UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA Reform UK candidate has defended saying Adolf Hitler was “brilliant” at inspiring people into action.Jack Aaron is standing for the right wing party in an attempt to oust Grant Shapps the secretary of defence in Welwyn Hatfield.Mr Aaron, describes himself as a business psychologist and founder of the World Socionics Society a pseudoscientific theory that promotes 16 personality types.In Twitter/X post from 2022, Mr Aaron said Hitler was “brilliant in using Fe+Ni [socionics personality traits] to inspire people into action” while condemning his “basically incoherent […] writing and rationale”.In other comments he called Syrian dictator President Assad “gentle by nature” and President Putin’s use of force in Ukraine was “legitimate”.He told The Times: “Yes, Hitler was as brilliant as he was utter evil. How is that controversial to say, given that he was able to turn the Germans to such destructive acts, including killing many members of my own family? “I strongly believe, as a psychologist, in separating intelligence and talent from morality, so that we can adequately diagnose problems and help people.”He added it would be a “grossly irresponsible and frankly malicious type of journalism, a dog whistle presented in a context where people might construe I thought he was a good or admirable man, which I don’t think.“By no means am I saying Hitler or Putin or al-Assad are good people that we should admire. They range from the absolutely ingenious evil to wannabe warlord to weak man born into a brutal regime of death and destruction.”Last year, on Reddit, he said that Assad was “gentle by nature” and not “some bloodthirsty tyrant who exercises control over his people with an iron fist”.He also said the dictator had been “led astray” by social stereotyping.On his Reform UK profile he says: “With an increasing malaise in our country over what the future brings, I feel it is time to bring a change. “Not the endless march of social progress which has left many feeling lost and abandoned by the times, but a restoration of what is great and good about England and the United Kingdom at large.”Ian Gribbin praised Vladimir Putin, described Winston Churchill as ‘abysmal’ and says Britain should have ‘taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality’ instead of fighting the Nazis More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWorld snooker champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has thrown his support behind independent candidate Faiza Shaheen, weeks after she was blocked from standing for Labour. The academic quit Sir Keir Starmer’s party on 4 June after she was de-selected from representing Chingford and Woodford Green for liking a series of posts on X that allegedly downplayed antisemitism allegations.In a video alongside Ms Shaheen, the snooker legend said he was “definitely” voting for the candidate who is a “massive part of the community”. The seven-time world champion added: “I just think someone without passion, you know, dictating what goes on around this area isn’t going to be good for the locals.“I love this area, it’s my home and it’s a really special place for me.”Taking to social media, Mrs Shaheen expressed her gratitude and wrote: “The GOAT of snooker supporting our campaign! I can’t believe it. “I’ve been a huge fan of @ronnieo147 since my teen years and I can’t express how much it means to have this local legend supporting my bid to be an Independent MP for Chingford and Woodford Green.”She added that he would also be attending a rally to support her campaign on 23 June. After hitting the campaign trail, Mrs Shaheen discovered she had been de-selected as a candidate and announced her resignation from Labour in a post on X. Faiza Shaheen was interviewed on BBC Newsnight hours after her deselection was confirmed More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Monday that his conservative Austrian People’s Party would remain in the current government coalition with its Green party junior partner even though his environment minister voted in a European Union vote in favor of the so-called Nature Restoration plan that Nehammer has opposed.The vote by environment minister Leonore Gewessler of the Green party earlier on Monday came after months of domestic political debate and infuriated the senior partner in the coalition government — Nehammer’s conservative Austrian People’s Party — ahead of a national election set for Sept. 29.Moments before Nehammer’s statement Monday, speculation had been growing in Austria about whether he would break up the government.“The emotion would be there” for an end to the coalition, but “(I had) the responsibility, as federal chancellor, to ensure an orderly path” until the parliamentary elections, Nehammer told journalists Monday night, Austrian public broadcaster ORF reported.After her vote, Gewesseler wrote on X that “my conscience tells me unmistakably (that) when the healthy and happy life of future generations is at stake, courageous decisions are needed.”Ahead of the vote, the chancellery said Nehammer informed the Belgian EU presidency that a vote in favor of the plan by Gewessler would be unlawful, the Austria Press Agency reported.The Nature Restoration plan is part of the EU’s European Green Deal that seeks to establish the world’s most ambitious climate and biodiversity targets and make the bloc the global point of reference on all climate issues.In the buildup to the EU elections that saw a shift to the right earlier this month, European farmers complained about the many environmental laws governing the way they work, arguing that the rules were harming their livelihoods and strangling them with red tape. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Conservative Party has launched a Facebook page named “Keir Starmer needs you”, specifically targeting Reform voters. The Facebook page is being used by the Tories to launch World War I-style advertisements featuring Keir Starmer. The party has spent more than £20,000 on the ads since they were launched on 13 June, according to non-profit Who Targets Me.The Meta (Facebook) ads feature a video of a WWI-era army poster replaced with Labour leader Keir Starmer’s face. The videos are captioned “Keir Starmer needs YOU to vote for Reform and give him a blank cheque”. The ad can be seen on Facebook More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour has spent over £2.4 million on social media ads since the general election campaign began, more than twice as much as the Tories.Analysis by campaign spending non-profit Who Targets Me has found political parties spent more than £3.49 million on social media advertising since Rishi Sunak called the election on 22 May. Around 70 per cent of that has been commissioned by Labour Party groups and candidates, including Sir Keir Starmer, Welsh Labour, and Rachel Reeves. By comparison, the Conservative Party has spent £906,916 on social media advertising during the same period almost all of which has been targeted via Meta / Facebook.Sam Jeffers, co-founder of Who Targets Me, says Labour’s social media spending is also more diversified than the Tories’.“I think the main difference between the two parties is that Labour’s done a lot more [social media campaigns] through candidates, as well as more regional pages. It also has a lot more of its shadow front-bench individuals running ads too. The Tory campaign so far has been run primarily through the main Conservative Party page.”Meta (Facebook) and Google (including YouTube) are the two main avenues for digital advertising. However, almost all parties have focused on Meta advertisements and invested next-to-nothing in Google. Only Labour has invested a substantial amount in Google advertising, to the tune of £831,000.While the Tories have invested the most in ads for the main Conservative Party Facebook page, (£566,672), Labour’s social media campaigns on Meta have been more widely spread across the main party (£184,000), regional groups, and candidate-specific Facebook pages.Labour’s now running a number of ads to designed counter Conservative claims about their plans on tax. Interesting that they aren’t targeting people 18-25 and 65+ with these. pic.twitter.com/SHV3lesYqC— Who Targets Me (@WhoTargetsMe) June 13, 2024 Mr Jeffers explains Labour’s higher spending on social media may be explained by a more coordinated and prepared digital strategy.“Some of it is due to preparation. Labour had far more candidates selected at the start of the campaign, and everyone felt very briefed. they had all recorded candidate videos, they’d been trained on how to run their own ad campaigns,” he said.Mr Jeffers added: “When you look at Labour Party social media accounts, most are using Labour branding, and the Change slogan. Whereas if you look at the Conservative campaign, it’s got lots of freelance going on, and people doing their own thing. Only some people are using party branding.”The Labour Party page on Facebook has been targeting its ads across the country, with a particularly high focus on Rochester, Nuneaton, Stafford, and Mansfield.Meanwhile, the Tories have been targeting men aged over 45, but have not focused social media ads to specific seats and regions, says Mr Jeffers.“The Tories are not really doing any geographical targeting,” he said. “Their main Google account just targets all of England and Wales, it doesn’t seem to be particularly focused on anywhere at all. It’s not yet listed any specific places in its advertising at all. So essentially, it’s like a big spread across the country,” he said. “There is a question of, what type of campaign are people actually running on digital? Are they running hyper-targeted constituency-level campaigns, or are they running a more national air war? My sense of the Tory campaign right now is it’s that, it doesn’t know who it wants to target. It sort of wants to find these Reform voters, and try to bring them back into the fold. It’s going to do that wherever it can.”The Green Party and Liberal Democrats have both spent around £67,000 on social media ads during this campaign; despite the fact that Greens’ chances are largely concentrated in two seats, while the Lib Dems are gambling for 48, according to YouGov’s estimates. Green Party leader Carla Denyer has spent one of the highest amounts for a single candidate in this campaign period – £39,299 – targeting voters in her desired constituency of Bristol Central.Other than Ms Denyer, the top expenditure from candidate-specific social media pages in this campaign are: Keir Starmer (£210,498), Bridget Phillipson (£31,498), Rachel Reeves (£28,247) and Ameet Jogia (£25,483).The Green’s Carla Denyer spent more money on her ad campaign than anyone but Keir Starmer More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email“If you want politics as pantomime,” Sir Keir Starmer said at his party’s manifesto launch last week, “I hear Clacton is nice this time of year.”The Labour leader’s remarks were a not-so-subtle barb at Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, who has launched his return to politics in the Essex seat.But Jovan Owusu-Nepaul, Labour’s candidate, will be hoping he can convince voters in the seat to call curtains on Mr Farage’s eighth attempt to become an MP.A recent poll by Electoral Calculus suggests Mr Farage is likely to win the constituency relatively comfortably, securing 39 per cent of the vote.Labour candidate Jovan Owusu-Nepaul pictured with Reform leader Nigel Farage More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as Nigel Farage launches Reform UK’s election manifesto on Monday 17 June.Farage is set to unveil the manifesto, which the party dubs a “contract” with voters, in Wales.Speaking ahead of the event, the Reform leader said he is “launching a crusade to defend British values” and that the location was chosen “because it shows everyone exactly what happens to a country when Labour is in charge”.He will set out Reform’s policies in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, at 1pm before taking questions.The party will fight the election on immigration, with policies already announced including an “employer immigration tax” on companies who choose to employ overseas workers instead of British citizens.Reform has vowed to freeze lawful immigration with the exception of healthcare workers and leave the European Convention on Human Rights.On the economy, the party has set out an ambition to slash £91 billion off public spending by stopping the Bank of England paying interest on quantitative easing reserves and finding £50 billion of wasteful spending in Whitehall.It has promised there would be no tax on earnings under £20,000 a year, that it would abolish the government’s net-zero targets and “stand up for British culture, identity and values”. More

Nigel Farage has acknowledged that Reform UK would not form the government after the general election – but he said it was the first step on the road to the next contest which could be in 2029.Speaking in Merthyr Tydfil as he launched the party’s manifesto, Mr Farage said: “We are not pretending that we are going to win this general election, we are a very, very new political party.”“Our ambition is to establish a bridgehead in parliament, and to become a real opposition to a Labour government,” he added.Mr Farage went on to say that the Tories would not be able to provide opposition because “they spend most of their days arguing among themselves”. More