Nigel Farage has set his sights on a General Election in 2027 due to the collapse of the Labour government as he geared up electoral planning at Reform’s party conference.
Moving his speech forward three hours to deliver his response to Angela Rayner’s resignation as deputy prime minister, Farage said the government was “deep in crisis”.
He suggested political infighting in the Labour Party and the wrath of the bond markets would lead to the government’s toppling in 2027.
“This is a cabinet of holy-unqualified people,” Farage said.
“In the middle of this meltdown of these two parties that have dominated for 100 years British politics, there is a new, strong, unified party that speaks with one voice, that knows each determinant to put the interests of Britain and the British people above that of outdated international treaties or dubious thoughts.”
“We are the patriotic party. We are the party to stand up for decent working people.”
In his own mini reshuffle, Farage promoted Reform chairman Zia Yusuf to head of policy.
Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries was also welcomed on stage as she became the latest Tory to defect to Reform.
Dorries used part of her speech to call for government spending cuts. Farage later said he would look to cut welfare spending while Reform officials said they would push to reform Whitehall.
Nigel Farage moves to build a policy platform
Farage may have hoped instability in the Labour Party could have come another day as headlines were dominated by politics in Westminster rather than Reform’s conference in Birmingham
In his speech, Farage mentioned he had not wanted the prime minister to do something to “spoil our conference”.
But the Reform’s leader’s speech suggested he was would speed up policy-drafting given brewing troubles across Westminster.
Farage emphasised he would bring business leaders into ministerial roles were he elected in a bid to boost the credibility of his economic policies.
Some think tanks attended Reform’s party conference while leading business lobby groups appeared to steer clear.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and UKHospitality were among those sending delegates to engage with campaigners.
Reform UK’s conference also had few major sponsors, with JCB and Heathrow Airport attaching branding to boards and panel events across the weekend.