“It’s like Fight Club,” a senior Reform figure involved in selections joked. “The first rule of parliamentary assessment center is you don’t talk about parliamentary assessment center.”
Reform organizers are all too aware that some of their most careless picks at the last election cost them dear, considering allegations of racism and offensive comments harmed the campaign. To repeat the slapdash approach of old could be fatal to Farage’s chances of ever becoming prime minister.
The party has set up a new vetting process run by Paul Nuttall, the party’s deputy chairman, and candidate testers have already spent nearly 32 days touring the nation. Through Blackpool, Wales, Peterborough and Maidstone, to name but a few stops, old hands have been putting would-be MPs through their paces.
“We’re not here looking to pass you, we’re here looking to fail you,” candidates are told, according to the official quoted above, who has knowledge of the boot camps. “A bad candidate doesn’t just affect themselves — it affects the whole party.”
Senior Reform officials, accompanied by former MPs for rival parties, watch as the wannabes are made to give an impromptu speech, outline a piece of legislation they would introduce as a backbencher and then take part in mock media interviews. All without any forewarning.
“This was significantly more rigorous than the Conservative process,” said one former MP who now acts as a “talent spotter” for Reform. They have watched a string of former Tory colleagues try to win over the judges so they can run for Farage’s party.