After Reform UK won five seats at the last election, those of us disillusioned with the cross-party consensus of economic stagnation, mass immigration, multiculturalism, and censorship were excited about the prospect of a political revolution. But since, promises to “professionalise” seem to be synonymous with a softening on policy positions, and an exile of popular figures of whom SW1 disapprove. Despite rising membership numbers and a handful of council election victories, enthusiasm for Reform drops anytime its leader gives an interview. Some of the most vocal supporters have started to wonder, just what does winning look like for Nigel Farage?

On Thursday, Farage convened a press conference to announce their hundred-thousandth member was former Conservative MP, Dame Andrea Jenkyns — who would run as their candidate for Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire. Dame Andrea was candid, in an interview with me after losing her seat, about Reform courting her defection for some time. While she was a staunch Brexiteer and produced useful research on the costs of the asylum system (£14.4 bn p.a., by the way), those fearing Reform will be a refugee camp for Tory MPs might dread Farage’s pronouncement that “half of the Conservative party in Parliament should join Reform, and the other half should join the Lib Dems.” Given Nigel’s close friendship with Priti Patel, despite her doubling-down on her unapologetic importing of the Boris-wave  — millions of third-world migrants — into Britain, one grows concerned as to exactly which members he has in mind for his half. (Jenkyns, as it happens, told the press conference that she “would have loved Priti as leader”…)

On the same day they gained a high-profile candidate, Reform lost one of its most beloved spokespeople. Ben Habib announced his departure from the party, following his unceremonious ousting as  deputy leader in July. In an interview, Ben told me he has still never met Zia Yusuf, who was appointed chairman the same day of Ben’s sacking. Alongside his concerns that the promise to democratise the party were not being kept, Ben cited his opposition to Nigel’s apathy to demographic change, and categoric refusal to support mass deportations, as reasons for leaving. James Heale of the Spectator reports that Farage, when asked about Habib’s departure, sang “The sun has got his hat on, hip hip hip hooray”. Later, Farage told Michelle Dewberry that Ben’s departure was a “champegene moment” and “a huge relief”. It appears, unlike Trump, that Farage is in no mood to build coalitions with his critics. Such conduct is beneath the incumbent ruler of the right, and of Britain.

The attitude among Reform remains, as former national organiser Noel Matthews is fond of saying, that there is no alternative except them. They have crowned themselves the heirs apparent to the hated cross-party consensus between Labour and the Conservatives. I have been told by multiple Reform officials that Nigel “deserves” to be PM, for his tireless years of campaigning. While Farage deserves his place in the history books for his work on Brexit, I caution against complacency. Buying one’s own hype in this way was the hamartia of Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016. The feeling that it was “her turn” made it unrecoverably soul-crushing when the public chose Trump instead. They could not, in their entitlement, foresee the unpopularity of their message. Likewise, “who else is there?” is not a winning strategy to convince voters to support your insurgent political movement. 

Habib also expressed discontent with Reform’s policy of distancing themselves from the crowds at the Unite the Kingdom rallies. A strawpoll of the attendees found that every one, to a man, voted Reform at the last general election. Despite this, Richard Tice denounced them on GB News, saying “we have nothing to do with [Tommy Robinson]” or “all of that lot.” Now, I don’t attend those marches, but I am concerned about this kneejerk need to disavow thousands of Reform voters through guilt-by-association. Tommy Robinson may be imprudent in his public and personal conduct, but he has done less harm to the country than some of the Tory politicians that Reform would doubtless welcome as defectors. More importantly, nobody on those peaceful marches has done anything untoward to warrant such contempt. Donald Trump does not feel the need to distance himself from even the kookiest elements of the MAGA movement when hostile press attempt to pressure him. Reform should be wise enough to do the same.

Reform would also do well to remember that four “independent” Muslim MPs, running exclusively on a pro-Gaza ticket, were also elected to Parliament. (Five, if you count Jeremy Corbyn.) The prospect that Reform could win large portions of the Muslim vote, without backtracking on the modus operandi of the party, is a delusional proposition. But Farage made that exact suggestion when speaking to Winston Marshall this month: “If we politically alienate the whole of Islam, we will lose.” Again, if incorporating Islamic social teachings — incompatible with the Christianity, enshrined in England’s unwritten constitution, monarchy, and established church — is Farage’s vision of winning, then I cannot support Reform. 

Nor is such appeasement an expedient electoral strategy. Pandering to British Muslims will only estrange the indigenous white working class voters which Reform needs to win. As my friend Ayaan Hirsi Ali often reminds us, Islam does not care about abstractions like religious freedom or family values: it cares only about Da’wah, the clan, and the Ummah. And moderate-minded Muslims, like Zia Yusuf or Rakib Ehsan, are a minority. According to polling by the Henry Jackson Society — which Farage himself cited on Sky News during the election campaign — three-quarters of British Muslims believe Hamas committed no atrocities on October 7th, and more than half view Hamas favourably. 52 percent agree with Labour MP Tahir Ali: that the “desecration of all religious texts and the prophets of the Abrahamic religions” by drawing Muhammad should be a crime.

… figures in the media space and within Westminster are perturbed by Farage’s reluctance to lead

Most alarming is that extreme views are concentrated in the 18-34 and British-born cohorts — meaning radicalisation is happening at home, and only getting worse. Both Conservative and Labour governments alike have allowed a 700-strong Muslim activist network to fester in the Home Office, and produce reports which call the grooming gang scandal a “grievance narrative” invented by “right-wing extremists”. The appetite to permanently expel political Islam from public life is only growing, and instead, Farage is worried about alienating it. This will be a fatal mistake for Reform, and the country, to make.

Being frank, figures in the media space and within Westminster are perturbed by Farage’s reluctance to lead, and his frequent backtracking on the most pressing issues. As my friend Robyn Alice put it recently, “To engage in British politics is to accept disappointment as a daily ritual.” The last thing an insurgent party needs is dissent within the ranks; and the “Lads out on the lash” vibe that Reform has at present just isn’t good enough.

Far from being the presumptive king of the British right, Farage looks more and more like Lear: alone in the wilderness, while his offspring squabble over who gets to inherit the crown. He complains about woke Jaguar adverts, while more pressing problems escape his attention. If he doesn’t exert authority, specifically on the issues his supporters look to him to address, then we will lose another five years to the Lib-Lab-Con consensus. Reform only stand to gain from being bolder. They should not be afraid to support policies such as the mass deportation of the over-a-million foreign criminals in Britain; or to oppose the long march of Islam through Britain’s laws and institutions. The BBC has called the countryside racist, so who cares if they throw the same slur at Reform too?

I say, as a critical friend of Reform UK: please, sort it out. The hour is too late for infighting and cowardice.