Why does Reform seem unassailable? Because this is party conference season, when politicos always lose the plot | Simon Jenkins

<p>They wrote off Margaret Thatcher in 1981 when the SDP – like Reform today – was ascendant. They were wrong about her; they could also be about Starmer</p><p>Party conference time is when British politics goes berserk. Leaders soar and crash in a morass of cliches. Polls go mad and cataclysm always delivers the best copy.</p><p>Thus, back in 1981, Margaret Thatcher was at her Blackpool conference, two years into office. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/11/brixton-riots-40-years-on-a-watershed-moment-for-race-relations">Brixton was rioting</a>, <a href="https://www.in2013dollars.com/uk/inflation/1981#:~:text=The%20inflation%20rate%20in%201981,last%20year%20is%20now%202.60%25.">inflation was 11%</a> and the Tories were <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/12/18/Mrs-Thatcher-called-Britains-most-unpopular-leader-since-WW-II/7728377499600/">polling at 23%</a>. The Labour opposition was faring as badly, also at 23%. Meanwhile, a third force, the Social Democratic party (SDP), in alliance with the Liberals, was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/19/the-fight-for-labours-soul-what-the-partys-brutal-1981-split-means-today">running at more than 50%</a> and dominating the news.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/04/reform-unassailable-party-conference-season">Continue reading...</a>