Nigel Farage Stirs Tensions in Reform UK as He Ousts Deputies

THE GUARDIAN: Co-deputy Ben Habib ‘concerned about party control’ as Farage replaces him with MP Richard Tice

Tensions within Reform UK have spilled over after Nigel Farage ousted its two longstanding deputy leaders and made other changes at the top.

Ben Habib, a former Brexit party MEP, who had been co-deputy leader since March 2023, said he was considering his position after Farage told him on Thursday that he was being replaced by the Reform MP and former leader Richard Tice.

“I have long held concerns about the control of the party and the decision-making processes,” said Habib, in an apparent reference to the unusual structure of Reform UK, which means there is little or no input from members, nor brakes on Farage’s decisions.

The millionaire businessman Zia Yusuf, who has emerged as one of Reform’s most significant new funders, has been named as the party’s new chair. » | Ben Quinn | Thursday, July 11, 2024

Farage Wins First Seat as His Upstart Right Wing Reform UK Party Gains Ground

CNN: Nigel Farage, a driving force behind Britain’s Brexit movement and a confidant of former US President Donald Trump, has been elected to parliament for the first time, as his upstart right-wing Reform UK party looks to shake up the country’s politics.

Farage becomes a member of Britain’s parliament on his eighth attempt after winning with 46.2% of the vote in the heavily pro-Brexit Clacton, a seaside town on England’s southeastern coast where Reform UK had polled well.

With most of the votes now counted, results indicate Reform UK has won at least four seats in the House of Commons, with 14.4% of the vote, a comparatively strong showing in Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system where smaller parties often struggle to translate their national support into parliamentary seats. » | Helen Regan, Rob Picheta and Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN | Friday, July 5, 2024

Week 5: Farage Is Not a Joke - Racism and the Reform Party

Jun 29, 2024 | Byline Times editor Hardeep Matharu talks with Executive Editor Peter Jukes and Chief Reporter Josiah Mortimer about the week's development as the 2024. General Election reaches its climax.

Reform UK's Nigel Farage and Green's Adrian Ramsay Grilled by BBC Question Time Audience | BBC News

Jun 28, 2024 | More UK political party leaders faced challenging audience questions in an additional BBC Question Time Leaders' Special. Reform UK's Nigel Farage was challenged over campaigner's racist comments while Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay was asked about transport infrastructure, immigration and comments made by some of his party's candidates.

Nigel Farage has done more damage to the UK economy and the sense of unity in the United Kingdom than any politician I can think of in my lifetime. It is only because of Farage that we had that ridiculous and impoverishing Brexit. Brexit has done more damage to our economy than anything since the Second World War. Now, Farage is causing divisions in other ways, too. Must we really put up with this nonsense? Does the nation really have to do what this man says? Do we really have to be guided by this man's erroneous thinking? Why are politicians running scared of him? They should not. They should confront him, they should challenge him, and they should shut him up. Once and for all! The man is a menace to societal cohesion and to the prosperity of the nation. – © Mark Alexander

Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage Responds to Today's Shocking Headlines | Loose Women

Jun 28, 2024 | Reform UK’s latest leader, Nigel Farage, is joining us as part of our leader interviews in the run-up to the General Election in just over a week. Our panel will be challenging him on the matters closest to our viewers’ hearts and he’ll be responding to this morning’s shocking headlines reacting to Channel 4’s undercover investigation into some of Reform UK’s canvassing candidates. But most importantly, we want to hear about the person behind the politics and get a greater understanding of who Nigel Farage truly is.

Rishi Sunak Says Reform Activist's Racial Slur 'Too Important Not to Call Out'

Jun 28, 2024 | Warning: this footage contains a racial slur

Read more here.

We Brits were once famous throughout the world for gentlemanly behaviour. There is nothing gentlemanly about using this sort of language. Name-calling is never a good idea. Using racial slurs is worse still. It is regrettable indeed that the tone of this election campaign has been reduced to such vulgarities. We Brits can surely do better than this. – © Mark Alexander

Racist and Homophobic Comments Unsettle U.K. Election Campaign: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak denounced a slur used against him by a man campaigning for Reform U.K., the anti-immigration party led by Nigel Farage. »

Ridiculous Reform UK Policy Called Out by Yanis Varoufakis

Jun 19, 2024 | Former Greek Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, clashed with Reform UK's David Bull over international law on asylum and immigration but Yanis also had a warning for both voters and Labour about what could happen in the future.

Tories Alarmed by Threat from the Right as Reform UK Focuses on Pro-Brexit Seats

GUARDIAN EUROPE: Successor to the Brexit party is gaining support in red wall seats, senior Conservatives warn as they demand more radical policies

Conservative MPs are warning that their party risks being wiped out in the red wall by an emerging threat on its right flank, amid alarm after two disastrous byelection losses.

The right of the party is seizing on the dire results in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth – two supposedly safe Tory seats – to demand a harder line on immigration and tax cuts designed to nullify the threat posed by Reform UK, the successor to the Brexit party.

With senior Tories stating a “battle for the soul of the party” is now under way, the right is also targeting chancellor Jeremy Hunt this weekend. They accuse him of being “captured by the Treasury” in his opposition to tax cuts which they blame for loss of loyalty among core supporters. » | Michael Savage, Policy editor | Saturday, October 21, 2023

Reform UK: Eine neue Rechtspartei bedrängt die britischen Tories – und könnte Nigel Farage zurück in die politische Arena locken

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Nach der Ukip und der Brexit Party erhalten die britischen Konservativen erneut Konkurrenz von rechts: Die Protestpartei Reform UK gelobt, die diskreditierten Tories bei der nächsten Unterhauswahl von der Macht zu vertreiben.

Richard Tice, der Präsident von Reform UK, sagt den Tories bei einer Pressekonferenz Anfang Januar in London den Kampf an. | Imago
Grossbritannien ist mit einem Kater ins neue Jahr gestartet. Die Gewerkschaften legen das öffentliche Leben mit einer Streikwelle lahm, das Gesundheitswesen ist am Anschlag, und die Inflation hält sich im zweistelligen Bereich. Zwar hat Premierminister Rishi Sunak von der Wirtschaftslage bis zur irregulären Migration über den Ärmelkanal Verbesserungen versprochen. Doch die Umfragen zeigen, dass die Tories mit einem gravierenden Vertrauensdefizit kämpfen. » | Niklaus Nuspliger, London | Dienstag, 10. Januar 2023