The next general election will be no ordinary democratic contest. Not the usual swing of the pendulum this way or that. It will be a key moment in the history of our democracy – and it could be less than three years away.

Be in no doubt: populists represent a new and terrifying threat to the kind of free elections and free society we cherish, but now take for granted.

As Donald Trump declared at a pre-election rally in July 2024: “In four years you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not going to have to vote.” Or, as his fellow populist Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, said: “Democracy is like a tram. You ride it until you arrive at your destination, then you step off.”

Yet, here in the UK, where is the urgently needed counter-plan on a huge scale to thwart and head off such an existential threat? It is simply not in place, nor does it appear to be even at the planning stage. We are at a very dangerous moment. We simply cannot afford to allow Nigel Farage’s Reform UK to have a free run, and become established and entrenched as a credible potential government in the minds of disenchanted voters.

The longer they go unchallenged, the more unthreatening and risk-free they will seem to voters. Just hoping that Reform and Farage implode, or that the rightwing vote will somehow fracture, is potentially suicidal for our freedom and democracy.

The Labour party has taken some small steps to counter Reform. Keir Starmer has at last begun to talk about a closer relationship with Europe, and more broadly challenge the disastrous failure that is Brexit. Presentationally, we have recently seen the first decent Starmer videos on TikTok. But it is small-scale and the narrative surrounding this government has more often been about........

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