretend I've been grinding through RPGs between recordings, or that I have strong opinions about which Final Fantasy was the best one.

1:22Konstantin Kisin:I think it's Japanese and I think there's a sword. That's genuinely everything I know. But our social media guys showed me this app and I genuinely thought, that's quite clever. It's called Snacksy. Basically, game publishers need new players and they're willing to pay to get them. Snacksy just passes that money onto you. You play games you were probably going to play anyway. You own coins and you cash them out for real rewards. PayPal, Amazon, Netflix, gift cards. If you prefer gaming credit, you can redeem for PlayStation, Xbox, Steam and Nintendo or cash out your Ineba wallet. I've got no idea what that means.

1:56Konstantin Kisin:Actual money, not just points that expire. It takes a few minutes to set up. You open the app, swipe through the game offers, pick something that looks decent, play it, earn, redeem. That's the whole thing. There's a sign-up bonus worth up to$10 if you use our link, which is in the description of this episode. That's S-N-A-K-Z-Y, SnackSync. Click the link in the description to get started. And when you sign up, use the code TRIGGERPOD. That's T-R-I-G-G-E-R-P-O-D to claim your$10 bonus. And the app is mobile only, so click the link from your phone, not your laptop.

2:37Francis Foster:Why Reform has no choice.

2:43Francis Foster:Over recent days, there's been much debate in British politics about the future of Nigel Farage's Reform Party. Cemented by the defection of Robert Jenrick, the Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor, who was pushed by Tory leader Kami Beidnok as he was about to jump ship, reform is developing a reputation for moving to the centre. Jenrick followed in the footsteps of a number of senior or formerly senior Conservatives, including Nadim Zahawi, Nadine Dorris, Jake Berry and others. As a curious aside, the last time I saw Jake Berry was on Question Time when he challenged me on my criticism of net zero to explain that net zero is the solution, not the problem.

3:21Francis Foster:We have to let go some of our obsessions like net zero and so on, and we will find out if the government is prepared to do that. Okay, man there in the glasses.

3:30Konstantin Kisin:Just to pick up on what Constantine said, you are so wrong. We do not deliver a growing northern economy by turning our back on net zero. The north of England, this county, this region is a global leader in green technology. We deliver a better levelled up north of England by having green collar, highly paid, secure jobs for people who live in this region. Net zero is the solution, not the problem.

3:58Francis Foster:I think it's good for your voters to hear that. I'm sure Conservative party voters will be pleased. The program was recorded as Nadeem Zahavi was in the process of being sacked as Conservative Party chairman because he'd failed to declare that HMRC was in the middle of an investigation into his personal tax affairs when he was appointed to various ministerial positions. This anecdote alone gives you a flavor of the sort of concerns many have raised about the increasing torrification of reform. Last night, it was confirmed that another MP, Andrew Rosendale, had defected to reform, bringing the number of reform MPs to seven, of whom more than half are now Tory defectors, Lee Anderson, Danny Kruger, Robert Jenrick, and Andrew Rosendale himself.

4:41Francis Foster:The worry for many is that as conservative refugees become more numerous than native reformers within the party, the center of gravity will shift away from reform's radical agenda towards the very policies and personalities they so thoroughly rejected at the last election. Reform's defiant position against the failed status quo was what won them their legion of supporters. Now, some feel they're cozying up to it. Personnel is policy after all, and having forced out tough-talking right-wingers like Rupert Lowe and Ben Habib, reform appears to be going slightly vegan. It's rare for me to be accused of naive optimism, but in this instance, I do not actually share these concerns for a number of reasons which we'll come to shortly.

5:21Francis Foster:But first, and much more importantly, we have to recognize that reform has no choice but to continue salvaging what they can from the rotting carcass of the Conservative Party. Why? Because Britain is not America. Our electoral system does not allow a charismatic leader with a small band of acolytes to storm to power in the way that President Trump did with just J.D. Vance, RFK Jr., Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, and Vivek Ramaswamy at his side. To become prime minister, Nigel Farage has to have 650 men and women stand as candidates in constituencies across the country and more than half of them to actually be elected.

5:59Francis Foster:Even now, when much of the public is fed up with the status quo and Keir Starmer enjoying the lowest favorability ratings in history, having a reform rosette pinned on you will not guarantee victory in a specific constituency, especially to an unknown, politically inexperienced candidate. Once elected, that MP will be faced with the reality that standing as an MP is almost the exact opposite of being an MP. A political campaign is about making speeches, knocking on doors, and selling yourself to the public. But once the sale is made, your constituents need you to solve their problems. Making witty comebacks on TV requires an entirely different skill set to filling potholes.

6:39Francis Foster:And metaphorical potholes are no small matter, nor one to worry about once the election is in the bag. The only way reform can succeed as a political project is to win the war of the next election and then win the peace by actually delivering both locally and nationally. Which brings us to the final reason why reform has no choice. If elected, the biggest challenge they face is turning the sinking oil tanker that is Britain around. This will require an understanding of how the machinery of government works, something that can only come from experience of being in government. Many recent defectors are being described as Tory failures.

7:16Francis Foster:And in a sense, this is fair and correct. The Tories failed. But what the public do not know is that the Tories failed despite many of their ministers being talented and brilliant people. This is not a joke. It's a tragedy. Having met a number of the people who would be at the very top of your list of incompetent, self-serving, unprincipled, slithering creatures, I can tell you the tragedy is that most of them are none of those things. Many were good, capable people trying their best within a party that had lost its way, dealing with an openly rebellious civil service and operating within the suffocating straitjacket of powerful Blairite legislation, which curbed their ability to actually govern the country.

7:57Francis Foster:Put simply, you need Tory failures to avoid reform failing in the same way. This was, of course, what President Trump and his team learned from his first term in office. They spent four years trying to do things and being obstructed at every turn. It was only on his triumphant return to office that the Trump administration has been able to actually implement their agenda. This explains part of my lack of acute concern about this trend within reform. This was always going to happen. Indeed, by the time of the next election, I expect the entire Tory right to have switched to reform with up to 60 reform candidates being current conservative MPs.

8:34Francis Foster:But the other reason for my optimism is that ultimately, the direction of a political party is set at the top. Nigel Farage, his immensely impressive great Cardinal James Orr, and the rest of the leadership cadre are no wets. As long as they're in charge, reform will remain radical in the healthy sense of the word. They're not extremists, which is a strength, not a weakness. The very online world rewards the hotness of one's takes, but electoral politics in Britain rewards a strong, clear-eyed focus on the silent majority who are tired of economic stagnation, illegal immigration, rising crime, and crumbling infrastructure.

9:08Francis Foster:The public are angry and they are frustrated, but they aren't extremists, nor will they tolerate extremism. For every vote won by posting unworkable demands on Twitter, there are five to be lost in the country at large. Many activists and commentators feel that the next election is the last opportunity to turn things around. I agree. However, urgency requires more pragmatism, not less. Whether you're a centrist like me or an ardent right-winger, the recognition of this reality must force you towards realism. Reform is the only party capable of winning the next election. Purity spiraling about how they are not right-wing enough will only make the outcomes you want less likely.

9:49Francis Foster:We're drinking at the last chance saloon. Drink responsibly. If you enjoy these videos, remember they're available in these articles on my sub stack, days, weeks, sometimes months ahead of time. So head on over there now and subscribe. The news doesn't just tell you what's happening. It so often tells you what to think is happening. And these days, the biggest red flag isn't what's said, it's what gets left out. That's why I use Ground News. It's the only site and app that compares coverage from across the political spectrum and highlights which stories are being ignored entirely. See for yourself at ground.news slash trigonometry.

10:24Francis Foster:Their blind spot feed is one of my favorite features. It surfaces around 20 stories a day that are being overlooked by either the left or the right. It's a simple but powerful way to track media bias in real time. Like this, NIH scientists recently published a declaration criticizing Trump's cuts to public health research. That's a major move, and yet only 2 % of the coverage came from right-leaning outlets. A new study found that 2024 saw the most armed conflicts globally since 1946, a staggering statistic, but you would have missed it if you'd only read left-wing news sources. Ground News gives you the full picture, headlines, ownership, bias ratings, and context, so you can actually understand what's going on, not just react to what you're told.

11:09Francis Foster:Head to ground.news slash trigonometry for 40 % off their unlimited advantage plan, the same one we use, and start thinking for yourself.