00:00 The sort of the rump of the Conservative Party is already shifting sort of rightwards in
00:06 response to the threat of reform, which of course it did previously with UKIP. So yeah,
00:10 I can see that's the sort of the case.
00:12 The Reform Party is on the march. The words of Ben Habib, co-deputy leader of the party.
00:20 You can understand his bravado. The latest opinion poll from March the 19th put his party
00:26 just four points behind the Conservatives. And recently the defection of Lee Anderson
00:33 from the Tories to his party has given them their first MP.
00:39 I want my country back. Over the last year or so, I've had to do a lot of soul searching
00:45 on my political journey. And it was laughing. And I don't expect much in politics other
00:55 than to be able to speak my mind and speak on behalf of my friends, family and my constituents.
01:05 Just nine weeks ago, Lee Anderson served as deputy chairman of the Conservative Party.
01:11 His recent accusations of Muslim influence against London Mayor Sadiq Khan led to a party
01:18 suspension for alleged racism. This prompted his move to reform. Anderson's stance against
01:26 immigration appears to have bolstered the party's support, not only in our region, but
01:32 indeed also across the country.
01:36 Most particularly, we know that this is about immigration. That is a sort of debate that's
01:40 not going to go away. And I think the Conservative Party recognise this for whatever, for their
01:45 own sort of reasons. And as I say, responding to the reform UK threat, a merge party might
01:51 be seen to sort of be the antidote. But hey, you know, we're in difficult times. And of
01:56 course, anything can happen in the next few months and certainly the next five years.
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