Overview

What would a Reform government actually look like? It’s no secret that the next prime minister of the United Kingdom might be the leader of Reform, Nigel Farage. According to polls, Starmer is the least popular leader we’ve ever had. The economy is stuck in the doldrums. Bitter ideologies and violent anti-immigration sentiments popularized by Trump are bleeding their way into the public imagination. All of this benefits Reform. Labour have four more years to turn it around. The question that Peter Chappell asks in this short, searing book is – what if they don’t? What would a Reform government actually look like? This book takes us through the first milestones of the Reform government, from the moment Farage arrives at No. 10 and gives his first speech as prime minister, to his first week, month and year – right through to their campaign, and Labour’s, for the next election. It gives us a play-by-play through their policies and their consequences. Some of these consequences are going to be catastrophic – it’s likely that leaving the ECHR will upend the Good Friday Agreement, that many, many thousands of lives will be disrupted by their pledge to remove 600,000 migrants, and that their various impossible promises (whether ending NHS waiting lists in two years or their expensive tax cuts and spending plans – set to cost £200 billion – which are likely to cause a market meltdown) will mean that Reform will face a big shock when they enter government. But voters will expect them to act on their promises – and they might respond to this pressure by cracking down on critics and media organizations. We think of the UK as having strong and virtually unbreakable democratic institutions and norms – but this is not the case. The UK has an incredibly powerful central government compared to other countries, which actually makes us more vulnerable to the whims of a leader like Farage. Reform want to remove any constraints we do have – for instance, replacing important civil servants with their own political appointees, getting rid of the Lords and effectively killing off the BBC. Peter draws on their stated policies, their voter base and their record running councils and mayoralties, as well as what we know of Farage’s character from his many years as a political campaigner. Peter also takes inspiration from how other far-right parties have done in government, from Trump to Meloni and Orban. And he looks at what’s being discussed by right-wing thinktanks and increasingly popular far-right thinkers like Curtis Yarvin. One thing we do know is that the Reform government is going to be messy – four Reform councilors have already resigned and given their poor vetting process that’s likely to continue in government.

Full Product Details

9781399433723

Table of Contents

Reviews

Brilliant. * Daniel Finkelstein * What If Reform Wins is a dazzling imagined account of Nigel Farage’s first year in Number Ten: hilarious, terrifying and totally believable. As a counterfactual, it ranks alongside Robert Harris’s Fatherland and When William Came, Saki’s vision of Britain under the Kaiser. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t end well. * Ferdinand Mount * Farage is Britain’s new prime minister. Nirvana or nightmare? Whatever our reaction, we all need to take this scenario very seriously, as Peter Chappell’s invigorating book does. * Anthony Seldon *

Author Information

Peter Chappell is a breaking news reporter at The Times, having previously worked with the Spectator and the BBC. He has written for The Times, the Guardian, Sky News, Prospect Magazine and various local papers. His writing for The Times has led to the preservation of Covent Garden’s historic gas lamps, a Channel Island not being cut off from the British mainland, and threats from the captain of an oligarch’s superyacht. In his career so far, he has interviewed Amazon explorers, clean air campaigners, and Heston Blumenthal. He was nominated for the Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism in 2018. He was born and raised in Northern Ireland and now lives in London.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available