Not a policy, but I believe of interest to our members.
Last September, in London, I sat with 60 other people and listened to Nigel Farage. It was a speech I have heard several times since, every pause, smile, ‘you know what’ and gurn precisely placed and executed. A well-rehearsed act, played as Henry V but received as Arthur Daley.
In the photo session afterwards we lined up, his smile popped us as he shook our hands and disappeared a split second after we turned away; us with that nagging feeling that we had just bought a second-hand Ford Cortina we didn’t want. ‘Lovely motor, mate, one careful owner.’
Yesterday, at a New Culture Forum event in Bournemouth, I listened to Ben Habib. He wasn’t a great orator hiding behind a Savile Row suit, he was just this ordinary chap standing there talking. Engaging with the audience, answering their questions honestly and, when he got something wrong, accepting the truth with humility and dignity.
After he had spoken I ambushed him and gave him my usual chant on how the destruction of local associations/branches by first the Tories and then Reform was one of the current problems with politics. And he listened. At least his answer gave that impression. And that was a first for me.
When he had chatted to a few others he left, on his own, no entourage, no bodyguards, just this rather small figure with a backpack.
My point in all this is that yesterday I believe I met the man who might, in his own quiet way, be the politician we have all been waiting for. The one who has real integrity.
