Quotes of the day 4th August 2026

Not very often that I agree with former UKIP leader Henry Bolton, but his reply yesterday to Richard Tice in respect of Reform UK's utterly unworkable "Operation Fortress" plan is dead on.

He wrote:

"Richard (@TiceRichard)

I’ve explained to you in the past, very clearly, why this is particular approach is unworkable. 

My fear is not that you’d try to do this, should you ever have the opportunity, it’s that the last thing the nation wants or needs are yet more promises that will not survive contact with legal, operational or practical reality.

This may be a catchy headline that you deploy to distract from other issues, but it will fail as a policy, and fail badly."

(Henry Bolton OBE 🇬🇧 on X: "Richard @TiceRichard I’ve explained to you in the past, very clearly, why this is particular approach is unworkable. My fear is not that you’d try to do this, should you ever have the opportunity, it’s that the last thing the nation wants or needs are yet more promises that" / X)

Bolton is particularly right to emphasise that the last thing Britain needs is more promises which do not survive contact with reality.


And as Chris Philp MP put it,

"Conservatives have a fully thought-out, credible plan to end the crossings.     

Reform’s announcement is cobbled together on the back of a fag packet and doesn’t stand up to scrutiny."

(Chris Philp MP on X: "Conservatives have a fully thought-out, credible plan to end the crossings. Reform’s announcement is cobbled together on the back of a fag packet and doesn’t stand up to scrutiny https://t.co/3Vy1DFztoi" / X )

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