Abuse hurled at Rachel Reeves is a reminder that our politics is in the gutter - Jayne Dowle

UKREiiF is a huge deal, the kind of important event that puts Leeds on the map for the right reasons. It’s about setting ideas in motion, drawing leading industry figures together to shape the future of our towns, cities, transport and public spaces.

Now the exchange between white truck man and Reeves at a garage forecourt, as she took a photo opportunity to announce the 5p per litre fuel duty cut introduced by the Conservative government in March 2022 would be extended for the rest of the year, has made the headlines instead.

As she attempted to answer questions from the press, the man strode into the garage shouting: “Get Keir Starmer f***ing out.” Then he chanted “Get Labour out. Get Keir Starmer out. Nigel Farage, Come on, Nigel.”

Driving off, he continued the barrage: “Am I going to get arrested? We’ve got English flags on here, Rachel. Are we going to be arrested? You’re ruining the country. Get Keir Starmer out. Look, England flags. Yous are useless. Labour party is useless.”

I’ll just let that rest there. It’s worth repeating the heckler’s words because they speak for themselves and put Reeves’ tart response into context. It’s not just the swearing, it’s using her first name to overstep any notion of respect. The aggressive questioning tone. The simplistic, yet slightly terrifying one-word response to the myriad problems the country faces: “Nigel”.

Reeves’ putdown was oddly-personal, but refreshingly so: “I love our country and one of the things about our country is good manners. Not very British.”

Putting herself in a public space like this, perhaps Reeves shouldn’t have expected anything else; she’s not the first politician to find contact with ordinary people bruising. Remember former PM Gordon Brown caught on microphone calling lifelong Labour voter Gillian Duffy “a bigoted woman” after a heated to-and-fro in Rochdale about immigration?

But worryingly, within no more than two minutes this more recent incident summed up the bitterness and anger that stalks our political landscape. And our society. Reeves was right to point out that Britain might not be good at much these days but most of us still cling to our reputation for good manners, civility and tolerance.

Sadly, it also underlines the fact that the language and aggression certain men feel is their right to deploy towards women has no boundaries now. Blame the corrosive manosphere and call me old-fashioned, but speaking to a woman, any woman, like that should be called out from all sides, not celebrated.

Tellingly, as soon as he heard what had happened, ‘Nigel’ himself weighed in to post on X: “I’d like to buy this man a pint. Does anyone know how I can find him?”

Would he like a stranger to speak to his girlfriend and political advisor Laure Ferrari like that? Or his two daughters, both in their early 20s?

Let’s be straight here. The leader of an allegedly serious political party and a potential prime minister is approving of and rewarding a man who shouts obscenities at a woman trying to do her job.

Then Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson, even offered “the legendary gentleman” a peerage for “this outstanding public service”.

If people can’t hear the alarm bells ringing for what a Reform UK government would look like in power then the nation has surely gone collectively deaf.

I know there are perfectly civil Reform UK supporters who would never behave like this, and they would also call out such boorish behaviour if they witnessed it.

But sadly, the basic yes/no/in/out rhetoric chimes only too easily with a certain demographic which finds deep thought difficult and political nuance impossible to grasp.

If anything positive can come from this reductive exchange it is that several prominent Conservative men have rode to Reeves’ defence.

Such considered responses, although barbed, do remind us why we need the Conservative party to remain steadfast in Opposition. In the name of their country, they should think twice, then three times, about forging any unholy alliances with Reform UK.