The last time I wrote about Reform UK’s annual conference I was doing it as the Deputy Editor of this fine publication. A year on, how much has changed?
Greeting you as you enter the conference hall is the familiar fare for the familiar fee. Chicken and chips stands sit next to anti-Labour propaganda, accompanied by braying journalists chasing MPs for a punchy quote. This year’s offering on the political marketing front includes the customary Reform bus (complete with St George’s flags in the windows) and a satirical anti-nanny state corner shop with crisps and chocolate bars in warning-heavy packaging in the style of cigarette cases. All very entertaining, if somewhat familiar.
Reform – in spite of the increased professionalism of their conference and growing interest from the corporate world – still behave like more of a campaign group than a well-oiled party
Last year, punters came away impressed at the professionalism of the event. Complete with fringe panels hosted by think tanks and a dedicated business day, it was a big step up for a political outfit which has only just broken out of the periphery of British politics.
From an attendee’s perspective, much of this remained intact. The Heathrow lounge was in full effect, where business types could be seen schmoozing at any time of day. According to one corporate contact of mine, the private-sector presence at this year’s Reform conference matched anything she had seen in her years of attending Conservative Party conferences.
Of course, no party conference would be complete without its eccentrics. As I write this, I am speaking to a young man – famed online for his libertarianism – dressed uncannily like Will Ferrell in ‘Anchorman’. Also in attendance is a man dressed in a full Union Jack suit and a chap in a crusader outfit. The latter is an object of particular curiosity.
The panel events – much like the conference goers – have been varied and engaging. From the scourge of antisemitism to the UK’s readiness for war, much ground has been covered at fringe events. If I say so myself, we at the Prosperity Institute put on a particularly impressive show. On day one (the so-called ‘Business Day’, which was initially blighted by Reform delivering the wrong passes), our CEO Paul Coleman interviewed James Orr and Robert Jenrick about Reform’s economic vision. No doubt to CapX readers’ fury, both were keen to stress that – unlike the Conservative Party – the boys in teal do not think Margaret Thatcher was an unalloyed good. Jenrick – the party’s Treasury Spokesman – pledged to pursue ‘a post-Thatcherite economic policy that takes the best things from that era and brings them up to date’.
Whatever one’s take on that agenda, it was an interesting conversation, and helpful to get a clearer sense of the philosophy behind Reform’s economics.
The eagle-eyed among you will point out that any event involving Orr – the party’s erstwhile Head of Policy – could only have taken place on day one, because by day two he had left his post. For those unaware, at the end of the first day, Channel 4 released secretly recorded footage of Orr, Dan Jukes (Nigel Farage’s now-former chief adviser, who has also stepped down) and Farage himself taking part in a variety of conversations related to allegedly illegal donations. Reform denies any wrongdoing; probes and investigations await. But, coming as it did after a summer of relentless media pressure over other donations, the coverage was obviously suboptimal.
Scandals notwithstanding, the Reform faithful remain optimistic at conference, and widely regard Channel 4’s investigation as yet another example of their party being unduly scrutinised by the powers that be. The mood in the main hall remained buoyant on Thursday morning as the members arrived. Regrettably for the party, the world outside of Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre is less forgiving.
Whether this debacle is survivable or not, what it will represent for some onlookers is a long-standing concern: that Reform – in spite of the increased professionalism of their conference and growing interest from the corporate world – still behave like more of a campaign group than a well-oiled party.
This is a shame. Prior to his departure, Orr had assembled an impressive team of wonks who were charged with doing the big thinking when it came to Reform’s policy direction. Names include Karl Williams (formerly of the Centre for Policy Studies), Sam Ashworth-Hayes (formerly of The Telegraph) and James Graham (formerly of the Prosperity Institute). These are intelligent people and the sense you get talking to them here at the conference is that the party is starting to develop a fuller sense of itself, complete with radical policies and a cogent philosophy.
For that to be scuppered by carelessness would be a profound waste of talent, time and the political energy it has taken for Reform to reach the political mainstream.
I believe that politics is richer with more parties in it, and regardless of who comes out on top, I for one have enjoyed the rich debate on the British Right that has been triggered by the emergence of an insurgent force. All I can hope for is that this time next year, I have cause to come to Birmingham and write a similar article.
Depending on who you ask, the welfare state is either the only thing left in Britain worth fighting for or a byword for state failure, waste and deceit. A cursory look at the statistics will leave readers under no illusion as to which is the correct interpretation. In the 2025/26 financial year, we are projected […]
At a few minutes past six on Friday morning, in a leisure centre on the Essex coast, the returning officer reached the bottom of a ballot paper roughly a metre long and announced a number that deserves more attention than it is likely to receive. Nigel Farage, 22,239 votes. The commentary had settled into its […]
Zia Yusuf has announced his proposal for a ‘Deliveroo law’ which would make it a criminal offence for CEOs and company directors to use or employ illegal immigrants, i.e., they’d face jail for non-compliance. And if that were not enough to discourage them, 10% of their global turnover could be seized for repeated breaches. Irrespective […]
