‘The truth is being withheld’: Heathrow closure claim points to Reform UK playbook

“Heathrow’s view was this supply was insufficient to ensure the safe and secure ongoing operation of all systems across the whole airport.”

With no obvious dividing line between the two main parties on the issue, the Conservative frontbench engaged constructively with the substance of Alexander’s statement. No pointed objections were voiced; only productive questions. “I am grateful to the honourable gentleman [Gareth Bacon] for the tone of his comments”, the transport secretary responded.

This exchange reflected the tenor of the ensuing debate, as MPs from the Liberal Democrats — and even SNP, DUP and UUP — took turns putting their party’s concerns on the record.

The Reform UK parliamentary grouping was, however, conspicuously absent. Independent MP Rupert Lowe, once the party’s most enthusiastic parliamentarian, watched on from his new commons perch behind the Reform bench (he did not attempt to catch the speaker’s eye).

Reform UK was nonetheless referenced by Alexander in a politically charged aside — the statement’s sole contribution to news. It came as Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh, a parliamentarian on the right of his party, echoed Reform’s apparent line on the Heathrow shutdown. The father of the House asked for the transport secretary’s assurance that “nothing in our drive towards green energy and net zero will ever affect the sustainability and safety of our vital transport systems.”

Alexander responded in the affirmative, adding: “I am aware that some other members of this House — not present in the chamber today — were busy peddling some mythson Friday morning about this issue.

“It is clear to me that Heathrow’s back-up power supplies consist of both diesel and electricity generators. No matter what some other members might be saying, those systems did work.”

For while neither deputy leader Richard Tice nor Nigel Farage addressed the commons on Monday, Reform’s chief spokespeople had spent the weekend blaming the shutdown on Heathrow’s “drive to net zero.”

In an interview with GB News on Friday, Tice boasted of exclusive insider industry knowledge, courtesy of conversations with an aviation expert, who had told him that Heathrow’s move from diesel back-up generators to biomass had left the airport vulnerable.

Tice declared: “It appears that Heathrow had changed its backup systems in order to be, wait for it… net zero compliant.”

He added: “Critical infrastructure like that obviously requires a back-up. Having spoken to an industry expert, it appears that Heathrow had changed its back-up systems in order for it to be net zero compliant. And therefore they had got rid of their diesel generators and have moved towards a biomass generator that was designed not to completely replace the grid but work alongside the grid.

“Basically, their net zero compliant back-up system had completely failed in its core function at the first time of asking. It beggars belief.”

In an additional comment to the Telegraph, laden with question marks, Tice said: “Why is Heathrow being so silent about this? Are they embarrassed because they have something to hide? Is it because their net zero backup failed at the first time of asking, and they daren’t admit it? It just shows the lunacy of net ‘stupid’ zero.”

Farage later expanded on Tice’s logic. In a post to X Sunday, he asserted: “Heathrow Airport had no diesel generator backup. It was removed as part of their drive to net zero.

“Dubai Airport and many military bases do have diesel generators and their aircraft would have continued flying.

“The truth about this disaster is being withheld.”

The replies to Farage’s post, which received 32,000 likes, are replete with users accusing the Reform leader of spreading fake news. One disbelieving account referenced an official Heathrow statement, which reads: “We have multiple sources of energy into Heathrow. But when a source is interrupted, we have backup diesel generators and uninterruptable power supplies in place, and they all operate as expected.”

That may well explain why Reform’s war on woke generators did not advance into the commons on Monday — leaving Alexander to deliver her rebuke in response to a similarly-minded Conservative MP.

Crucially, this is not the first manifestation of the Faragist instinct to decry “conspiracy” in order to grab a headline at the onset of some unexpected development.

The Reform UK leader used the exact same turn of phrase — “the truth is being withheld” — in his initial response to the Southport murders last year. In a video posted to social media before the eruption of far-right rioting, Farage commented: “I just wonder whether the truth is being withheld from us. I don’t know the answer to that, but I think it is a fair and legitimate question”.

Later, in a combative interview with LBC Radio, Farage appeared to excuse his initial response to the tragedy as having been influenced by misinformation. The Reform leader had himself been misled by “stories online from some very prominent folks with big followings” — individuals like internet misogynist Andrew Tate.

But in January, Farage backtracked on his partial backtrack, insisting that his initial question-asking exercise was vindicated by post-facto revelations about the identity of the Southport killer.

Reform, then, has already performed the just asking questions routine to shape political narratives and secure headlines this parliament. Farage’s pseudoskepticism, cloaked in the language of critical thinking, is a political tactic that affords Reform plausible deniability — while channelling the seized attention of the public to the party’s attack lines.

Farage’s commentary comes, of course, as more mainstream actors see reason for pause after a distressing development. That creates a political-media vacuum that Reform is uniquely positioned to fill.

Political commentator John Oxley voiced this view in a post to BlueSky on Monday. “This nudge wink conspiracism [has] become a strategy of Reform”, he argued. “[It] appeals to their more radically online voters, while offering plausible deniability about what you are implying — and then you can claim any subsequent discovery vindicates you. [It was] honed around Southport.”

As Oxley suggests, the approach reflects an emergent playbook. It is the nature of the political cycle — and especially the social media ecosystem in which Reform operates — that Alexander’s “myth”-busting exercise receives rather less coverage than the inciting claim.

Lunchtime briefing

Senior Conservative MP suggests Donald Trump is a ‘Manchurian Candidate’

Lunchtime soundbite

‘I think in any other field she would have. But she’s actually one of the best that they’ve they’ve got, which is what’s really sad.

If she goes, we’re likely to get someone much worse. You listen to labour backbenchers, and a lot of the things that they ask for are crazy, they would bankrupt the country tomorrow.’

—  Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is asked whether the chancellor should be fired on TalkTV.

Now try this…

‘The Trump administration accidentally texted me its war plans’
Extraordinary piece from Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, which has to be read to be believed.

‘Reeves to put £2bn into affordable housing to “sweeten the pill” of cuts’
Via the Guardian.

‘UK chancellor will double down despite growing opposition’
It’s a fiscal gamble, but for now, Reeves will continue to argue there’s no other way than to take the bet she’s making, writes Mujtaba Rahman for Politico. (Paywall)

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