Can someone please explain this to me, because I am confused. In 2024, Reform was barely 3 years old. They took 14.3% of the vote after campaigning to get the Conservatives out, and they succeeded to remove them, while simultaneously helping Labour into government. Then, rather conveniently a significant number of those same failed Conservative politicians simply crossed over and joined Reform. 🤷‍♀️ Yet here we are in 2026, with Reform apparently outraged that a 7 month old party exists and is supposedly “splitting the vote”. The irony is almost too much. Reform spent years building a political movement that directly competed with the Conservatives, took votes from them, helped contribute to their defeat and then absorbed many of the very people who had just been rejected by the electorate. But now that someone else is doing what Reform itself did, offering voters another choice, suddenly it’s a national catastrophe? Apparently vote splitting is perfectly acceptable when Reform does it, but an unforgivable crime when someone else dares to. And this is the bit I really struggle with. Reform has been established for years. They’ve had their opportunity. They’ve had the publicity, the money, the media attention, the candidates and the time to build support. Yet after all that, they still haven’t managed to dislodge Labour nor winning seats like they should be at nearly 6 years whilst claiming it’s them or it’s over. So why is a 7 month party expected to step aside for them? A party offering voters a different option to them that many wanted. Why should this new party that has achieved significant growth in less than a year be told, essentially “Thanks, but get out of our way” and expect to be taken seriously? That isn’t political strength. That’s political entitlement. And then there’s the rest of it. They’re running a Muslim candidate for Mayor, while Mohammad Zia Yusuf, Robert Jenrick, Suella Braverman and a whole bunch of former establishment figures parade around as though putting on a Reform rosette magically erases everything they stood for before. They’ve had more U-turns than Silverstone, endless questions over conduct, foreign candidates standing in British elections, policies that seem detached from what many actually want, calls for patriots to be reprimanded, a sneering dismissal of people as “that lot”. Yet somehow OUR VERY OWN are looking at all of this and thinking, “Yes, that’s the side we should be backing.” Make it make sense. Reform cannot spend years telling voters they need an alternative to the established parties, benefit from splitting the Conservative vote, absorb former Conservative politicians and celebrate its own growth, only to suddenly demand that another party stand aside because their vote might be affected. You don’t get to champion political choice when it benefits you and then demand everyone else withdraw when the competition arrives. If Reform believes voters should have a choice, then perhaps they should try respecting the choice voters are actually making. Because from where I’m standing, this looks less like confidence and more like a party that’s suddenly terrified that someone else might be taking a piece of the pie. 🙄 Or I am completely missing something? 🤷‍♀️