“TWO Traitors — but totally faithful to each other,” Claudia Winkleman declared at the end of The Traitors, capturing the paradox at the heart of the reality-TV show: deception everywhere, yet loyalty still possible.
It was, as contestants endlessly reminded us, “just a game”. But the show is compelling because it explores something real: whom we trust and why. Alliances are formed and broken. Gut instinct trumps evidence. Groupthink takes hold. And yet, as relationships deepen, betrayal becomes harder.
In the world of politics, things are more complex. Loyalty is a virtue, but to whom or what? After Labour’s National Executive Committee blocked the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, from standing for Parliament, the Prime Minister insisted that the reason was purely practical: an unnecessary mayoral election in Manchester would divert money and people from other elections that Labour “must fight and win”. That is true. But it is not the whole truth.
Mr Burnham had promised that he would support the Government, not undermine it. That is not the same as promising not to undermine the Prime Minister. He pledged loyalty — but to the Government, the party, the party leader, the country, or to his own ambition? His allies made no secret that he was their candidate to oust Sir Kier Starmer.
In the Conservative Party, there has been open talk about Tory Traitors. After the defection of Robert Jenrick to Reform UK, paranoia has become policy. The Conservative Leader, Kemi Badenoch, has started secretly sending emails telling longstanding Conservative supporters that they have been “suspended pending investigation” and warning them not to speak publicly about it.
Reform has become a sanctuary for disillusioned Tory has-beens and opportunists. The latest, the former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, maintained that she remained loyal to true Conservative principles, while her former party had betrayed them. “I feel like I’ve come home,” she told a Reform rally. There are more former members of Liz Truss’s Cabinet in Reform than in Ms Badenoch’s shadow team.
For the leader of Reform, Nigel Farage, there is now the danger that filling up Reform UK with the extremist ex-Conservatives may not play well in the Red Wall areas where he is targeting Labour seats. Opponents will declare: Vote Reform, Get Tories — and not even the moderate ones.
On the ground, things are less tidy. In Manchester, some Labour voters are saying that they have been lied to and intend to switch to Reform. With Mr Burnham as candidate, 32 per cent intended to vote Labour. Now, polls predict that Labour will get 15 per cent, against 22 per cent for Reform.
All this defies political logic. Mr Burnham is deemed a success as Mayor, but he has previously lost two leadership contests — to Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn. Though Mr Burnham’s name recognition is enormous, more than half of the voters surveyed cannot name a single policy associated with him.
Instinct, not ideology, is at work. For protest voters: If not Burnham, then Farage. Like the “Faithfuls” on The Traitors, voters who rely on gut feelings can make catastrophic misjudgements. Game logic is triumphing over political logic.
The Traitors offered a final twist. After betraying everyone around them, the last two Traitors remained loyal to each other, spurning the opportunity to seize the prize money alone. It was a moment of affirmation amid the cynicism. In politics, that will be harder to find.
Read our TV columnist’s review of The Traitors here