on media


Endless poll coverage but weak on the details


The media covers Reform’s popularity but should scrutinise it more closely, says Raymond Snoddy


P


arty political conferences are strange beasts where the party faithful can be whipped up by


emotion to believe almost anything. Those with long memories can recall Liberal Leader David Steel telling his troops to leave the 1981 conference hall and return to their constituencies and prepare for government.


There are echoes of those times in


this year’s conferences, although this time the challenge is from the right in the form of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK rather than the liberal centre. Once again, the opinion polls, with the apparently never-ending coverage given to them in the media, are centre stage and seen to be the ghost at the conference banquets. Dominating everything has been the


fact that Reform has been consistently leading in the polls. As Sir John Curtice, the political and


polling guru of University of Strathclyde, has warned, the polls are consistently showing a large minority of more than 30 per cent who are completely disaffected with traditional politics. Under the first-past-the-post electoral


system, it is possible that Reform support and vote, first displayed in May’s local elections, could translate into a Reform government – with the important caveat ‘if a general election were to be held today’. Nevertheless, it is that reality that has


led to Farage and Reform dominating both this year’s political conference season and media coverage of it. Those who count these things noted that LibDem leader Sir Ed Davey


attacked Farage and Reform 30 times in his conference speech. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer took a similar approach when he argued that Britain faced an ‘era-defining’ choice between the decency of a Labour Britain and the division of Reform. Bizarrely, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch got her attack on Reform in even before the Tory conference, in the Daily Express on the morning after Sir Keir’s speech. Badenoch warned that Nigel Farage


would ‘blow up the economy’ and that only she could clear up the mess made by ‘dangerous’ Labour. This is all very strange because, by


any objective standards, Farage had a disastrous conference other than the fact his speech was carried in its entirety live by the BBC and Sky News. This was not a privilege granted to Sir Ed despite the 72-5 disparity in commons seats held by both parties. Immediately after its conference, Reform had to backtrack from the mad and irresponsible claims from the platform by Dr Aseem Malholtra that Covid vaccines had been linked to the cancers affecting the King and Queen. Farage’s claim that he would stop the


small boats within two weeks of taking power soon became within two weeks of passing legislation. Likewise, a claim that women and children arriving illegally would be deported was ‘clarified’ to say that women and children would not be deported in the first five years, though presumably that means families could be split up for years. This and the fact that former Reform


leader in Wales Nathan Giles admitted to pro-Russia bribery and 22 new Reform councillors have already stepped down, many under pressure to quit, seem to have made little difference so far.


As always, there are many perceptions of political conferences – in the hall, in the media and in the country. By general consent, Sir Keir did well in


the hall with many standing ovations and saw off potential rival Andy Burnham, the Manchester mayor, at least for now. Apart from the usual suspects, the media coverage was far from hostile although many anonymous comments predicted the prime minister was unlikely to survive much beyond next year’s regional and local elections. The Daily Mail suggested that Labour


was now the nasty party and had ‘dragged politics into the gutter’. Earlier it had said, inaccurately, that


Sir Keir called Reform voters racist when he said that Reform deportation policies were racist. In the conference coverage, the paper appeared to want to have it both ways. As Dan Hodges commented, it was easily Sir Keir’s best speech since his election. “Passionate. Articulate. Uncompromising,” argued Hodges, before adding that it would be almost certainly be his last as Labour leader and prime minister. . What is also certain is that the media


“


will play a central role in the future of Sir Keir, the Labour government and perhaps even the country. For now, it would be helpful if more


Farage had a disastrous conference other than the fact his speech was carried in its entirety live by the BBC and Sky News


journalistic attention were paid to the finances of Farage and Reform, the issue of the £800,000 Clacton house, where the party’s funds come from and whether anyone else has had access to Russian finances. There really are larger issues than the


tax implications of Sir Keir buying a field. Above all else, it is time for journalists


to take Farage and Reform at their own words – a potential party of government – and subject them to the detailed critical scrutiny such a claim merits.


theJournalist | 11


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