Perhaps because I take an occasional interest in politics Facebook algorithms serve me up a regular helping of updates on the Makerfield By Election, happening on June 18th.

I had never heard of the place before Andy Burnham decided it was his quickest route to get into Parliament and then presumably anointed as our next Prime Minister.

The Bookies have him as a clear favourite, with Reform as closest challenger. You get odds of 1000-1 on the Conservatives or Lib Dems, or even 2000-1 on a Count Binface. I don’t think I will be placing a bet.

Parliamentary By-Elections attract a thousand times as much attention as ones that happen during a General election and this includes a lot of scrutiny on the candidates likely to win.

The Reform candidate has been interviewed a few times and he comes across as a regular bloke who is ill prepared for what he faces. If, for example, you asked your average plumber what they thought of the Reform policy to scrap the Equalities Act, you might get exactly the reply you expect…. incomprehension.

The more established political parties have processes in place whereby you have to study and pass tests of knowledge on party policy. It looks and sounds like Reform bypassed any of that and chose him because of his local connections. If he did get elected, he would no doubt be on a very steep learning curve before he could be an effective MP.

Scrapping the Equalities Act is probably the worst Reform policy of the lot. I will remind readers of its’ advantages in the comments.