Reform nab another Lib Dem wheeze: their own coloured box

What is it about some of the more comedic elements of the Liberal Democrats’ unhappy time in the coalition government that Reform are so keen to emulate?

Last year Rats in a Sack wrote about Nigel Farage’s favourite new catchphrase, “Alarm Clock Britain”, and noted how the phrase had originally been coined by former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg way back in 2011.

In a cringeworthy article written for The Sun, the then deputy prime minister said that ordinary, willing folk were “dubbed Alarm Clock Britain because they snub the benefits culture and get up early to go to work”, despite literally nobody having ever used the phrase before. Now Reform has stolen the slogan, with Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and new recruit Robert Jenrick having all used interviews recently to declare themselves “the party of Alarm Clock Britain”.

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Now Reform has hit upon another wheeze from that giddy moment in British political history. In March 2015, Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury, made himself something of a laughing stock by getting a yellow budget box as he set out an alternative fiscal plan to George Osborne’s budget, despite Osborne being his boss and that budget being the one of his own government. Alexander was last seen working for a bank in China.

But the idea obviously resonated with Farage’s party… as, despite not being in government, it appears to have purchased its own cyan-coloured ministerial boxes. Andrea Jenkyns, the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, today posted an image of herself on X, hoisting her new box up with the words: “Today is my first @reformparty_uk Regional budget.

“In my budget, I will be putting the people of Greater Lincolnshire first, proposing better support for families, veterans, and businesses across our region.”

Yes, the box looked like it had cost about ten quid from Etsy, and yes, the lettering across the front which read ‘MAYOR OF GREATER LINCOLNSHIRE’ wasn’t straight. But Rats in a Sack cannot wait to see which hapless Lib Dem PR stunt they seek to nick next!