{"id":1189480,"date":"2026-09-06T10:40:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T10:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1189480\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T10:40:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T10:40:20","slug":"reform-can-fix-britain-first-it-needs-to-prove-it-can-be-trusted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1189480\/","title":{"rendered":"Reform can fix Britain. First it needs to prove it can be trusted"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dramatically posting his draft resignation letter online, pledging to quit as Chancellor \u201cno ifs, no buts\u201d if his radical pledges aren\u2019t delivered, Robert Jenrick has attempted to shift the narrative around the Reform UK conference in Birmingham from the scandal of recent days<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A plan \u2013 fully costed, he insists \u2013 to raise the tax-free personal allowance threshold to \u00a315,000, paid for by slashing welfare, quangos and the civil service, is significant.\u00a0 The Jenrick plan would take nearly three million people out of income tax completely<\/a>, at a cost of \u00a321bn a year within five years.\u00a0He gave a dramatic, well-delivered, well-timed, well-received speech and was believable in his conviction to turn the economy around.\u00a0He has the credibility some in Reform UK lack, especially in light of the recent Channel 4 News investigation.<\/p>\n

In other circumstances, the Jenrick promises could be a political game changer for Reform UK.\u00a0With the cost of debt at a 30-year high, growth low and unemployment high, the public is very open to new economic ideas to get the country \u2013 and the workforce \u2013 moving.\u00a0Jenrick also took aim at his opposite number in Labour, John Healey, arguing the Chancellor has betrayed his principles over defence spending.\u00a0This is an area about which we\u2019ll hear much more from Reform UK, although even they admit they need to appoint a dedicated defence spokesman\/woman.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Farage\u2019s on stage signing of a pledge to repatriate to France every illegal migrant who comes across the channel in a small boat, scribbling his signature in tandem with Jordan Bardella<\/a>, was pure Reform theatre. But it also might just work.\u00a0The National Rally chairman could end up as the new French prime minister, or even president. A sceptical public may actually listen to their collective plan, especially as Prime Minister Andy Burnham flim-flams about \u201crelentless\u201d action as 230 migrants arrive on a boat that is anything but small.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"BIRMINGHAM,Delegates walk through the main hall during day two (Photo: Dan Kitwood\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

For Reform, languishing in the low 20s in the polls, the golden era of last summer when no one had heard of Christopher Harborne and his \u00a35m must seem like aeons ago.\u00a0Verbatim\u2019s undercover journalists were many months from revealing themselves.\u00a0Now, Reform UK is having a crisis<\/a>, partially self-inflicted and partially as a result of circumstance.\u00a0The Burnham bounce has emboldened a new Prime Minister contemplating an election.\u00a0Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is gaining traction with her no-nonsense attitude.\u00a0Restore Britain is stealing Reform UK\u2019s thunder to its right.<\/p>\n

But in Birmingham, they dug in.\u00a0Guest after guest from the NEC on my Talk radio and TV network shows have been bullish, defiant and \u2013 yes \u2013 joyful at Reform UK\u2019s approach. Caller after caller has backed Farage and said they don\u2019t care about what Channel 4 News reveals<\/a>.\u00a0Others simply blame the media, with dismissive talk of witch-hunts and hoaxes.\u00a0Jenrick told me on air Reform\u2019s internal investigation is under way, though admitted no one has yet been appointed to run it.\u00a0Dan Jukes and James Orr, the two senior Reform UK advisers stung in the Channel 4 investigation, are gone, Lee Anderson, the party chairman, telling Talk on Friday: \u201cWe\u2019ve had a good clear out this morning.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The net result of the public interest journalism from Channel 4 News may be police action, perhaps even criminal convictions.\u00a0But what the investigation and the damning footage presents, more broadly, is a challenge for Reform UK to professionalise, stay on the right side of laws and regulations \u2013 as Farage insists they do \u2013 and deal with the inevitable criticism, which is only going to get more intense as an election approaches.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Farage heckler on Friday did the same thing last year.\u00a0She was not banned then.\u00a0Her details were still on Reform UK\u2019s system and, remarkably, she says she was even asked to stand as a councillor for the party as they sought candidates for May\u2019s council elections.\u00a0That is not an example of a political party with an efficient backroom operation.<\/p>\n

\"ACaption: A security officer removes a Greenpeace protest banner (Photo: REUTERS\/Isabel Infantes)<\/p>\n

Part of the reason Starmer\u2019s Labour got elected was not because they were loved, but because they appeared to many to be sensible people who would run the country properly without chaos and calamity.\u00a0It didn\u2019t happen, of course.\u00a0Reform has some popular policies and people, but following these donation scandals, they don\u2019t look like sensible people the electorate craves to run an efficient and ethical government.<\/p>\n

Reform UK needs to shape up.\u00a0 Its political ideas are eye-catching, it has good performers in Jenrick, Farage and others and it can cut through at times<\/a>.\u00a0Those in Birmingham are convinced.\u00a0The wider British public is not.\u00a0When the on-stage fireworks machines cool down and the chairs are packed up, the stench of sleaze from a party which said it would do things differently needs to dissipate and a slicker, more ethical operation with greater credibility as a potential government must emerge.<\/p>\n

Peter Cardwell is a presenter on Talk, a former Conservative special adviser and author <\/strong>Political Animals<\/strong>, now out in paperback<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dramatically posting his draft resignation letter online, pledging to quit as Chancellor \u201cno ifs, no buts\u201d if his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1189481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,384,1144,386,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":["post-1189480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-nigel-farage","tag-northern-ireland","tag-reform-uk","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117223676845093458","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1189480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1189481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1189480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1189480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1189480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}