A fumbling Richard Tice did not express concern regarding white British people becoming a minority within our ancestral homeland by 2063. During an interview on GB News (see below), Steven Edginton put this subject to him with reference to a recent report by Matthew Goodwin. The deputy leader of Reform UK and MP for Boston and Skegness was unprepared for a question he should have expected given that Goodwin's work was published ahead of this appearance. The discussion demonstrates the inadequacy of Tice and Reform when it comes to addressing the major cultural issues impacting Britain.
Tice stumbled over his words; this was an interview laden with fillers and diversion. He said, ‘'It’s a long way off’’, ‘‘I’ll be long gone, put it like that’’. His answer disregards British people, the national interest and our ethnic and cultural inheritance. It reveals an absence of a strong sense of kinship that binds a nation over generations. Concern about the future should be a prerequisite for any MP who may form policies that could impact people for decades. Tice might be gone by 2063, but a lot of us will not be. He rambled about Britain being a Christian nation, about getting people back into work, training up our own people, and having more British born people. He did not answer the question and showed a narrow minded presentism.
When Edginton told him that Britain being minority white British would be a huge historic moment, a rattled and irritated Tice responded: ‘‘You are obsessed with this stuff, okay.”
Edginton retorted: ‘‘So are many other people Richard, it’s not just me to be fair.”
Edginton understands the importance of the demographic situation to the white British, whose reduction equates to being made stateless, denuded of sovereignty and a home. Tice did not show care for any of these issues.
The MP need not have tied himself in knots of his making. He could have given the following response: ‘‘Mass immigration without consent violates a principle of self-determination, and we reject forced demographic change on this basis. The English, Welsh and Scottish are historically constituted groups with a right to inherit the lands left to them by their ancestors and determine the futures of their countries (the same goes for the Irish). In recent times, Britain and much of Europe have witnessed unprecedented immigration. This process is historically aberrant, not those who reject it. No conflict exists between this position and welcoming ethnic minorities into Reform as members and supporters.”
Such an approach might improve the party's already good position in the polls. An answer of the kind just posited would have served him better, even if only to ease the concerns of Reform members and prospective voters. It seems a very real indifference and or fear prevents this.
A bumbling Tice said Goodwin may or may not be right before saying he did not know what computer model Goodwin had used. He disgorged a jumbled range of lines about what sort of population we want to have, the population becoming more prosperous and having an immigration policy favouring high-skilled entrants. When accusing Edginton of asking questions wrongly and being aggressive, Tice was playing the man rather than the ball. The host was polite, clear and straight to the point. Tice did not show any of these qualities.
Long before Goodwin’s research was put to Tice, the MP lost his composure. When asked about Reform policy on the burka, he suggested Edginton was being childish. Tice stated a policy on everything is not needed; the reporter never argued that point. Given that Tice's colleague, the Reform MP, Sarah Pochin mentioned it in the House of Commons, one might have thought he would have been clear about the party position on the subject. Tice said the garment makes second-class citizens of women and difference. He noted that Pochin worries about it from a security aspect. These points are valid, but he should have said the covering is objectionable for brazenly subverting the culture and customs of the British people. Such a response would represent a willingness to assert the primacy of British culture in Britain, which would please voters.
Tice was needlessly animated on the matter of mass deportations and derided Edginton by using the terms “juvenile” and “obsessed” when met with fair questions. The enquiry was pertinent considering Reform leader Nigel Farage had distanced himself from the idea when Edington interviewed him not so long ago. Tice said illegal immigrants should not remain in Britain but made a mess of this point by being indirect. At one stage, he even started to mimic Edginton. Tice spoke to him like he was an insolent child rather than a professional; this treatment was appalling.
When Edginton invited Tice to give his thoughts on predictions made by Enoch Powell in 1968, Tice said he was not alive then. Had Edginton brought up another historical figure like Churchill, there is no way he would have avoided talking about a subject on that basis; Tice’s weakness was a theme of the interview. TV stations might want to take point and refrain from contacting him whenever a conversation might refer to anything preceding his life.
Many may say that this performance will not damage the electoral prospects of Reform; this could be true, but the inability to adequately handle and answer questions regarding demographic change, the burka, mass deportations and predictions made by Powell shows that there is no cause to believe that Tice and Reform can deal with the crucial cultural issues facing Britain.
This piece is the second edition of Current Things, a new feature involving reaction to goings on in the news and online spheres.
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References
GB News, Richard Tice on Reform’s Zia Yusuf v Sarah Pochin row over burka ban| Steven Edington, 5/6/25, accessed: 7/6/25
Further information
The Telegraph, Sam Ashworth-Hayes, Charles Hymas, White British people will be a minority in 40 years, report claims, 3/6/25, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/03/white-british-minority-in-40-years-report-claims/, accessed: 8/6/25
A truly appalling performance from Tice. This may not affect Reform's polling in the short term but it will be noted by the activist base, and that will be poison in the long term (as the Tories found out when they alienated their base).
Tice is utterly useless, in every way. He is useless as a politician & he's of no use to the British people in their current situation.