Nigel Farage’s poll-topping party has attracted more businesses than ever to its annual conference this week. But, writes Ali Lyon, some corporations and industry bodies are still steering clear of the party, citing its unpredictability and the conference’s unorthodox format.
With his party boasting a consistent poll lead, and a general election just weeks away, Boris Johnson turned to one of his favourite businesses to ram home the Conservatives’ ascendancy with a piece of striking political messaging.
He and his party had been pummelling voters with his promise to ‘Get Brexit Done’ after years of political infighting and psychodrama. And with the feverish campaign reaching its climax, the former Prime Minister cooked up a plan to ram the message home – quite literally – by driving a JCB digger emblazoned with his party’s campaign slogan through a tower of bricks .
It was a potent piece of political messaging, and the kind of promotional opportunity money can’t buy for the Lord Bamford-owned brand with well-documented ties to Johnson and his Conservative party.
Before this week in Birmingham, JCB photo opps were more often found at Conservative events (Photo by Ben Stansall – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Five years on, and Bamford is no longer a Tory peer, and JCB will be among the most high-profile firms with a visible presence at the Reform party conference, which gets under way at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre on Friday.
As revealed by City AM, the British manufacturer – famed for its bright yellow machines that litter building sites across the UK and US – will be an ‘official exhibitor’ at the much-anticipated conference. There, the firm will showcase a ‘pothole repair machine’ to the 677 new Reform councillors voted into office in May on a wave of dissatisfaction with political orthodoxy, and their message that potholes were ‘a symbol of Broken Britain’ striking a chord with voters.
JCB will not be alone. City AM understands the party has sold north of 200 corporate tickets to lobbyists and businesses eager to understand the forces that have taken the once-fringe party to the top of the polls. They will also use the weekend to forge relationships with – and make the case for their business to – the newest major force in mainstream politics.
“We’re extremely happy with the number of businesses that have signed up to conference,” one party insider told City AM. “We’ve got a lot more through the door than last year, and some really big names.”
Reform attempts to woo British business
The attendance of these big names – not to mention the new party’s decision to devote an entire day to business – means this year’s conference will be the most corporate event yet from the party which voters recently anointed as the most business-friendly in the UK.
City AM understands social media juggernaut Tiktok will be rolling out its collaboration with UK Music – a much-loved mainstay of the political party conference scene – at the Reform conference for the first time this year.
And in a sign of its desire to ingratiate itself to politicians of all stripes before its third runway project breaks ground, Heathrow has become a title sponsor of the so-called ‘lounge’; a place where corporate and platinum ticket-holders will be able to rub shoulders with some of the party’s most recognisable and newly elected members.
Reform, which did not respond to a request to comment for this story, is also offering corporate packages worth up to £250,000 which entail a champagne breakfast with Nigel Farage, more champagne delivered to exhibitors’ stands, and free drinks at the expo’s assortment of bars.
Some businesses said they were worried Reform would frame their attendance as an endorsement (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
The offer is just the latest part of a protracted campaign to convince bosses of Reform’s pro-business credentials at a time when many remain disillusioned with the two main political parties. The Conservatives oversaw an often chaotic nine years in government in the aftermath of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, killing confidence and desire to invest among some bosses. Meanwhile others feel betrayed by a Labour party whose ‘prawn sandwich offensive’ aggressively courted them in opposition, only for the party then to announce a string of anti-business measures when in office.
Reform has sought to capitalise on that disenchantment with a business drive of its own, dubbed the ‘bacon-and-egg offensive’, where deputy leader Richard Tice wooed blue-chip execs over cooked breakfast in the summer. Meanwhile Farage – who remains the party’s undisputed figurehead – has vowed to bolster any cabinet he eventually forms with “top business leaders” who will be handed plumb ministerial roles.
Mayors and councillors bosses’ big priority
But of more interest to the conference’s business attendees than free drinks or poached eggs, is the opportunity to engage with some of the party’s newly elected mayors and councillors, many of whom oversee sectors and regions that affect their interests.
A spokesman for JCB told City AM that the firm had decided to exhibit at the event, after Reform took control of 10 councils at May’s local elections; a result which handed the party control of spending on, among other things, ways to fix potholes.
“The party has put highway maintenance and repair high on its agenda and JCB is taking the opportunity to showcase the JCB Pothole Pro, its innovative pothole repair machine, to Reform councillors attending this week’s National Conference at the NEC in Birmingham,” he said in a statement.
“We’re very keen to continue our engagement at a local level – be that with the councillors or some of the party’s new metro mayors,” added a senior official at one of the UK’s largest industry bodies.
But despite Reform top brass’s push with UK plc and corporate involvement being notably higher than at previous instalments, the number of senior execs that descend on the NEC will still be lower than the equivalent conferences put on by the more established parties.
Of the so-called ‘B5’ industry bodies, all but one have chosen to send PR and lobbying representatives but not the senior faces that are regulars at the Labour and Conservative gatherings. UK Hospitality, another major lobby group, is adopting the same approach, while the British Retail Consortium has opted to swerve the event altogether.
Heathrow will be one of the most prominent brands at the jamboree
One lobby group figure told City AM they and their members were worried Reform would seek to frame their attendance as an endorsement of the party. Another said the format and scale of the venue did not lend itself to the kind of small-scale events their body was accustomed to dealing with.
“I didn’t want to send my chief executive out onto a panel in an enormous empty hall with noone there,” they said. “It wouldn’t look good.”
Craig Beaumont, executive director at the Federation of Small Businesses, will be one of the few senior lobby group execs at the conference, and he hailed the FSB’s involvement as proof it was “cross-party through and through”.
“What other organisations do is entirely up to them, but as far as FSB is concerned Reform’s impact on UK politics means we’ll be there in full force to make sure the small business voice is heard,” he added.
But if Beaumont and the other execs on the train up to Birmingham had hoped to gain a more concrete sense of the party’s business offering from the packed agenda, then they are likely to be disappointed. Despite having announced eye-catching pledges in areas as wide-ranging as illegal immigration, non-doms and – of course – potholes, a party official said it was “too early” to announce any business-related policies.
All of which is adding to a sense that this year’s jamboree will be both an intriguing and intimidating prospect for bosses and execs used only to reserving time for two conferences in their jam-packed calendars.
“We really don’t know what to expect,” concluded one industry body veteran. “Safe to say it will be different.”