Reform UK: will high-profile defections change the party’s image?

By Parveen Akhtar, Senior Lecturer: Politics, History and International Relations, Aston University
Tahir Abbas, Professor of Criminilogy and Global Justice and Director of the Centre for Radicalisation, Inclusion, and Social Equity at Aston University in Birmingham, Aston University

A core function of political parties is to nurture talent and, in some cases, provide a credible path to power for ambitious politicians. In this fraught climate, Reform UK increasingly appears to be an alternative route for those who see no such path via the Conservative party.

Before Robert Jenrick’s sacking (over his own supposed plan to defect), Nadhim Zahawi was the latest, and arguably the most high-profile, Conservative to throw his lot in with…

Read complete article

~	Cambodia: Victims must be protected as thousands ‘leave scamming compounds’

~	Pakistan: Authorities must end judicial harassment of lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Chatta

~	Robert Jenrick sacked by Tories and embraced by Reform – what his Newark constituency tells us about the future

~	Exercise snacks: the best bursts of activity to incorporate into your day

~	US-Greenland negotiations have hit a wall. Here are three ways the crisis could end

~	Iran: Growing Evidence of Countrywide Massacres

~	The hidden cost of India’s restriction on Bangladeshi visas

~	Northern England’s rail upgrade could signal change in direction for public transport

~	In a new production of Turandot, Opera Australia has found a star vehicle for Young Woo Kim

~	World-first social media wargame reveals how AI bots can swing elections