Reform and Trump have similar objectives. These have generally been mischaracterised as far right, but this new wave of populism is more about nationalism vs globalism than it is about left vs right. It is primarily concerned with what is seen as the theft of our national democracy in pursuant of global goals by international bodies that include the EU, WHO, UN and ECHR, etc.; aided and abetted by treacherous collaboration from establishment politicians.
Their strategies and success could not however be further apart. Following decades of attempting to disrupt the Conservative Party with UKIP, then the Brexit Party and now Reform, Nigel Farage has finally succeeded in getting just one more seat in Parliament than Plaid Cymru, the relatively inconsequential Welsh National Party. This was done at the expense of dividing the conservative vote in half, thereby gifting the Crown to Kier Starmer despite him winning fewer votes than Jeremy Corbyn did when he was defeated by Boris Johnson in 2019.
Trump has, in contrast, persisted with Reform-ing a reluctant Republican Party from within, unifying both populist and establishment American conservatives behind a new wave of Freedom Caucus candidates that first became mainstream with the Tea Party movement in 2009. The hard work has paid off, delivering a populist Presidential candidate for voters whilst maintaining a unified Republican Party that continues to provide a viable alternative to the Democratic Party.
Trump did not however do this alone. The groundwork for the ascendancy of Trump's nationalist Make America Great Again, "MAGA" movement, was quietly laid down over many years by grass roots activists putting into action Dan Schultz's, "Precinct Strategy", with this being the inspiration for the UK's, "Constituency Strategy".
Whilst Nigel Farage has for decades diverted hundreds of thousands of traditional conservatives from joining and Reform-ing the Conservative Party; Dan Schultz has been quietly encouraging a new generation of traditional American conservatives to join and Reform the Republican Party from the grass roots by harnessing the efforts of grass roots Precinct Committee Chairmen.
Electoral Precincts are the smallest units into which US electoral districts are divided. Each Precinct has Precinct Committee Chairman positions for each Party, though each state has a unique system. Some have a 'central committee' structure, and 'at large' elected members.
Precinct committee members, known as, 'Precinct Committeemen', in most states, serve as a go-between for the party and its voters in the precinct. They co-ordinate campaigning and help to get their voters to vote also contributing the Party in many other ways.
The opportunity that Schultz identified is that up to half of the Republican Party's about 175,000 voting precincts, numbering approximately 400,000 precinct committeeman positions, had about 200,000 vacancies, even in Republican strongholds. Schultz also estimated that half of the filled slots were taken by, "Republicans in Name Only", or, "RINO's" for short. The Committee Chairmen then elect the County and State executive Committees that run their State Party, which also returns delegates to the governing Republican National Committee (RNC).
It is this ground-swell movement that created the, "Red Wave" that Trump has been able to ride, translating recently into the deposing of RINO, Ronna Romney McDaniel and the positioning of Lara Trump as RNC Deputy Chair.
The elegance of this, 'Precinct Strategy' is that it upturns the pyramid. It focuses on the agency that people like you and I have to fill these influential slots with the aim of establishing a full-strength Party where we the people are the Watchmen on the ground, ensuring that 'RINO's' in the USA and 'CINO's' – "Conservatives in name only" (to coin a phrase) - are no longer in a position to betray, for example, Conservative voters the way the Rishi Sunak Ministry recently did in UK.
The UK equivalent of a Precinct is an Electoral division or ward. The ward is the primary unit of electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and district councils. It is used for the local election of Borough and County Councillors. The same electoral wards or divisions are used to 'constitute' Westminster parliamentary 'constituencies' each one of which elects a Member of Parliament (MP), hence the term in the UK of, 'Constituency Strategy'.
Ward Representatives, the equivalent of Precinct Committee Chairmen are elected at the Annual General Meeting, "AGM" of each Conservative Constituency Association. Members also elect a Constituency Association Chairman and can elect a number of Deputy Chairmen. Together, these officers comprise the Association's Executive Council.
The AGM can also be used to make changes to the Association's constitution. An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) can be called in between AGM's if there is urgent need. The meeting must be quorate, with at last 15% of members present. Any Conservative Party Member 15 years old or over can vote at their Association's AGM so long as they have joined for at least 3 months and are not a member of another Party.
Encourage your family and friends to join the Conservative Party to vote for, 'Constituency Strategy' candidates at your AGM. Membership is only £10 a year for under 26-year-olds. All Parents should purchase Party membership for their children. There is no lower age limit on membership, although children under the age of 15 cannot be enrolled as full voting members. Encourage them to get involved and educate them about how local politics actually work. You can also join multiple Constituency Associations to assist colleagues in other Constituencies. Also, if you join the Conservative Party before 30 July 2024, you will be in time to elect the next leader of the Conservative Party from two candidates shortlisted by MPs.
The AGM of your local political association occurs each and every year. For, 'Constituency Strategy' this is the most important election of all; far more important than the general election, because this is where the grass roots, traditional conservative party members can take back control. This means: you and I.
Your local Conservative Association's Executive Council that members elect have a reasonably free hand in recruiting and selecting candidates for local election, the choice of whom determines the direction of policy as most things imposed by Westminster are implemented at the local level. There is also much that local authorities can do of their own initiative.
An Association Executive is in a good position to get their preferred candidates on the approved list for Parliamentary election. Members of the party can also act as a check and balance for local Councillors and any MPs who see fit to divorce themselves from local priorities. For example, pandemic era Health Secretary Matt Hancock declared that he would not stand again for Parliament the day after his Constituency Association made a vote of no confidence in him at an EGM, called following concerns that he had absconded his office in pursuit of a TV career.
The Executive Council elects the Chairmen of their Regional Party Association that co-ordinates multiple Associations in a given geographic area. They and your local Chairman attend the Conservative National Convention twice a year, which functions as the Party's 'Parliament'. The Convention elects the Convention Chairman and the governing Board of the Party. They can raise policy issues and make recommendations to the Board.
Amendments to the Conservative Party's Constitution can be proposed by a resolution of the National Convention or by a petition of 10,000 members. Association and Regional Chairmen therefore form a part of the Constitutional College which votes on proposed constitutional amendments.
The powers Association Chairmen have can be harnessed to Reform the Conservative Party if a Caucus of Chairmen and members agree on a programme of Reform that is persistently co-ordinated to make the Conservative Party conservative again. They may not succeed on the first attempt but if they keep trying, they will inevitably succeed.
There is already a growing demand for a constitutional amendment to require that the Party Chairman is chosen by the Convention or by Members, with many objecting to such an important position being chosen by the Party leader alone. There are also various proposals being put forward to reform how candidates are chosen for Parliamentary elections.
Some Constituency Associations have been abandoned by the Party that have been merged to form larger Federations covering multiple constituencies. This reduces the number of Constituency Chairmen returned to the Conservative National Convention and dilutes the power of Chairmen to influence the Party at the Convention. If this has occurred in your area, you can use, 'Constituency Strategy' to implement rule s.19 of the Party Constitution. It provides a mechanism for dissolving a Federation and restoring your local Constituency Association. This will allow you to at the very least ensure that your Constituency is represented at the Conservative National Convention.
Mathematics is on the side of, 'Constituency Strategy'. The average Association has around 250 members with typically 10 to 15% of them being politically active. This means ten to forty politically active members in an average Constituency Association, at least half of whom will likely already be genuine conservatives with whom members of Reform will find genuine kinship should they wish to re-join the fold.
Re-joiners will also find that a handful of people can be enough to completely reform a constituency association, meaning that a tiny expeditionary force of a few hundred Reform-ers could achieve more in a couple of years via, 'Constituency Strategy' than Nigel Farage has achieved in a few decades.
Don't hold back if you are alone. A single, particularly enthusiastic individual can have significant impact and will often be asked right away whether they wish to be a candidate at the next local election. Just ask and you will find that there are plenty of Ward Representative positions vacant for which you can run, often unopposed at the next AGM. You may even discover vacant Deputy Chairmen roles or that your existing Chairman is reluctantly baby-sitting the role, desperate for somebody like you to replace them.
Time is on the side of Constituency Strategy; there is an Association AGM every year and the National Convention sits twice a year, so if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. In contrast, Members of Reform are merely subscribers with there being no democratic structure for you influence the future of that, 'Party'. If all else fails you can still re-join the Reform bandwagon just before the next 2029 General Election.
However, by harnessing, 'Constituency Strategy' between now and then, you have an opportunity to make the Conservative Party conservative again, re-unifying conservative voters to defeat this ruinous Labour Government both in the 2026 local elections and in the 2029 general election.
Philip Ridley
Constituency Strategy