Alas poor Dicky Tice. He will say anything to defend his leader - and gets nothing in return

Alas, poor Dicky. It’s not easy being Richard Tice. A man who has spent much of his recent life in Nigel Farage’s shadow.

- John Crace

Before the last election campaign, Tice had been the leader of Reform. A party that had been going nowhere very much under his charisma-free control. Then Farage decided to rise from the dead. To elbow Dicky aside. Dicky was told to consider himself lucky he had been demoted to deputy leader.

Yet the worse Farage treats Dicky, the more needy Dicky becomes. And on the Today programme yesterday we reached a new nadir. He would say anything - ANYTHING - to defend his leader.

The interview began benignly enough with Emma Barnett quizzing him for Reform’s response to the government’s decision to cancel four mayoral elections until 2028. Dicky was unimpressed.