REFORM PARTY ISSUES NEW RULES
Last year the Reform Party introduced a Constitution which was passed by
the members of the Party in General Meeting.
The Constitution was 17 pages in length. Since then the Party Board, on which a
majority of the members are appointed by Nigel Farage issued the Rules for the
election of Party Board members (just three of them, so they do not form a
majority) and the Rules for Branches/Constituency Associations, (22 pages long)
without going back to the members for their approval! Thus the Dictatorship of Nigel Farage and Zia
Yusuk who control the Party continues.
This is not the way a democratic political Party works! Members have no say on policy and organisation
is effectively controlled by the Leader who has a majority of his appointments on
the Party Board. Eventually the members
will realise this and start to walk away from the Party. In May 2025 the Party claimed to have over
230,000 members. According to the Rules
for the election of the Party Board this is now 227,000.
The Reform Party are repeating the error which the Conservative Party has
made, (the Original Conservative Constitution was 55 pages long, today it is
over 150 pages long) creating a vast bureaucratic organisation controlled by
the elite.
Not all is bad in the changes which have been introduced by Reform:
Rules for the election of the Party Board
First of all congratulations, the three members of the Party Board are
to be elected directly by the ordinary Party members in a nationwide
ballot. This is in stark contrast to
the Conservative Party which has no members directly elected to their Party
Board by ordinary Party members.
The bad news is that under the rules each candidate must
1.1.3. pay a £100 non-refundable application fee and,
1.1.4. like anyone standing for
election for the Party, pass the vetting process.
The vetting process at the moment is very extensive including, we are
told, psychiatric testing, so much so that it is said that it will be
simplified!
The question is: Who judges the results of the process and are they
accountable to the members?
Branch/Constituency Rules
Here the position is mixed.
There are some very good detailed rules which the Conservative Party
should look at and incorporate within its own Constitution. However there are also some rules which
strengthen the dictatorial control of the Party by the Party Board and
ultimately Nigel Farage and Zia Yusuk!
Rules:
4.13 Branch
Officers must sign an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) and will complete Party-approved
GDPR training prior to their confirmation and prior to gaining access to any
Party systems.
The wording of the NDA is not given but generally Non Disclosure
Agreements are used by very powerful people to stop not so powerful people
speaking out. For transparency the
wording of an NDA should be shown so members can judge whether it is
reasonable.
4.15 A National or Regional Director may at their sole discretion,
replace and/or remove any interim Branch Officer for any reason they consider
pertinent.
Nowhere in the Party’s Constitution does it mention National or Regional
Director so presumably these have been created
and appointed by the Party Board without reference to the membership so
who are they accountable to?
5.7 is a strange requirement and indicates that the
Party hierarchy do not trust the members!
National/Regional Directors are not elected, they are
appointed, At any time they can come in to a branch and take the position of
chair to control meetings. This is
control freakery at its worst!
6.18 If branches call emergency meetings to discuss a problem the National or Regional Director can cancel these meetings at any time. Once again we see a complete lack of democracy and distrust of ordinary members.
ALL SPEAKERS MUST BE APPROVED. Reform don't trust their branches
organising speakers, they must be approved now by HQ. This is extraordinary. Once again the lack of trust by the
hierarchy is highlighted by this clause!
15 Waiver
15.1 The Party Chairman, Vice Chairman, National
Directors, and their duly authorised appointees, may at their absolute
discretion, revoke, suspend or waive any Branch Rule at any time with or
without notice.
This says
it all For the avoidance of any doubt
we the Party hierarchy can do what ever we please and the ordinary Party member
has no recourse. This is called
dictatorship. It isn’t democracy!
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