Reform UK\u2019s deputy leader, Richard Tice, Nigel Farage and the party\u2019s shadow home secretary, Zia Yusuf, sing the national anthem at Reform\u2019s conference at the NEC in Birmingham, 5 September 2026. Photograph: Paul Ellis\/AFP\/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenReform UK\u2019s deputy leader, Richard Tice, Nigel Farage and the party\u2019s shadow home secretary, Zia Yusuf, sing the national anthem at Reform\u2019s conference at the NEC in Birmingham, 5 September 2026. Photograph: Paul Ellis\/AFP\/Getty ImagesA Reform UK without Nigel Farage used to be unthinkable. Not any moreGaby HinsliffThe scandals are building, his touch perhaps not quite what it was.<\/p>\n
And, most of all, his party rivals are beginning to sense an opportunityNigel Farage didn\u2019t know. He wasn\u2019t told.Sure, he was right there at the table when the undercover reporter he believed to be a rich American\u2019s son spelled out very clearly how he hoped to channel his father\u2019s money to Reform, in ways that certainly don\u2019t sound too lawful.But he wasn\u2019t listening, you understand. God forbid that the man who insists his party takes compliance very seriously, and who never stops warning that the establishment is out to get him by any means possible, should actually pay attention to the details of a donation offered bang in the middle of a byelection that was fought over \u2013 of all the luck, eh? \u2013 some other questionable donations.Farage\u2019s defence is essentially that he was present but not involved, as Jeremy Corbyn once famously said of attending an event where someone laid a commemorative wreath for members of the terrorist group behind the 1972 Munich Olympics atrocity.It didn\u2019t work for Corbyn, any more than claiming to have tried cannabis but never inhaling worked an age ago for Bill Clinton, in part because some people just didn\u2019t believe it. But mostly, perhaps, because critics found it revealing even that Corbyn would be at the kind of gathering where such things might happen.<\/p>\n
Most aspirant prime ministers take good care to avoid moving in circles where someone might end up venerating terrorists, or explaining exactly how they intend to get around the law. For good reason, it turns out.What we are being asked to accept, in the instance caught on camera, is that at best Farage has been astonishingly sloppy; that he just turned up, tuned out, thanked the guy without even really knowing what for, and then went happily on his way. Take Farage at his own word and he is describing someone curiously semi-detached. Someone who, despite repeatedly claiming his enemies will stop at nothing to stitch him up, puzzlingly doesn\u2019t seem to take such basic precautions against entrapment as noticing what\u2019s actually going on around him.<\/p>\n
Someone for whom fighting a byelection in which nobody else of note is standing, bar a talking bin, is apparently so all-consuming that he can\u2019t possibly be expected to concentrate on talking to donors as well.If that degree of walking and chewing gum is a stretch, imagine what a shock running the country might be. No wonder some in Reform are starting to ask themselves if, deep down, that\u2019s what he even wants.What would Reform look like without Nigel Farage? Once upon a time that would have been a ridiculous question \u2013 without him, it would simply fall apart \u2013 but the party now is not quite what it used to be. Among the faithful, the fact he doesn\u2019t seem to take the job too seriously is still part of his charm, and many Reform supporters will be nothing but indignant on his behalf at the undercover tactics used to catch him out.But there are also people in Reform these days who have seen the very real possibility of seizing power to enact an agenda not seen before in Britain, just as Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland is starting to do in Germany and as the National Rally\u2019s Jordan Bardella (the star turn at Reform\u2019s party conference this year) and Marine Le Pen threaten to do next year in France.<\/p>\n
They won\u2019t want to let that opportunity slip through their fingers.Having lost its lead in the polls, Reform finds itself ironically in a version of the dilemma Labour faced a few months ago: torn between those who think recovery depends on tacking left (in this case towards Tory voters who are Reform-curious but worry that it seems too extreme or sleazy) or tacking right (towards Rupert Lowe\u2019s Restore, now consistently taking small but damaging chunks out of them, and other far-right groupings). Events like last weekend\u2019s sinister black-shirted, paramilitary-style show of force in Dover by the previously little known Patriot Platform group \u2013 which even the government took a surprisingly long time to condemn in the decisive terms that chief secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds eventually did on Monday morning, after what looked like copycat demonstrations in Portsmouth \u2013 may now start to push those tensions into the open.Are these their people, or not? Having ripped open Pandora\u2019s box by saying what others would not on immigration, there would be a grim irony in Reform struggling to deal with the furies unleashed, if only the whole thing wasn\u2019t so frightening for everyone else. Farage ended up calling the Dover mob \u201cdisgusting\u201d because of their balaclavas, while suggesting he absolutely shared their anger about small boat crossings (now, of course, down to a seven-year low).<\/p>\n
But is covering your face at a protest the only line Reform won\u2019t cross?Some of its supporters clearly do want a leader prepared to say what Farage won\u2019t, a niche that Zia Yusuf, Reform\u2019s home affairs spokesperson, evidently aims to fill. Others more recently arrived from the old Conservative party might prefer a leader who treads a hard line on immigration, welfare and woke, but with some rougher edges sanded off (or so Robert Jenrick clearly hopes). Crucially, some in both camps will see the departure of close aide Dan Jukes \u2013 who along with head of policy, James Orr, has taken the rap for this latest donor scandal, though both deny wrongdoing \u2013 as an opportunity to replace Farage\u2019s loyal and protective sidekicks with people less tied to him personally.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionHistorically, anyone daring to fly this close to Farage\u2019s sun has got their wings scorched. But what if that sun doesn\u2019t burn quite so brightly any more?<\/p>\n
What if the political judgment that always served him so well in the past is now fractionally off-key? For now, the idea that there could be an election any minute \u2013 forced, perhaps, by some future bond market crisis \u2013 is perhaps imposing a measure of discipline on the party. But what if that imaginary snap election never materialises?For now, these are all still very much \u201cwhat ifs\u201d. Given his miraculous capacity for resurrection, it is a mistake to underestimate Farage or count him out when he is down.But until recently, even the idea of Reform without its leader seemed ridiculous; he was Reform, to the point that without him it would cease to meaningfully exist.<\/p>\n
In the current climate, that assumption may no longer be safe. Bardella, after all, got his big break when Le Pen was brought down by a financial scandal. It\u2019s time the other parties thought harder about the shape Reform might take without its maker, rather than assuming the battle begins and ends with him. Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article?<\/p>\n
If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Explore more on these topicsReform UKOpinionNigel FaragecommentShareReuse this content<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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