The Future of the British Right: Tory or Reform? What I told the Spectator debate.

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Does the future of the British Right lie with the Conservative Party or Reform?

That’s the question I debated at a packed-out Spectator event in the heart of Westminster, on Wednesday evening.

On one side, were the Tories Nick Timothy MP and Claire Coutinho MP. On the other, representing Reform, were Danny Kruger MP and myself.

I was the only person on the stage who was neither a Member of Parliament nor a former or current Tory. And the debate really was fascinating.

Before anybody had said a word, readers of the The Spectator - the world’s oldest weekly magazine - were asked who they thought represented the future of the Right.

They put the Tories ahead of Reform, by a margin of 54 per cent to 36 per cent.

But then, astonishingly, after the debate, after we all had a chance to make our case, the audience moved sharply behind Reform.

In the final vote, they said the future lies with Reform by 49 per cent to 44 per cent.

As I noted after the event - and as did Nigel Farage - the fact that readers of The Spectator, long a bastion of centre-right thinking in Britain, swung behind Reform is highly significant and symbolic.

It is more evidence that the tectonic plates of British politics are now firmly on the move - electorally, philosophically, politically, intellectually.

So here’s what I said to the audience, why I think the future lies with Reform, not the Tories, and also why, given that the question is sometimes asked online, why any other party to the further right of Reform is, in my view, a waste of time.

As always, Inner Circle and Paid Subscribers can let me know what they think by joining the debate in the comments and I look forward to meeting with you at our weekly Friday discussion on the Substack App at 2pm! See you there (and if you can’t make it don’t worry - the discussion will be sent to paid subscribers later on).

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Here’s a slightly extended version of what I said to the audience …

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