Reform UK is still a one-man band even after becoming much more professional than it was in the past
Nigel Farage brought his Donald Trump tribute act to Birmingham with a Reform UK conference which was designed to show the party is ready for power – but ended up emphasising just what a cult of personality it still is.
For the first time, Reform’s annual gathering had the same slick, corporate-style trappings as the established parties: an exhibition hall where companies and charities could pay to put up stands, and a full programme of fringe events.
Compared to previous years, when Reform conference was essentially just one big booze-up, the event came across as much more professional.
But it was a bit ragged at the edges: a bus company which had planned to park one vehicle in the conference hall as a promotional gambit was asked to bring five, apparently to make the space look less empty.
Reform UK’s Nigel Farage jokes with delegates towards the end of day one of the Reform UK party conference (Photo: by Leon Neal/Getty)
And even as Farage seeks to widen out the party, making it less of a one-man band, there were still major shades of Trump in the devotion shown to the veteran leader, wildly outstripping the interest in any of his colleagues.
Maga culture was on full display in places with activists wearing “Make England Great Again” baseball caps and one older attendee proudly sporting a “God, Guns and Trump” cap.
Adding to the Trumpian atmosphere was the blurring of Farage’s political and commercial activities. A giant advert of the Reform leader promoting “The UK’s No.1 Rated Bullion Dealer” loomed over the arena.
A “Reform FC” stall displayed 11 different football shirts, all in Reform’s teal colours each with the name of a senior party figure on the back. But the only one that supporters could actually purchase was the Farage edition – £40, or £100 with a personalised autograph from the man himself. The leader was also scheduled to make no fewer than three appearances on the main stage.
Britain’s Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage holds a football shirt with his surname during the Reform UK party conference, in Birmingham (Photo: Isabel Infantes/Reuters)
A Reform UK member shows his hat signed by Farage (Photo: Thomas Krych/AP)
Sarah Pochin, the party’s newest MP who won the Runcorn & Helsby by-election in May, appeared to admit that the top ranks of Reform are still somewhat thin. She told Times Radio: “We can only show to the public the talent we have as a seat comes up.”
In his conference speeches and media interviews, Farage did his best to emphasise that he is deploying the talents of other colleagues, announcing that Zia Yusuf will become head of party policy and Lee Anderson is now spokesman on welfare.
But he has a reputation, like Trump, for pushing allies out of the limelight if they seek to share it with him. Two of the five Reform MPs elected in last year’s general election have now left the party, continuing a pattern that has dogged Farage for years.
One more factor connected the Reform conference with the distinctive style of the US President – an embrace of camp. On Friday night, activists partied to the live music of The Jacksons – the legendary group of brothers now reduced from their original line-up of five to just two, Jackie and Marlon.
Dame Andrea Jenkyns, the Mayor of Lincolnshire, opened her own speech on the main stage by singing a rock song of her own composition. “I just thought ‘why not?’”, she said of her decision to give herself a musical introduction.
“You know me, I am a bit out there,” she told The i Paper, sporting bright turquoise eyeliner.
People cosplaying as Japanese anime characters at a rival convention in the same complex added to the slightly surreal quality of the event. Reform has hit the big time, but it is still not playing by the same rules as other parties.