Desperate for the Limelight

Not another one! Having blogged on many occasions that Nigel Farage would never be so daft to take on Suella Braverman, on Monday he unveiled Reform's latest star defector - Suella Braverman! There she was giggling on stage as if she was doing something very naughty, she launched into a hypocritical rant about how awful her old party was, how most Tory MPs would be better off sitting as Liberal Democrats, etc. Snore, bore, we've heard it all before. Braverman moaned about being politically homeless for "two years" - but obviously was comfortable enough to stand as a Conservative candidate at the last general election. In reality, what she couldn't stand was being out of the limelight. As Kemi Badenoch took over, there was little backbencher Braverman could do to attract attention as the new leader took the party even further rightwards. And now she's back in it. Top billing in politics news, knocking the Andy Burnham fallout off its perch, hundreds of comments on Conservative Home, and she can look forward to framing the front pages tomorrow morning with her and Nige striking the old chums pose.

Farage justified taking her on because Reform have got to fill out "the experience" the party so far lacks in government. One might wonder if recruiting a bunch of clodhoppers responsible for the disasters of the worst administration in British political history is wise, seeing that many Reform supporters turned to the party because they were fed up of the chancers Farage's recruitment drive keeps scooping up. For Braverman, she has the licence to say many of the racist things Sarah Pochin can't and can do this far more effectively than Farage's other misfits and turncoat failures. A useful idiot in the truest sense, the danger to Farage comes not from offending a liberal opinion that Labour, more than anyone else, has contrived to snuff out, but in reminding the more racist-minded core support of Reform that the woman who promised and failed to deliver the abominable Rwanda scheme is now making a living off the back of their party.

The Tory response was silly and apolitical, suggesting - at least initially - that Braverman's defection had something to do with poor mental health. When, in fact, all she's suffering from is incurable narcissism. By blowing up her membership, Braverman can enjoy her 24/48 hours as if she's relevant again. But Reform in the Nigel Farage show. Yes, she can say racist things, but she cannot be allowed to have more exposure than the party's dear leader. Her trajectory is on the Lee Anderson track, once a noted gobshite the media could not get enough off, and now a strangely cowed, strangely silent presence. Like a Sleeper bloke anonymously strumming in Louise Wener's background. Cutting through and being a face again won't be helped by further Tory defections as they seek their moments in the sun, and the prominence existing Farage minions, such as Zia Yusuf, and Laila Cunningham feel they've earned ahead of the conveyor belt of carpet baggers. A dictatorship Reform might be, the toxins and petty jealousies clinging to each imported recruit is sure to give the party bilious stomach cramps sooner or later.

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