A number of Good Morning Britain viewers have admitted they’re “sick of the mainstream media” after Reform UK chairman Dr David Bull faced some rather loaded questions on Friday’s show.
Dr Bull joined the ITV presenting duo to discuss Reform UK’s defeat in the Caerphilly by-election on Thursday, where Plaid Cymru bagged a historic victory of a previously safe Labour seat.
Plaid Cymru secured 47 percent of the vote in a record turnout, while Reform UK came in second at 36 percent. Labour ended the night in a distant third place.
Lindsay Whittle was the minister elected to take the seat, while Reform UK candidate Llyr Powell remained optimistic about the party’s future in Wales despite his defeat.
As he joined GMB on Friday to discuss the results, Dr Bull admitted the outcome was “in many ways disappointing”, but he too remained upbeat about Reform UK’s popularity.
“You have to also remember this is a tremendous result for us — and that is not political spin. Look, we’re four years old as a party; I’ve been there since the very beginning. We were polling at 1.7 percent four years ago, and to go to 36 percent is a meteoric rise by any kind of metric,” he began.
“Now, you’ve got to remember this is a Labour heartland, so for us to do well there would be very difficult. We obviously did that, but Labour pretty much wiped out, going down to 11 percent, the Tories wiped off the board completely at two percent, which is an abject humiliation of their game on the ground.
“But actually, there is something else that went on at the same time. We saw tactical voting. There was a massive MRP poll — that’s a big poll — that showed us in the lead, as you know, at 42 percent. We saw Plaid was there at 38, and I think what happened — we know from talking to people — is that people who voted Lib Dem, for example, lent their votes to Plaid to get them over the line.
ITV GMB: Dr David Bull defended his party’s performance
| ITV
“I think, however, what this does show is that two-party politics is now dead. This was a two-horse race between Plaid and us. I am thrilled by that result because it isn’t the result that we wanted, but actually, when you look at that in the cold light of day, we’ve done tremendously well.”
Dr Bull paid tribute to Mr Powell, branding him an “amazing candidate” as he went on: “People are sick and tired of what is going on, the abject humiliation of Wales. When you look at the health service, for example, the health metrics are all over the place, the care in Wales is appalling, and this absolute nonsense over immigration — saying that we welcome everyone — it’s basically an open border system to Wales.
“That’s not what I heard on the doorstep, that’s not what people want at all. The economy is in freefall, and we’ve got 20 percent of young Welsh people not in education, employment, or training. That is a terrible state of affairs for a great country.”
Ms Garraway then cut in to ask: “Why wasn’t Nigel Farage at the count last night? Did he fear the night was lost because he was there very late in the day? He doesn’t like to associate with defeat, does he?”
Dr Bull quickly dismissed the nature of the question: “Well, Kate, I don’t run Nigel’s diary — I don’t know, is the honest answer.
“I was actually in Liverpool, and actually, that’s the other point that I want to make, which is we are seeing Labour being humiliated across the board. Two days ago, when I was in Liverpool — they used to poll, in 2017, they got 84 percent.
“That has dropped by half. They’re now polling at 43 percent. By the time Keir Starmer came in, he’s managed to wipe off 20 percent of the Labour vote in Liverpool — another tribally Labour area. Nigel, like me and the rest of the senior team, will be disappointed by that, but actually, for our supporters, for our members — I’m going around the country on my Chairman’s tour.
“I’ve seen 5,000 people over the last four months; people are really optimistic, enthusiastic. If you look at our party conference, it was the only one with joy and energy and optimism, and we’re looking ahead to the future. The other party conferences looked like a wet weekend.”
