𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Reform’s politicians are saying things about crime and immigration that many people think, but no other party will say out loud. That’s what struck me when I attended a press conference in Reform’s professional new headquarters in Westminster.

It featured some of the party’s top female politicians, including MP Sarah Pochin, Greater Lincolnshire Mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns, Westminster councillor Laila Cunningham and Linden Kemkaran, the leader of Kent County Council. The aim was to demonstrate that Reform is winning support among women and ditching its image as a “boy’s club”. That’s why Nigel Farage, the party’s charismatic leader, was nowhere to be seen.

Female Labour MPs were once called “Blair’s babes”, when Tony Blair was their leader. Dame Andrea joked that she was one of “Farage’s fillies”.

But the event was also an opportunity to explain how Reform would keep women safe by reducing crime. And Reform is willing to say what other parties will only hint at – that it believes crime, and particularly crime against women, is directly linked to immigration.

Ms Kemkaran said there was an “invasion” of illegal immigrants, using the type of language you might see on social media and possibly in private conversation, but not from a politician.

And she said many of the people coming over unlawfully were from “countries where violence is the norm and women are not even second-class citizens”.

Ms Cunningham said the Government places dangerous criminals in accommodation near schools and acts shocked when mums object.

And Ms Pochin said a “daily influx of people who do not share our values” was being welcomed into our country.

It’s unlikely that a politician from any other party would have said this. But if they did, they would have stopped there.

Ms Pochin, however, said exactly what she meant. “The inconvenient truth for the Left is that the culture of men from predominantly Muslim countries like Afghanistan is one that holds a medieval view of women’s rights.”

She’s certainly right in the sense that Left-wingers will be outraged that any person has said this out loud. And this press event was endorsed by the party leadership, even if Nigel remained out of sight. These aren’t mavericks who will be kicked out of the party for saying something outrageous – this is the official party view.

Lefties will be queuing up to condemn Reform as racist and all the rest of it.

But there will be plenty of voters who think what Ms Pochin and her colleagues said were just statements of the obvious.

If the other parties want to defeat Reform, they’d better start taking those voters seriously, instead of just ignoring them or telling them off.