Keir Starmer should be petrified - Farage has one thing that he could only ever dream of

If I ever need a sense check, there is one easy way to do it. My in-laws - Babs and Geoff - are kind of like my bellwethers for common sense. Having worked hard all their lives, I always find that they are in touch with much of what the UK think. My theory has always held up on politics too, as they're your typical floating voter that parties do their level best to win over.

So, at a recent Sunday lunch out, I asked them who they'd be backing if there was a General Election tomorrow. They looked at each other, then at me: "Reform," they said in unequivocal unison. Oh dear. To give you some context, I'm a Tory councillor in the Labour Red Wall, which turned a blissful blue for a few years under Boris after decades of neglect from Labour.

So complacent was Labour in years gone by that they would happily stick a rosette on a left-leaning donkey and be confident of success. Now, however, it's all change and the Red Wall is a kind of political litmus test: win us over, and landslide success can be yours.

Sadly for me at least, this excitement for Reform in the Red Wall is not limited to Babs and Geoff. Just the other day I was chatting with a pal of my son who's also been gripped by the Farage furore - "I like him," he confessed. From where I'm standing a turquoise tidal wave is looking likely as Farage has something Starmer never will: a multi-generational pull that most politicians can only dream of.

So, as a Red Wall Tory councillor, is there any way through for the Tories in this part of the world? I think there is...but only if we stop being such scaredy cats and stick to our principles come hell or high water.

Yes, we're all fed up of the small boats fiasco but if by some miracle Starmer's 'smash the gangs plan' actually works, where does that leave Reform? It leaves us at the whims of one man and a rudderless bunch who are as mixed up on benefits as they are on housing, the NHS and education. Meanwhile, there are countless other issues driving people in my neck of the woods - and across the country - up the wall.

We want thriving high streets, not town centres that look like post-apocalyptic wastelands. We want our taxes spent wisely, not funding a lifestyle of those who've never put in a day's graft. And we want police who aren't afraid of tackling crime, not arresting people for dodgy tweets.

The Conservatives - for all our recent flailing - do have steady core principles of fairness, hard work and aspiration. And if we find the courage to be proper Tories again, we can prove that the fight for the Red Wall is far from over.