There will be many words written about the Makerfield and Aberdeen by-elections, but one thing is clear – the results have left the idea of the Conservatives doing a deal with Reform stone-dead.
When those elections were called, I came under intense pressure to ‘unite the Right’.
The argument sounded clever: the Conservative Party had never won in Makerfield, so why not do a deal with Nigel Farage and stand down?
Reform UK could do the same in Aberdeen, and everyone would claim victory.
Thankfully, I know terrible advice when I hear it and the results on Friday proved my point.
Reform would not have
To provide well-rounded coverage and a breadth of insight across various events, we rely on contributions from several staff writers, each bringing their own area of expertise to our publication.