Do You Believe Him?

Rishi Sunak's desperate strategy all seems too little, too late.

Stuart Mitchell/@IncMonocle

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Hello all and welcome back to Heaver News! I hope you are well. I’m still recovering from an incredibly dramatic finale at Stamford Bridge last night. Up the Chels!

As ever a huge thank you to the paid supporters of this newsletter, including Marion who joined with this message:

"An ex-Conservative City Councillor, I can no longer support a party that has lied continuously and let down this wonderful country.

“Like so many of Britain, people are terrified of what is going to happen if we don’t stop this invasion of illegal migrants. "

It is messages like this that show why the Conservatives are now in such big trouble and are actually having to try and take Reform UK on rather than ignore them.

In my previous article highlighting this new aggressive approach from the Tories towards Reform, paid subscriber RW52 commented of Reform’s strategy:

“We just keep on doing what we are doing. Starmer will have to reveal himself soon.

“I would have liked a couple more of the 'big names' from the Tories moving over. I think it's a case of waiting for the GE now. We haven't got the millions the other two parties have.”

But another paid subscriber, Patrick, took a different view:

“I’m not sure Kneeler will have to reveal himself.

“His lead is so big, and the Tories are so despised by almost all sections of society, that he will probably get away with an unprecedented level of evasion.”

What we do know is that the Reform pressure is rising - with a major piece of YouGov research showing us that the party is now polling over 20% in a number of constituencies and is in second place in scores of seats.

I’ll break that down later on in this article so do consider becoming a paid subscriber.

In response to this change in the electoral outlook, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has hinted at a major shift in the Government’s approach. The question is, do you believe him on this?