Farage converts lament lack of Reform UK policy breakthrough at party conference

LONDON – Nigel Farage gathered Reform UK’s best-known figures on stage to close his party’s biggest annual conference to date with a rendition of Britain’s national anthem, as he sought to show he’s building a team ready for power. 

Using his final speech in a conference entitled “The Next Step” to call for “discipline” among members, Mr Farage urged supporters to keep their disagreements behind closed doors and present a united front as the party pushes to secure a majority in a general election due by 2029 – but that he predicts could come as early as 2027. 

Speakers throughout the two-day Union flag-studded conference sought to give a sense of the building momentum behind Reform as the membership numbers rose past 240,000, then 241,000, then 242,000. “A quarter of a million, here we come,” Mr Farage crowed triumphantly. But behind the bombast, there were plenty of signs that he still has some way to go to professionalise his poll-leading party.

The first day of the conference was overshadowed by dysfunction in the Labour government as Prime Minister Keir Starmer

shuffled his Cabinet

following the resignation of his deputy, Ms Angela Rayner, for paying insufficient tax on a house purchase. That left Reform struggling for headlines.

One prominent member of Reform – who spoke on condition of anonymity to impart critical views – told Bloomberg they were disappointed by the conference. They had hoped it would demonstrate a slicker operation and broader appeal to middle ground voters, and criticised speakers.

One of those singled out by the member was a “Make America Healthy Again” anti-vaxxer Aseem Malhotra, who claimed in his main-stage speech on Sept 6 that Covid-19 vaccines may have been a factor in the cancers of members of the royal family such as King Charles and Princess Kate.

One Reform councilor and one of its candidates, who also spoke to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity, said they were disheartened at the lack of any new policy announcements and by the defection of former Conservative Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries under the Boris Johnson administration. One said they would prefer if the party’s senior positions were filled by grassroots members rather than career politicians.

Over the course of the conference, Mr Farage and his team focused on the issues which have typically won Reform support among Britain’s right wing: tackling irregular immigration, ending the UK’s commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, cracking down on crime, and opposing laws governing online hate speech. 

But there was little apparent effort to broaden Reform’s appeal. The party’s recent polling numbers have been percentages in the high 20s and low 30s: enough to lead the national picture, given the fracturing nature of British politics, but still short of the levels needed to secure power.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice denied his party was only addressing populist talking points. 

“I’ve just come from a fringe event talking about ESG and financial services,” he said. “I’m just about to go to one talking about growth. I’m going to be talking in my speech about money and finances and the fact that country’s in serious trouble and how we can get out of it, how we can save lots of money everywhere.”

Mr Tice hinted that Reform would curtail welfare payments available to non-British-born residents in the country – despite the fact that most recent arrivals already have no recourse to public funds – and would cut the transport which local councils provide to help children with special educational needs attend school. 

On Sept 6, Mr Farage insisted in media interviews that a Reform government would

send women and children who crossed the English Channel

on small boats back to potentially dangerous countries such as Afghanistan – a policy which polling from More In Common suggests is unpopular with most of the British electorate. Head of efficiency Zia Yusuf used his speech to repeat the party’s claims that migration had caused Britons to become “second-class citizens.” 

The Reform leader and Brexit architect’s move to gather his MPs and mayors on stage for the national anthem was designed to show that his party is not just a one-man band, a criticism leveled against him by the UK press. But the reality is there’s little name recognition for his colleagues among the wider British public. 

Mr Tice in his speech said that “a Reform chancellor will be a strong chancellor who can get our economy motoring again.” But no one yet knows who that chancellor will be, because Reform’s tiny representation in Parliament – it has just four MPs – means they don’t shadow Cabinet positions as the main opposition Conservatives and the third party, the Liberal Democrats do.

To be sure, the gathering of 12,000 Reform supporters was replete with the usual enthusiasm which Mr Farage has become known for attracting. 

A speech by Lucy Connolly, who became a standard bearer for right-wing freedom of speech advocates after being imprisoned for social media posts urging followers to burn down hotels housing migrants, was welcomed by a standing ovation and rapturous applause from attendees. 

Mr Farage and his three other MPs – as well as rising stars in the party – were followed around Birmingham’s NEC Arena by exuberant fans asking for selfies and forking out £100 (S$173) to secure football shirts signed by the party leader.

As the strains of the national anthem faded, and music reminiscent of an action movie kicked in, the crowd filed out, clapping rhythmically.

Mr Farage will hope he can keep his troops clapping to the same rhythm through to the next election, whenever Mr Starmer chooses to call it.

“You are the people’s army, and for it to succeed, it needs one thing: discipline,” Mr Farage told his audience. BLOOMBERG