I want to share something you may not be aware of, but which could be of interest in terms of the trajectory of the fash in Britain.
In Portugal, André Ventura is their equivalent of Farage — a former football pundit turned fash-populist politician. In the council elections the other day, Chega (Ventura’s party) underperformed expectations, securing just three mayorships out of 308, with a national vote share of around 12%.
Some notable wider points: the Communist Party/CDU outperformed Chega in a number of mayoralties, winning twelve municipalities.
Chega did, however, win the Albufeira mayoralty in the Algarve. Ventura was quoted during the campaign as saying, “The Algarve will be our stronghold.” The expectation was that they would win more than just one there, but if you’re planning a holiday, be aware that Albufeira now has a fash mayor. You can vote with your wallet if you wish.
My overarching point is this: beyond all the hype and oversimplification that Chega and Reform UK receive, as well as the wider global fash network — “the movement” — it is not set in stone that they will sweep elections. Chega has shown that this week, and Reform may well show it next May.
As I said on the show earlier, they have billionaires behind them; we have each other. It won’t be enough to just vote and sit off this time — everyone reading this will need to get active, and if we do, we can win — and win everywhere.
Reform, Chega, and the rest have nothing beyond culture-war soundbites. The way we win is by offering real solutions to things that actually matter — like the cost of living — while pressing Reform on NHS privatisation, council tax rises, and their other Achilles heels.
This is the launching point, right now, for us to build an electoral vehicle in The Greens— and a wider left wing coalition of winning going forwards when Your Party sorts the gig out. Reform is part hype, part lies. If we unite and pick away at them one thread at a time, their support will erode and fall away.
It really is up to us this time. All of us. Are you in?
