Sharpening up
The Brexiteer-in-chief, who stunned Westminster in last year’s election by returning to the helm of Reform and winning a long-coveted seat in Parliament — has spent much of this year trying to professionalize his Reform UK party, shaking up its comms operation, bagging Tory defectors, and getting serious about taking the fight to Labour.
Farage and four other candidates made it into the House of Commons in July’s election — winning more than four million votes for his anti-immigration, populist outfit and putting the Conservatives on the backfoot. They came second in 98 seats, 89 of which were behind Labour.
Now, he wants to use a series of local and regional elections to show Reform can replace the Conservatives, booted out of office in July, as the natural party of the right.
“What we need to do as a party is demonstrate that we can win at the ballot box, that we can be a formidable electoral force,” Reform UK Chair Zia Yusuf said in an interview with POLITICO.
The aim is to bring it more into line with other successful national outfits — and avoid the kind of controversies over openly racist candidates that flared up during the summer campaign. That may in part explain Farage’s desire to swiftly distance himself from Robinson, despite Musk’s vociferous backing for the jailed activist.
Reform is already eyeing elections next May as a milestone on its path to power. Seats on 21 county councils and 10 unitary authorities in England are up for grabs, and, with Labour facing a bumpy first five months in office, Farage fancies his chances.