Frost vs. Farage
Who will Brexit voters side with this year?
Hello and welcome to the very first edition of Heaver News in 2023!
As ever a huge thank you to the many paid subscribers now supporting this newsletter. A big cheers to the newest supporters including Peter and Matthew!
Your support is much appreciated as media alternatives in this country are so badly needed as I covered in my previous article.
The rise of GB News is something that paid subscriber Penny has welcomed, commenting that:
“I can honestly say that GB News is the only news channel that I do watch....it's genuinely unbiased and I like the presenters. Let's hope that their numbers continue to grow.”
2023 looks set to be a lively one when it comes to the media and political landscape!
Lord Frost vs. Nigel Farage
Of course one of the huge developments of 2022 was the emergence of Reform UK’s rising support.
It is a story I have been keen to highlight given I know many Heaver News readers now intend to back Reform, a party much of Remainstream media has largely ignored.
But the fact is that Reform at times surpassed the Liberal Democrats in the national polls in 2022 to become the third most popular party. That is a pretty big deal.
So a key battleground in 2023 will be this: do Leave voters agree with Lord Frost or Nigel Farage?
Frost recently made his argument in favour of a conservative agenda - and sticking with the Tory Party - in a recent Telegraph article in which he said:
“According to YouGov, only 40% of those who voted Tory in 2019 now plan to do so again. Half of the rest either don’t know or won’t vote, and a further quarter say they will vote Reform.
“Only 9% of the 2019 vote has switched to Labour. So the essential task is to bring back our 2019 voters and give them what they wanted: to get Brexit done, and deliver political and social change.
“So how do we get back on this path this year?
“First, I urge Conservatives to fight for the party and not be be tempted by a Reform UK vote.
“The drift of policy towards high tax economics and social liberalism is deeply frustrating to many of us. But we make it all the easier if we give up on the party and go elsewhere.”
This is interesting as it is one of the first big examples of a Conservative figure addressing the Reform factor head on.
That in itself shows you how big a development this has now become, with around 20% of Leavers and Conservative voters switching to Reform in some polls.
Will Frost’s argument win? It faces a hefty Brexiteer challenge from the likes of Nigel Farage who hit back at Frost’s article by saying:
“If voters were not willing to turn their backs on the Conservative Party, then Brexit would never have happened.”
This then led to a response from Frost:
“I agree with you Nigel Farage that without the political pressure from UKIP in the early 2010s and then the Brexit Party in the 2019 Euro-elections we would probably still be in the EU. But it was still the Conservatives and Boris Johnson that finally made Brexit happen.
“Since then the Government's focus has certainly drifted. But in my experience most Tory Party members are still strong Conservatives and want to see a strong Conservative agenda. I think it is still right to fight for that to be reflected in government policy this year.”
This will be a critical argument in 2023. Can the Conservatives claw back support from Leavers or will Reform’s poll surge continue to build?
Paid subscribers please let me know in the comments below who you agree with.
2022 Record
Tough talk from the Government about stopping illegal immigration was not backed up by action in 2022, as boat crossings from France were even larger in number than in 2021 when over 28,000 crossed.
2022 saw close to 46,000 people cross in total, an appalling situation that has led to many voters losing faith in the Government.
Still no sign of the Rwanda policy happening after the European Court’s intervention and a Home Secretary who has said UK must leave ECHR but isn’t being allowed to implement that policy.
The Government must stop the boats to have any chance of winning the next election.
Sorry Mr Frost, the Conservatives have had their chance and they blew it! Reform UK for me.
I like Frosty a lot and had hoped he would have been in Liz Truss’ cabinet but he distanced himself from her at the time. Whilst it would be wonderful if the Conservatives would become true Conservatives I fear that the parliamentary party has been hijacked by the globalists to such an extent that there’s no way back and the centre-right have lost the battle.