One of the herd of elephants in the Reform room is whether the party would uphold  the rule of law. I am not convinced that they would. There is a tacit belief that provided they get a majority and enthrone Farage into Downing Street it gives them a free pass to do anything that they want. The people have spoken. And if the government  breaks the law, so what? The totally unworkable policy of sending in the Royal Navy to pluck immigrants from the sea and dump them back onto the beaches of France is contrary to International law. ‘So what’ says Lee Anderson, ‘It’s what my constituents want’.

 

This week I heard Richard Tice telling Today listeners that on day one of a Farage government  a national emergency would be declared. Of course, there are all sorts of fences to jump to trigger the Civil Contingencies Act of 2004. There is also the House of Lords. But if this is a manifesto commitment the Salisbury convention would clank into action. We would be in a state of emergency. Unthinkable? Sadly not.

 

What chilled me to the bone was when Tice went on to threaten that if civil servants, judges or anyone in authority refused to obey a democratically elected government they would be sacked and that, if necessary, the House of Lords would be packed with Reform stooges. So, as civil servants are not allowed to disobey the law, particularly on instructions from ministers and that the King has to be consulted before Peers are appointed you have a triple constitutional crisis. The unlawful sacking of civil servants, interference  with a judiciary which prides itself on its independence and finally a head on battle with the monarchy. And what if marshal law is declared, elections suspended and whatever emergency measures these jokers propose. Where does it put the army? We would be facing civil war. Reform is becoming the enemy within.

 

What really troubles me is that Reform is meant to be the champion of free speech, unless you criticise them, and then you are banned from conference.     Farage and his peculiars wallow in adulation, but become paranoid when there is scrutiny. And they have every reason to be. The public can put up with most things except politicians on the grift. The difference between posh George and the  five million quid from crypto currency multi millionaire Harborne and the Channel 4 sting is that the latter is on film. The ocular proof. Nobody forced Dan Jukes nor James Orr to take part in discussions which led to breaches of electoral law. They were not contractors, they were top of the Farage machine. And this was not loose pub talk. People went into this with their eyes open. And as for Farage ‘not listening’ when the fake billionaire dad was going to illegally funnel money through his fake son? Really? Really?

 

What is particularly disturbing is that hardcore Reform supporters have classic Nineteen Eighty Four double speak. It was entrapment by lefty journalists (it wasn’t) and anyway ‘we don’t care’. Lee Anderson was the only person in the Reform hierarchy who smelt the danger and sacked Orr and Jukes on the spot with a good riddance clause. The rest are still floundering around with ludicrous mixed messaging. ‘We have done nothing wrong…KC’s advice… lefty entrapment…a hoax…an establishment stitch because they are terrified of us’ is wearing pretty thin with floating voters. The message that is getting across is that Reform don’t give a damn about obeying the law when they can get away with it. And they haven’t.

 

The trouble now for Farage is that he can no longer claim that the people of Clacton have spoken and the Commons ‘kangaroo court’ is irrelevant. The Channel 4 sting has yet to be investigated. The good people of Clacton have made no decision on that. I suspect that in a few months time they will be asked to.

 

This is scarily Nineteen Eighty Four.

‘The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final most essential command. And if all others accepted the lie which the party imposed, if all records told the same lie, then the lie passed into history and became the truth’.

 

It’s time time that the silent majority became vocal. We are sleepwalking into civil war.