20 AUGUST 2025 | OPINION
Probably among the most basic and reasonable human desires is to live in safety. Ever since we’ve been bashing rocks together and collecting berries, it has been imperative that there is some sort of deterrent against Grug stealing Borg’s berries and tools. Without this mechanism, you can’t really have a society.
The other day, like many, I went out with some work colleagues after a particularly challenging few hours. We were walking near Euston Station (not the nicest area at the best of times) when two young men on visibly modified electric bikes, both of course sporting the Roadman uniform of a ‘bally’ and puffer coat, swerved in front of us and started honking their horns.
This was not helped by the presence of a police car quite literally opposite us on the road, whose officers proceeded to do absolutely nothing about it. On an ordinary day, that isn’t too bad – it’s just annoying. I do understand we are in a capital city, and these things will unfortunately happen.
However, I would only accept this excuse if I hadn’t also encountered someone verbally harassing and threatening people in full view of some security guards the day before, or a random smackhead accosting us asking for money and following us until he got bored on that very same day. And that’s not to mention the many other incidents of public urination, anti-social behaviour, and the constant presence of beggars. And this was just within the ten-minute walk to King’s Cross!
Reform UK understands that they have the resources and the mainstream attention to actually put something out about the breakdown in law and order, and to look like they can credibly implement it. I wouldn’t want to get too speculative, but it’s entirely possible they saw Jenrick lose face after the Afghan scandal and decided the best way to steal whatever remaining Tory thunder there was would be to do what he’s done, but crank it up by a factor of ten.
Moreover, the campaign has the potential to have a bit of a ‘rally around the flag’ effect – not just within Reform, but on the Right overall. There’s obviously been some tension in recent months regarding things like immigration and the actual democratic structure of the party. Mr Farage – unjustly, in my view – caught a lot of flak from various online commentators to his Right for being ‘too soft’ on immigration. But when it comes to such a basic topic as law and order, you really can’t go wrong – especially given how dire things already are. It’s hard-hitting stuff that, really, no-one else has any credibility on according to Johnny Voter.
There are two important questions here: is Britain lawless, or is that the perception? We have to remember that, even if the data doesn’t support the idea of a 1970s New York-tier crimewave, the perception of one is probably more powerful. Rather than everyone having experienced a major crime against them, many people are living in fear of just one. And fear in the political context is much more malleable than concrete feelings of injustice.
Our vague sense of ‘I’m playing by the rules; why are they allowed not to?’ is exactly what they are trying to capitalise on, and it can be incredibly powerful. It’s a very classic appeal to the ‘silent majority’ of people in Britain who, when they see this, believe that they are the ones being taken advantage of. When someone dodges fares, they are passing the cost of the transport on to those law-abiding citizens who do pay. There’s also the more obvious point that crime, anti-social behaviour, and yobbos on modified bikes – who are almost certainly involved in county lines – are just bad things, full stop.
This campaign is a very good idea and it’s got the opportunity to do something quite meaningful – get a certain section of the population and the commentariat to admit that the country is not as safe as it once was. It’s already spurred various arguments on X about how people have seen London change in the past two decades, and whether they’ve seen more or less crime. And it’s precisely that kind of conversation that I think is much more productive.
Beyond simply starting the 2026 local election campaign early and soft-launching various parliamentary and mayoral candidates, they’ve posted various recent cases of migrant crime, mostly of the violent and/or sexual variety, as well as even revealing the names of the sentencing judges. There’s also been a women’s safety broadcast, which I personally think went quite well and is the sort of messaging that will work.
But it’s not about whether there’s more or less crime – it’s about how safe we feel in a given area. Many people have lost faith in the police’s ability to investigate even the most basic breaches of the peace, so won’t report any incidents. You can hardly blame them.
But we have to ask ourselves: what’s the endgame here?
If Reform wants to gain the people’s trust on crime – and actually keep it! – it might need to do more than just keep commenting on how awful crime is at its weekly press conferences over this month. It needs a credible plan to reform our police, judicial and penal services. The appointment of former Wormwood Scrubs prison Governor Vanessa Frake MBE is a welcome step, but only time will tell how her advice shapes their policy as they move ahead.
Until then, it seems, the horns will continue to honk.
