U-Turn Backlash, Reform's Pledge & American Momentum

Will Rishi Sunak deliver or not?

Hello and welcome back to Heaver News!

Thanks once again to those of you supporting my newsletter. A big welcome to the newest paid supporter, Andrew.

In my previous article the prospect of Rishi Sunak u-turning on his pledge to stop the boats caused a big backlash, with readers of Heaver News furious.

Reading the comments of paid subscribers the feedback was clear. Juliana spelt it out:

“If Sunak thinks that putting ‘stopping the boats’ in the next manifesto would make people vote for him, he has another thing coming. We have been lied to, so many times, no one would believe him anyway.

“If he leaves the ECHR and the ECJ before the election, there might be people giving him the benefit of the doubt. I will NEVER do that.”

Of course the possibility that the Conservatives might finally commit to ditching ECHR in the next Tory manifesto is one regularly rumbling rumour.

Is that going to be enough by then though? Paid subscriber Maureen demonstrated just how frustrated some are now getting with the Government:

“The Tories are already toast because they have shown they cannot be trusted.

“They may also think that we the taxpayers are stupid enough to keep putting our faith in them because once upon a time they did indeed have one or two great leaders on which they continuously trade.”

Whilst Lia’s assessment of the situation - even if an ECHR withdrawal pledge was included in the next Conservative manifesto - was pretty blunt:

“Definitely too late. Nothing they can say or do will change my mind. Reform for me.”

Once again the challenge for the Conservatives is to win back the support of many who voted for them in 2019.

The clock is ticking and the prospect of every Tory MP having a Reform candidate standing against them changes the electoral dynamics considerably.

Stuart Mitchell/@IncMonocle

As for Reform, they recently held their Spring Rally and made a major policy pledge that will set the tone for their election campaign.