This week’s Caerphilly by-election was an important one for a couple of reasons.
Firstly it showed the extent to which Reform’s rise has been heavily overstated. In the run up to the result the almost universal media expectation was that the constituency would easily “crumble” to Nigel Farage’s nativist politics.
In reality it fell to the centre left politics of Plaid Cymru, amid widespread anti-Reform tactical voting.
The second reason it was important is that it showed how Farage can still be beaten.
For all the talk of the Reform leader’s supposedly inevitable rise to power, the past few weeks have shown clearer than ever before quite how flawed and vulnerable he is as a political figure.
So far these vulnerabilities have been hidden by the spectacular collapse in support for both the Conservatives and Labour. Yet as time passes his own weaknesses are starting to come into focus.
Here’s how Farage and Reform can still be beaten.