The surge in popularity of the UK Reform Party should provide some thought for the future of the declining Australian Liberals.
After a woeful, invisible election campaign, their result was deserved, albeit giving Labor a result it did not deserve. With 34 per cent of first preferences, this was hardly a ringing endorsement, but Labor will now claim a mandate to move further left.
Meanwhile, the recent UK council elections confirmed the decline of their Conservative party, with dramatic falls in their vote and that of Labour. Of the 1,600 seats contested, the Conservatives lost 676 seats, Labour, with fewer at risk, were down 186, with Reform increasing from 100 to 677. There were also two new Reform Members of Parliament. Translated to a general election, the Tories would have had 15 per cent of the national vote, Labour 20 per cent.
Nigel Farage joined the Conservative Party in 1978, but left in 1992 because of its then pro-European platform. A founding member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in 1994, he was the main instigator of Britain’s exit from the European Union. Farage was elected as a member of the European Parliament in 1999 and was subsequently re-elected several times.
The Brexit Party (now Reform) was originally formed in 2018, it won most seats at the European Parliament election in UK, including one for Farage, but failed to win seats in the 2019 UK general election.
Having achieved the goal of extricating UK from Europe, the party was renamed Reform in 2021, and Farage stepped back from leadership.
Initially not running candidates against the Conservatives, its approach changed with its opposition to their Covid-imposed lockdowns. Farage returned as leader in 2024, with the party winning five UK Parliamentary seats, including for its leader, at the general election that year. Its support, at 14 per cent, gave it the third largest popular vote. With his return, Reform party membership is currently listed at 220,00, second in size behind Labor (309,000) and ahead of the Conservatives (131,680).
The party has traditional values and describes itself as the new conservative movement. Inevitably, it has been labelled ‘far right’ by the BBC. It has attracted other other predictable labels including populist, radical right, neoliberal, and nationalist. Its policies included reduced immigration and a five-year gap to them receiving benefits, reform of the voting system, abolishing the House of Lords, and reform of the Supreme Court. Subsequent additions have included reducing personal and corporate taxes and regulation, review of welfare spending, reform of the NHS, scrapping Net Zero and its subsidies, increasing defence and police spending, reducing overseas aid, reviewing ideology in the school curriculum and abolishing DEI initiatives, and addressing left-overs from Brexit which includes banning European fishing in territorial waters, and leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.
As in Australia, immigration has become a hot-button topic, there also compounded by uncontrolled illegal immigration. In 2023, 30,000 crossed the channel illegally, numbers increasing in 2024. Legal immigration has swelled from an average of 200,000 annually pre-Covid, to over 700,000 in 2024.
As is often the case with those described as far-right (not far-left), Farage has not had an easy time in politics. One example came in the form of the debanking scandal which led to reform of banking regulations.
Despite pressure from the left, (far) right-wing parties are in ascendance in Europe, currently they govern in Italy, Finland, Holland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, and the Czech Republic. All these parties want to ban immigration and cancel climate policies. In Germany (AfD) and France (RN) they are gaining ground, but political manoeuvring is impeding their progress. In Germany the intelligence service wants AfD banned ‘to protect democracy’. Marine Le Pen of The French National Rally has been tried in court for what many argue are political purposes, which resulted in a conviction regarding funds.
Overcoming yet more attempted legal obstruction, the successful return of the Trump party is mentioned, if at all, sotto voce, for fear of attracting adverse commentary. In New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern’s moment in the sun was brief, and traditional government has returned.
In Australia, there is no designated far-right party with the Coalition’s modern designation being centre-right. Labor would claim that some elements of the Liberal party are extreme right, particularly those they say follow views of US President Trump, but this name-calling is a sign of desperation. What is clear is that the Liberal Party wets have led them to many Labor-light policies, policies rejected by their supporters at the general election… Some commentators believe that their loss was due to excess right-wing views, others believe the opposite, too left-leaning. Should we look elsewhere in the world, right wing views are in ascendance, in Europe, US, and NZ.
We now have a new Labor government, with increasing influence of the left wing of the party. As the Greens have fallen off the left end of politics, maybe we can now call Labor far-left? After many years of indoctrination in the education system, politics has moved ideologically to the left, but is that the case with the population at large? Many have had enough of the Voice, Welcome to Country, saving the planet, DEI and minority group demands, all controlled by those who know better. What is now called far-right was the original right-wing position of yesteryear. Even rusted-on Labor supporters, as elsewhere, believe in these traditional views, with freedom of expression, limited government, and individual independence, all significantly eroded since Covid.
Net Zero is proving an expensive exercise, increasingly abandoned by the major international emitters, our traditional sources of wealth are being regulated out of existence. National pride has been undermined by woke history re-writing, and our military is embarrassingly degraded. School indoctrination continues unabated, undermining the role of parents. The unaffordable welfare state expansion continues, and demands for more add to unsustainable debt.
Who will be our Farage Messiah? Matt Canavan can carry the torch for the Nationals (if he ever gets the chance), but who will reset the Liberal’s course and provide an alternative to the drift to the left and despondency? Perhaps, as in UK, it will require formation of a new, true right-wing party.