A couple of weeks ago, an opinion poll suggested that 10% of the electorate would vote for a political vehicle headed by ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe.

It didn’t ask those being polled if they had voted for another specific party – like Reform or the Conservatives, for example – which means we can only guess what impact his potential supporters would have at next year’s local government elections and at the general election due in 2029.

A poll published by Optimum on Saturday evening showed Reform with an extremely comfortable lead over all the other parties; which suggests that Nigel Farage is still firmly on course to make it to Number 10.

Which, in turn, further suggests that even those on the right and far right (they’re not quite the same thing) who have difficulties with him will probably stay with Reform rather than shift to any new vehicle with Lowe, or to the newly-registered Advance UK (which seems increasingly desperate to get Lowe to join forces with it).

Newton Emerson: Could council call-ins backfire on the DUP?

Leona O’Neill: No, Sir Richard, you are not getting my children to send them to war

The difficulty with........

© The Irish News