On Saturday 1 February at 6pm, an anti-racist student demonstration protesting a dinner hosted by the University of York’s recently founded Reform Society arrived in force outside the Deramore Arms in Heslington. As the demonstration gained steam, several besuited students could be seen scurrying up Main Street and dashing into the pub through the back door. Outside, owner Dan watched on placidly, welcoming patrons in despite the commotion.
Within the warmth and safety of the pub, the giddy young men (and sole woman) who make up Reform Society seemed less phased by the protest. A few of them did, however, appear to take particular pleasure in nipping outside from time to time to ogle the demonstration, before stumbling in again, giggling. Had they been able to hear, the anti-fascist protestors outside would have undoubtedly been horrified to catch the words “based” and “my heart goes out to you!” (in reference to Elon Musk) being bandied freely between society members.
Guest of honour at the dinner was Nigel Farage’s leering first-mate, Richard Tice, current MP for Boston and Skegness and Deputy Leader of Reform UK. While awaiting Mr Tice’s arrival, it became clear that there were three factions joined in anticipation. In addition to the protestors and members of Reform Society, a small group of Heslington locals was also present. One local was quick to express his support for Reform UK due to the massive 70 percent tax burden his business is currently saddled with. He also expressed his blunt disbelief in the existence of climate change and an alarming disdain for "immigrants”, a term he applied as broadly as conceivably possible. He was also the first, but by no means the last, to elucidate on the deplorable "evil" of Islam and name-drop Tommy Robinson. Eventually, Mr Tice made his regal entrance having travelled from County Durham Reform Conference, where he had been visiting their respective Reform Society. There is some humour to be found in the fact that Tice could get through two-thirds of the Reform student societies in the country in one afternoon.
Once the necessary hand-shakings had concluded, the meal began. The locals, who did not possess tickets for the exclusive meal, watched the feast from behind a dividing rope, lest they should forget their ignoble status. The protestors began to move off at this point, to resounding jeers from the feasting Reformists. After the meal, Tice rose for his speech. Much of this spiel covered Reform’s known areas of obsession: scrapping net zero emissions, reducing taxes, distancing ourselves from Europe in favour of America, and pursuing net zero immigration. Naturally, Ed Miliband and Rachel Reeves’ names were dragged gleefully into the mix; the former for his commitment to "the green agenda" and the latter, "Rachel from accounts" as they so waggishly refer to her, for her "wasteful" autumn budget. As he went on it became clear that Tice was doing his utmost to ape the cartoonish persona of his boss, Nigel Farage.
Tice was, however, a little more brazen with his language than he possibly would have been at a more public event. It began when he referred to the House of Commons as "theatre". While disdain for the Commons’ often meandering bureaucracy is far from a Reform UK exclusive (in a recent poll, 52 per cent of young people expressed a desire for stronger leaders unencumbered by bureaucracy), his glib use of “theatre” came across as uniquely dismissive. Then there was his repetition of the phrase "common sense", echoing the language of Donald Trump’s recent inaugural address.
Bizarrely, Tice then went on to use the term "Great Society", as in Lyndon B. Johnson’s vision of America in the 1960s. What, in a word, the hell he was getting at with this one is a mystery. How Johnson’s vision (which involved government spending, support for racial justice, alleviation of poverty, the improvement of Medicare, and the development of social safety nets) relates to Reform’s neoliberal dream of a corporate Britain is difficult to understand. Perhaps Tice was simply taken in by the word "great" and was itching to use it – his closing remark was, after all, "Make Britain Great Again!" which his young supporters were eager to cry in unison.
Following the speech, a few plucky souls got up to ask questions. The first of these concerned the House of Lords, which Reform UK is famously sceptical of. To this, Tice merely stated that there is too much "undemocratic cronyism" in that particular body. He could not offer many solutions, however, which is hardly surprising considering Tice himself is only so high up in the private limited company that is Reform UK due to his ownership of the second largest amount of shares. The next question regarded housing. To this, Tice veered off on a tangent about the "dreadful QUANGOs" (meaning non-ministerial government departments) inhibiting development and immigration. Eventually, he concluded that net zero immigration and a lean bureaucracy would sort everything out; though not without several pit stops along the way on such topics as mental health (and why it is no excuse not to go to work), the importance of small government, and Elon Musk.
The final two questions regarded manufacturing and education. In brief, Tice rejoindered that manufacturing cannot get up and running until net zero is scrapped, Michael Gove’s academies were not a bad idea, and too many people are going to university to study bogus degrees such as "golf course management" (to which everyone chortled heartily). The speech was concluded by what we have to assume was intended to be a rousing rendition of "God Save the King!" after which Tice bolted as quickly as possible through a sea of selfie-seeking supporters.
In the wake of his departure, the members of Reform Society spilled out onto the street and vanished. Only a small group of sympathetic locals remained after that. While speaking to these, a sad reality began to reveal itself; one that Tice and Farage’s populist theatrics easily prey upon. The first to speak professed his approval of Reform UK and snapped that he did not fight in "shitholes" like Afghanistan and Iraq for the country to end up in the state it is. Others stated things along the lines of "it’s all fucked, the whole system…it’s fucked." A sense of personal anxiety and directionless anger could be felt as the conversation progressed. Everyone present was keenly aware of the fact that their wealth and mental wellbeing had declined steadily over the last 15 years. One couple who were visiting York stated that they distrust everything to do with "the system" and expressed personal, vehement hatred of Keir Starmer to the point of wishing him dead. According to the group, the culprits responsible for Britain’s decline are corrupt politicians and that ever-present pejorative "immigrants". British Muslims were also dragged into the picture as chief offenders and the "evils" of Islam again espoused. The supposed destruction of Britain’s cultural purity was a point of particular fascination, whether by immigrants at street level, or foreign money buying politicians at parliamentary level. When pressed to elaborate on these views, those present defaulted to their initial remarks that "it’s just all fucked." Racist fury, Islamophobia, and an impotence to explain the nuances of these social prognoses defined the conversation.
Nevertheless, unlike in the case of leering property millionaire Mr Tice, it is difficult to have disdain for these people, regardless of their hateful beliefs. The chief themes of the conversation were disenfranchisement, distrust of democracy, and a loss of social cohesion. The sources of these maladies were poorly identified but that does not make them untrue. Reform UK benefits from ignorance; something that leads honest people to mistakenly identify things like immigration or the so-called "green agenda" as responsible for their disaffection; it remains, however, difficult to blame people for their ignorance when powerful forces such as Tice, Farage, Trump, and Musk are so intent upon exploiting it for their own gain. In the end, once the protestors and members of the Reform Society – and, of course, the looming spectre of Richard Tice – had moved off, all that remained was a confused collection of ordinary people, briefly riled in their anger and mollified in their prejudices, abandoned to settle their discontent at the bottom of a pint glass.
