“A bitter pill, but if making a mess at a local level opens eyes to the damage they could do at a national level then I’m prepared to hold my nose and swallow it, in the hope that the electorate will indeed see sense in time, if not tomorrow.”
I agree completely with this line of thinking; the problem is that, like Richard, I believe that Reform will always find a scapegoat for their abject failure in office and, of course, their billionaire backers in the media will always do their best to absolve Farage and co from all blame.