Newsletter #53: Reform conference reviewed

The people were very nice, but the conference was quite bad

Good morning.

Today, our correspondent reviews the Reform conference in Birmingham.

This newsletter’s agenda: Reform conference reviewed (free/paid).

Reform conference reviewed

I don’t want to give you the traditional ‘conference report’. I was not much interested in the keynote speeches, and nor will I reproduce them here. It’s all online, and Pimlico Journal readers know their way around the X search bar. And besides, the few I did witness weren’t very revealing or insightful. There was a high quantity of what we might call ‘boomerslop’, and very little — if any — concrete commitments on policy. I’m instead going to give you all a rundown of what actually happened from my own perspective as an ordinary attendee; what Reform got right, and what they need to improve on next time.

I woke up very early and took a dreadful train, with several changes, down to Birmingham International station, to be greeted by the sight of two very bored police officers and a shabby Starbucks. Those two gentlemen were the first thing I saw upon arrival, followed by a nearby stag-do. No one seemed aware that a political conference was taking place next door to where they chose to start pre-drinks. The choice of Birmingham as the conference venue was already seeming questionable.

Thankfully, there were no external protesters on the first day. This is clearly what the police officers were there to protect all of us from, and I’m pleasantly surprised that nothing happened (mirroring the disappointing turnout of the far-left to counter-protest at asylum hotels). Many strange-looking men in their early-twenties emerged through the barriers yesterday morning, yet none were grievously assaulted by sweaty local communists. (As an aside, the attendees were noticeably younger than those at the typical Tory conference; perhaps by as much as ten years.)

The first thing at I noticed at the venue itself was the sheer length of the queue. There was only one entrance into the Birmingham NEC — one I expected to circumvent since I had obtained a press pass. Unfortunately, this was not the case. I was, to my shock and humiliation, forced to empty my bag and pockets and go through the metal detector alongside the rest of the plebs. These plebs included James Heale from The Spectator. Thankfully, neither of us were asked to squat and cough. Reform’s security team has become very effective; only a handful of protesters snuck through into the conference itself.

I spent some time lingering before I finally decided to engage in some socialisation and made my way to the first proper panel of the day (aside from the strange Israeli embassy event at 10:30am). This was a panel on the Boriswave, a pertinent topic considering Farage’s admission of Nadine Dorries into Reform UK less than one day before I arrived in Birmingham, much to my chagrin.

But before I can fully describe this panel to you all, I have to voice a serious complaint: there was, immediately in front of this panel, a bar. This particular bar was selling cider and lager, priced at far above the usual rate for Birmingham. I thought ‘well, screw it, it’s a conference’, and assumed it would be fine. That was until I ordered an Aspall and was served what I can only describe as lukewarm piss in a 500ml cup (not a pint glass). I can’t overstate how awful what I drank was. It didn’t taste like cider at all, and may in fact have been a Madri (the beer on draught immediately next to the Aspall I ordered), though it didn’t taste quite right for a lager either. This cost me a whole £7.85. Unsurprisingly, I was rather sober for most of the conference as a result.

Back to the panel. It was hosted by Fred de Fossard from the Prosperity Institute, and featured James Frayne, Poppy Coburn, and Matt Goodwin.

James Frayne, founder of policy consultancy firm Public First, opened the panel, and said some rather dull things. The key takeaway from what he said (and I don’t disagree with this) is that Reform has to be careful on the issue of immigration and the Boriswave. Frayne believes that, while the public is generally opposed to high levels of immigration, they are much more squeamish when it comes to so-called ‘key workers’, and their opinion is still highly malleable. We might know that these ‘key workers’ are actually useless, but they don’t. Above all, Frayne emphasised the importance of actually getting stuff done and not relying on ‘bullshit soundbites’. Without concrete achievements on immigration within the first six months, Reform’s support would plummet. He came across as grumpy and disinterested.